Chapter 1: An Ambiguous Future

In the midst of night, escaping through the path set by the trees, a 24-year-old Naruto wearing his usual orange and black jumpsuit finds himself in a dire situation.

"How the hell did this happen?"

FLASHBACK

2 hours earlier…

After not returning from a routine assignment and then declared missing for nearly a month, a roughed-up Naruto arrived back to his cozy old apartment in Konoha.

"I'll report back to that lazy bastard tomorrow," Naruto decided while yawning and shuffling through his opened mail as he closed the door behind him. "Those ANBU bastards must've went through my mail to see if they can find any information on my whereabouts. I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining tomorrow…" he said to himself with a sigh. "Bill, bill, bill… Hmm, what's this?" he asked himself while seeing an envelope with no information of the sender on it. As soon as he touched the envelope, an invisible seal burnt brightly, destroying the envelope and revealing the letter inside.

Meet me West Hills as soon as you receive this letter

Uchiha Sasuke

"Sasuke? I have to go…" he silently decided without a second thought while throwing the letter down, which then burnt into a crisp due to another seal located behind the paper. He then dashed off without even bothering to shut the door behind him

Couple of minutes later…

"So you said you saw jinchuuriki (it has become a common word after dealing with Akatsuki) returned home just a while ago, eh?" asked a rough, stern voice. It came from a middle-aged bald man with a mustache and muscular build in ANBU uniform with the mask off.

"Yes sir!"replied a guardsman.

They walked up the stairs to Naruto's apartment and saw the door open and lights open. The guard took his leave and the trio of men watched the house.

"Guess he's right on the dot. Move in for the arrest, boss?" asked a small thin figure with a sly, mischievous tone.

"Why the hell are you guys going along with this? You know those charges are bullshit," shouted quietly by a familiar voice followed by a nod of agreement by a fairly large pet behind him.

"Root's orders are absolute, Kiddo. We're just taking him in for some questions, that's all. Gearz, get your ass in there already."

"Right-o, sir!" In an instant, he squirmed his way over to the window without making any noise or giving any other signature of presence.

"That guy just freaks me out," whispered Kiddo as he observed Gearz moving his body as if he was an invertebrate. The huge dog behind him just whimpered along with the comment.

Suddenly, the dog lightly bit Kiddo's arm to catch his attention. "What is it, Aka…, I mean shrimp (the captain sure has some creative code names, now don't he?)… Shit!"

"Boss! Not a single soul in sight. How irresponsible! He didn't even bother locking the door?!?!?"

"Kiddo, get your crap together. You should've detected that as soon as we got here."

"Sorry, sir…"

"You got a trace on him with that nose of yours at least?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay then Gearz, go call up for a couple of more men. We're not letting this one get away yet. Kiddo, it's time to show your worth. Move your asses!" the captain ordered before putting his mask back on.

"Sir!" both men obeyed. In the blink of an eye, they were off.

An hour and a half later at West Hills…

Naruto's trip to where he expected Sasuke to be came to be very uneventful (although he did stray off path a couple of times, considering he wasn't acquainted with the area as well). Although he rushed out in haste, he began to doubt his actions as time passed with him traveling through the trees. Questions such as whether he should've reported to the Hokage before leaving or was he running into a trap filled his mind, but with his determination to meet Sasuke after all this time, he moved forward.

Soon, he arrived at a campsite, most probably the area the Uchiha has arranged for this meeting. There he stood out in the opening, Uchiha Sasuke…

"Naruto, how are things?" he greeted with his usual cold manner.

Before a word was spoken, Naruto walked over and knocked him to the ground with a demon chakra-infested punch that left a bruised mark on Sasuke's face.

"What the FUCK do you want?"

Sasuke smiled as he got himself off the ground while rubbing his face. "Some greeting," he sarcastically responded.

Naruto just silently stared at the person who he once called a friend.

"I'll get straight to the point then. Leave Konoha. You should take along that ditzy pink-headed girl also."

"Sorry, I have no intentions of rejoining with a traitor. You're coming back with me."

"I expected you to be thickheaded as usual. Too late to convince you now, eh?" His patient manner began to change. "Cover your tracks better next time, dobe," he advised before turning on his Mangekyou Sharingan. Before long, Sasuke disappeared into thin air in front of him.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Naruto. He then turned around with kunai in hand after hearing noises behind him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are under arrest!" yelled a man along with his subordinate coming out of the bushes.

