Naruto hated suprises.

As the shinobi-in-training deftly soared over the branches of the trees that lied in the lush forest of Konohagakure no Sato, the breeze ruffled his hair. The boy was returning from his late night excursions as a vigilante in the city miles away from Konoha. The sun was falling : As Naruto went in the opposite direction of it, his back was covered in a beautiful reddish hue from the sun.

Putting aside such musings as they were those of a poet, the blonde-haired living prison reversed in mid-air, now facing a plain, simple tree.

The place where the enemy he had smelled would hide, was what he knew.

Once again, Naruto's keen senses made him acutely aware of the target's location. The kunai he threw served it's purpose to lure out the attacker as the enemy launched into action, a blur of green and silver.

Naruto awaited the assault, sensing the killer intent put behind the charge. His reflexes were proved adept as he backhanded the madly rushing target in midair with enough force to send the pursuer flying into the tree to Naruto's right.

Naruto embraced his fall as he descended, then flipped forward gracefully, landing in a crouched position. He then snapped up and hurtled another kunai in a practiced motion so that it stabbed the enemy's shoulder and pinned him to the tree due to it's force. He then threw four more, successfully pinning the now identified prey against the tree.

The Jinchuuriki stared with barely contained excitement as he gazed at his prey, giving away little however, as the instructor tried to get down in vain.

"Hello Mizuki."

The instructor swore loudly, probably just now realizing that Naruto, the demon brat, being a student of his, would recognize him. Naruto noted the slash on the hitai-ate and the forbidden scroll with more glee.

Quite an interesting prey, but weak. Very weak.

Just as he walked towards the man, fully intent on grabbing the scroll and taking Mizuki in, he ducked. A windmill shuriken buzzed over his head, and then Naruto had to avoid another from taking off his leg with a leap.

Now the chase had gotten more interesting for the hunter. He slipped on his mask, and then gazed up at the new arrival. In all his glory stood a former ANBU, identifiable by the mask and armor.

However, if the man had beem expecting fear from the twelve-year-old, he was sadly disappointed as the boy simply let a scarred, bordeline sadistic grin cross his face.

Naruto closed the distance between him and the ANBU in moments by diving to meet him in a clash : Naruto's iron boot met the blade of the ANBU in moments. Using his chakra control, the blond walked one step on the flat side of the katana, which had been used to block, and then delivered a devestating blow to the man's face with the toe of his boot.

The ANBU fell back, nose bloodied, seemingly ready to insult Naruto, most likely a portion of the village who hated him. Still, Naruto flashed through handseals at a rate at which his hands blurred, yet it was still at a speed low enough for him to not make many errors or start repeating himself.

Naruto finished the chain of two handseals in a moment, then performed the silent jutsu that charged the two daggers he threw with electricity. After they made direct contact, the ANBU twitched before poofing out of existence.

"Kage Bunshin."

Naruto turned in time to receive a heel kick to his cheek, spinning him and causing him to fall flat down. He tasted blood and licked it, happy that he was facing prey that fought for it's life in a way that didn't make him grimace at the pitifulness of the attempt.

Snapping out with a low kick that tripped up the elite black ops member, he ferally smirked as the man tripped and then, in midair, exploded. Naruto had anticipated this, and he had already done the seals for a kawamiri before he had kicked. Thus, he was able to poof out of existence in an instance.

Now overlooking the spot where Mizuki was pinned, Naruto stood, eyes scanning the battlefield for any hint of his opponent. Naruto then applied chakra to his fist and smashed it back, knuckle meeting the soft flesh on the ANBU's nose.

There was a crunch as the shinobi fell. Naruto knew though, that a shinobi that level would be good enough that he landed perfectly almost everytime, however, so he sent off a pulse of chakra that rid himself of it, and he was able to see that the man had caught himself and was standing.

The brown haired man seemed ready to continue the fight, yet he was instantly frozen as two needles were stabbed into his neck. Naruto gazed up, only to see nothing, and then looked down and barely made out a girlish male grabbing the body and taking flight.

Naruto's eyes took an almost deranged look, angered by the loss of prey.

And then, he called on the services of his tenant. The conversation in his mind, the brief conflict, all occured in milliseconds. To any other, it would appear as if he blinked and his eyes were red: a cruel, broken ruby red, replacing the salty sea blue that normally rested there.

The chakra solidified a tad bit as a faint outline of the Kyuubi encircled him. They became solid enough that, after forming four tentacles with the chakra, showing his control of it well, he used them to leap and take pursuit of the rival hunter in the night.

The chase was on : the blond jinchuuriki used the demon chakra as extra limbs, jumping as far as possible and, when he almost would fall, would use the chakra to grapple a tree or swing off of a branch. The girly male was a blur as he evaded strikes from the chakra.

And so the game of cat and mouse insued, until Naruto fully bridged the distance.

The angered blond caught up to the rival hunter and smashed his face, shattering the mask over it, showing an feminine face. Naruto saw the tell-tale lack of adam's apple, and realized in interest that this was really a female, quite rare among a field specifically for killing.

Naruto may have noted this, but he did not hesitate in lunging at the downed warrior. Suddenly, a mist settled over the area, and when it cleared, the hunter had disappeared.

With a murderous roar at losing his new prey, Naruto grabbed the ANBU and disappeared as well. One thought surging through his mind, still plagued with the loss, as he grabbed the scroll and Mizuki.

'Im gonna kill those bastards, how dare they!'

After returning to the village, Naruto was assaulted by numerous chuunin and a few jounin. ANBU intercepted them and pinned them down however, and Naruto was grateful to the shadowy figures for once.

"Naruto, meet me in my office, please." Naruto's neck snapped around so quickly that he thought he would get whip lash. There stood the one man who Naruto saw as more than prey. The man who got respect even from the scathing and sarcastic container.

There stood the Sandaime in all of his glory. He had already taken the scroll, which he now held in his arms, without Naruto's notice. He had leaves swirling around his body, part of the trademark Konoha Shunshin.

"Flashy." Naruto commented. Sarutobi ignored the dry commentary, instead choosing to order that all of the attackers be taken away.

Naruto walked behind the hokage, knowing that he wouldn't be able to leave out a single detail. Well, he would have to use the utmost subtelty in skirting around the subject out Kyuubi's chakra. However, he still allowed himself a grin.

Cake.


A/N: Quite short, but it will have to do until the next chapter. How was my first entry to the Naruto fandom? Please submit a review. Oh yes, and, no worries, next chapter should be around 4k, have it almost fully typed out, will be out tomorrow.

Oh, and for fans of my HP story... It ain't abandoned, I just didn't have access to a computer, now I'm back, and i'm going to rewrite every story i've abandoned, even the DBZ one.