"What the…? What the hell for?" responded a shocked Naruto.

"Treason against the village."

"Treason? So I was missing for a month and left again without permission. There's an explanation for all of this, so just calm down."

"Captain, you said we're only taking him for questioning?!?!?" defied Kiddo.

"I didn't want to tell you, knowing he's your former partner and all. I didn't believe our demon hero that went up against Akatsuki would be behind such charges either. But seeing him conspiring with the Uchiha, I now have no doubts in what I'm about to do. It's a shame the Uchiha used that Sharingan to conceal his escape, but Kiddo, I'll let you do the tracking. As usual, do not act without back-up. I'll take care of demon boy, so go ahead."

"His genjutsu has affected my scent of him, sir…" quietly replied Kiddo.

"I said I have an explanation for all of this," interrupted a furious Naruto.

"We'll get to that after you are behind bars. Morino-senpai will make sure your foxy slickness and demon manner will not get in the way of Konoha's safety!"

"I'm sure as hell not going through him again (remembers a certain incident where he was got a SWI (summoning-while-intoxicated; he was forced through endless interrogation by the hands of Morino Ibiki after accidentally summoning Gamabunta instead of Gamatatsu to impress the ladies at the bar). I'm going to have to decline. I'll explain everything to Shikamaru on my own terms."

He then dashed past the ANBU and proceeded to head back to Konoha.

END FLASHBACK

"You think I'll let you off like that. You must think I'm an idiot. Jinchuuriki or not, I'll set you in your place, boy," cried the captain who was tailing him.

"Idiot or not, I'm getting sick of your talking!" replied Naruto as he stopped on a tree branch and turned around. By tone of voice, he's getting irritated with all of this "jinchuuriki" talk, and the signs of Kyuubi taking over were leaking all over him.

"Naruto just come back with us! One move and who knows what else charges they'll throw at you," pleaded Kiddo who landed beside him.

"Get the hell out of my way," he violently outburst, pushing Kiddo to the side and knocking him into the tree and dropping to the ground.

He had only one goal in mind now, shutting that ANBU captain up.

Naruto then proceeded to get up close and personal with the captain. The captain threw a slow but firm punch, to which Naruto dodged with ease by turning away from it. But the punch was just a punch as Naruto got to experience it first-hand.

"Gahhhh!" he cried crashing toward the ground. He backflipped and maintained a decent land. Then he got back into stance.

"What the hell was that? Even the Jyuuken style requires some physical contact to affect the target. It must be some form of kamikaze or the like but even then…" pondered Naruto while rubbing his bruised face.

Before he had a chance to think any further, the captain threw many shurikens to crack his concentration. Naruto pulled out his own kunai and knocked them away. He failed to notice one going toward his leg, so it slashed across his left ankle. He beared the pain and again took an initiative to strike up close to the captain who just got back on even grounds with him.

He started throwing punches and kicks, but they all seemed to miss and be countered at the same time. It was as if the opponent was predicting his moves and retaliating in such agile movements. He quickly crossed his hands to summon two clones behind his opponent. They both tried to restrain his dodging by jumping at him but flew right into Naruto, knocking him into the ground.

"Is this all the jinchuuriki have to offer?" the man boasted arrogantly.

"I'm just getting started!"

He got right back up along with his clones. He brought out his palm and the clone behind him started maneuvering the hand around in a spherical formation. Soon, chakra started gathering to form Naruto's signature technique.

"Rasengan, huh? First time I saw it up close. Let's see if you can even hit me with it, jinchuuriki!"

Naruto yelled out a battle cry while thrusting it forward. The captain smirked as he easily maneuvered beside it, ready to attack a vulnerable Naruto. He noticed something was off though.

"Crap, it's an illusion!" he cried out.

Soon Naruto appeared crouching low right in front of him, while the figure with the Rasengan began fading away.

"Don't play petty tricks on me, because I can just as easily turn it around on you, you freakin' idiot!" yelled out an enraged Naruto. He sent the man flying up in the air with an uppercut. He then summoned twenty clones. Half of them boosted the other half in the air toward the flying enemy. Situated all around the target (head, shoulders, both side of the chest, both sides of the stomach, legs, and the groin area), all airborne clones lift up the leg just to slam it down with absolute force upon the opponent. The captain rocketed down to the ground and laid there cringing in pain.

"You need more than genjutsu to throw off my sense of aim if you want to match up with this 'jinchuuriki', idiot," said Naruto staring at the dazed ANBU captain.

Kiddo finally woke up after the loud crash of his captain. "He's never been much of the fighter type but more of the support type. He must have been infuriated by Kyuubi's past crimes and that's why he felt the need to be so aggressive…" he thought with a sigh. He then got up and dusted himself off.

"Naruto, that's enough!"

"I'm just about done anyway… Unless you want something to do with this 'jinchuuriki' too," Naruto provoked staring at Kiddo.

Kiddo took off his mask revealing a familiar face, along with a huge dog that had been hiding near Kiddo.

"Kiba, Akamaru!"

"Yeah, it's us. You sure know how to make a comeback, huh?"

"Kiba, what's going on?"

"I could ask you the same. Why don't we head back? I'm sure everything can be sorted out."

"Yeah…" Naruto replied before the previously called back-up having finally arrived.

"Arrest him," ordered one of them.

"Hey, I had everything under control," Kiba protested.

"Root will take over from here," the man replied. He looked around and saw an ANBU on the floor. "You should be worrying about your own men. Leave the capture of the traitor to us."

Kiba was about to protest again after he saw them pushing Naruto to the ground roughly, but Gearz went up and stopped him by holding his shoulder. ANBU then knocked him out cold with a chop on the neck and proceeded to restrain him. However,

"Of all people, you had to call the Root division, huh?" Kiba mumbled with a whimpering Akamaru.

"Hey, with 'them' filling up the force, it's hard not to bump into them these days."

"Yeah, what the hell was Shikamaru thinking allowing a guy like Danzou have more power than he previously had?"

"Well, whoever you think Hokage was, he changed faces as soon as it was safe for him to do so. That's all there's to it, man!"

"So, where are we taking Naruto?" called out Kiba (code name: Kiddo) seeing the men carry him off in an unusual direction.

"You and your squad have no more business with this mission. And where we take him is now classified." Before long, the ANBU unit disappeared before him.

"Akamaru, remember their scent. I don't trust them one bit."

An hour later at a hidden prison outside of Konoha grounds…

Waking up in an unknown and dark place, Naruto found himself behind bars in a danky, silent room. At first sight, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to end up with a fair trial.

"Hey guy!" he called out to a guard who was facing the other way. "Where the hell am I?"

The ANBU guard turned around and pulled down his mask, revealing a familiar face.

"Neji!"

"Yes, Naruto. It has been a while. It's unfortunate it couldn't had been under better circumstances."

"Neji, where are we?"

"We're in a secret underground prison set up by Root for special prisoners."

"Root, huh? Nothing ever good comes from that side of ANBU… Oh I forgot, you joined them just a while back, huh?"

"Yes, it has been five months."

"A shinobi like you put on guard duty. That's a joke!"

"Someone had to make sure things don't go to out of hand. I was the perfect candidate."

"I have a feeling you're not going to let me out of here willingly…"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow a traitor to exit this place so easily," he replied coldly all of a sudden. "Call it "destiny" for me to be the one to watch over your fate."

"Destiny, huh? I thought you gave up on that bullshi—" he retorted before pausing. "Destiny? Is this an act? The people of Root must be watching us (he started subtly glancing at the side to see another ANBU standing near the door). He could be magnifying his hearing through chakra manipulation. I guess that means it is not my time to bust free yet. But what does this mean? What has Konoha turned into while I was away? I'm having a feeling that the ambush that forced me away from my squad and sent me near my grave is not some isolated incident. Only his third year in, and that lazy bastard already has Konoha divided…"

"I'm guessing I don't get any visitation rights or that one scroll-call (my bad Naruto interpretation of phone call), huh?"

"Well, you will get a visit soon. You'll be fully aware of the situation by then."

"Is it too much to ask who's it going to be?"

"I think you have worked with him before."

"A name does come to mind when you mentioned Root was behind this. ANBU use codenames, right? What's it this time?"

"Well, we call him Sergeant Yoruichi Sai outside of missions. He decided to keep that name for some reason."

Outside the gates of Konoha…

A familiar energetic person appears at the front gate in his slight-altered-but-usual-nonetheless green jumpsuit.

"Ossss! I would have never made it through if it hadn't been for my horse," he said while petting the exhausted horse. He then untied the horse's leash tightened around his body which was still on the horse. "In three days. I found out a way to constantly run at full speed even while asleep. Gai-sensei would've been proud…" he boasted before suddenly turning silent a while. "I guess it's time to move forward. Tomorrow, we begin the counter-attack!"