Naruto: The Pride of ROOT

by Anime Student

Minato and Kushina are alive and have three children. Mito, Menma, and Naruto. Mito and Menma have the Kyuubi sealed into them while Naruto suffered changes while having been affected by the Kyuubi's chakra during his time inside his mother's womb. He was feared by his siblings and seen as a disappointment by his parents. He joins ROOT and becomes Danzo's weapon. Minor Crossovers.

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Soul Eater no matter how much I wish I did.

Hello Readers! I hope that some of you reading this story are those that have read my other two or at least one of them. If not then I recommend you read those as well simply because I would like your insight on those two as well as on this story.

Also this will be a ROOT Naruto story where Naruto is one Danzo's mindless drones and has been experimented on by Orochimaru. This is what will give him FMA:B abilities and what will give him a Soul Eater ability. If you have not seen either of these two anime then you will need to go watch them or else you will be lost and confused.

Well without further ado I present to you the first chapter of this story. Oh and you also need to watch Sword Art Online and Sword Art Online 2.

Naruto: The Pride of Root

Chapter 1: Initiation

It had been 5 years since the Kyuubi was released from Kushina Uzumaki by a man with a strange mask on his face. He used some kind of jutsu to control the Kyuubi which was later discovered to be the sharingan. After fighting the masked man Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, was able to release the Kyuubi from his control forcing the masked man to fall back. Earlier that day he and his wife Kushina had been blessed with triplets. The oldest of the triplets was named Naruto in honor Jiraiya's first book. The middle child was named Menma while his youngest was a female. He decided to name her Mito in honor of Kushina's grandmother figure Mito Uzumaki Senju.

Strangely enough Naruto and his brother Menma had both inherited their father's recessive blonde hair while Mito inherited her mother's dominant red hair. However the strangeness did not end there. Menma and Mito both inherited Minato's blue eyes but had whisker marks on their cheeks signifying that they were slightly influenced by the Kyuubi's chakra. However Naruto had the most obvious signs of being influenced by the Kyuubi. His eyes were a blood red with a black slit going down the middle while his ears were slightly pointed. He also had small canines poking out from under his lips. They were barely noticeable but they were still there.

Since Minato feared that Naruto might have been too susceptible to the Kyuubi's chakra he decided to seal the chakra within his other two children. Luckily for him and his family, Sarutobi Hiruzen had plans of his own. He temporarily paralyzed Minato and sealed the Kyuubi into the two children himself sacrificing his soul to the Shinigami so that these children would at least have their father if Kushina did not survive.

Thankfully Minato quickly sealed the remaining chakra that was from the Kyuubi that was left around Konoha into his wife, saving her life and causing the villagers and other ninja to not be affected by the Kyuubi's hateful chakra that might cause the villagers to hate his children for what they contained. Of course he didn't know this but what he didn't know in this case didn't hurt him or his family.

He announced to the village that he had sealed the Kyuubi into his daughter Mito and into his son Menma. He also explained to them that his son Naruto was not a demon despite his slightly demonic looks. Similarly how his other two children were affected by the Kyuubi's chakra so was Naruto but in a stronger way.

Since then he and his wife had been teaching each of their children equally and fairly on how to read, write, and speak. Menma was fine in writing and speaking but had troubles in reading. Mito had problems in speaking correctly but could read and write without any problem. Naruto was truly the son of Minato. He was able to read, write, and speak at the same level as a 10 year old boy!

At five years old Naruto had blonde hair that reached down to past his ears. The tips of his ears poking out from under the hair just like his canines did from under his lips. His red eyes would soak up any information he read about and he would be able to remember it all in perfect detail. He was slightly taller than his younger two siblings and though he had yet to do any formal kind of training, his muscles were more developed than those a couple years older than him. This was most likely due the effect the Kyuubi's chakra had on him.

His sister had long red hair with a tomato like face which made like a clone of Kushina's younger self. His brother had the same hair length as he did and the same hairstyle as her did but he had a completely different personality than he did. While Naruto was quiet and analytic, Menma was loud and brash, Mito was always smiling and giggling.

Why was Naruto so different from his siblings? Well that is simple. He almost never spent any time with them. Since his siblings had the Kyuubi sealed inside of them his parents saw fit to having him spend as little time as possible with them since they had no idea how their chakra mixed in with the Kyuubi's might affect him. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, there would be no effect on Naruto even if he was put into direct contact with the Kyuubi's chakra.

For some strange reason he was immune to the effects of any Biju's or Jinchuriki's chakra. However they did not know that so the only time he ever saw his siblings was when they ate and even then they wouldn't talk to him. They simply looked at him before lowering their gaze when he caught them. While he knew why they had to be separated that didn't make it hurt any less.

Which is why right now Naruto was currently walking through the village and towards the Hokage Monument. It was his favorite place to think and watch the clouds. While he walked no one was rude to him but no one went out of their way to speak to him or acknowledge him like they did for the rest of his family. He felt as though he was a mistake, he felt as though he didn't deserve to be with the Namikazes because of what he appeared to be.

After a few more minutes Naruto had finally reached his destination, the Hokage Monument. He sat on top of the Sandaime's head. He respected the man for sacrificing his life for the village of Konoha. He wished that he could be honored with such a noble death. He cared not for being remembered after he died, all he cared about was protecting those that lived within this village that he loved. He was like the Namikaze version of Itachi except younger.

After sitting there for a little while he heard someone's heartbeat behind him which surprised him. Only ninjas were able to hide their footsteps from him and this elderly man that stood before him did not seem like he was a ninja. He was covered in bandages and had one arm hidden while the other was holding a cane. You could not see his legs due to the robe he wore.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto as he began analyzing the man to see if he had any ill-intent towards him. However what he sensed next shocked him to his very core but also interested him greatly. He could feel nothing from the man! If he wasn't able to sense his heartbeat then he would think the man to be dead!

"My name is unimportant but I will tell you it if you accept my proposition." Stated the unknown man as he slowly walked closer towards the boy. "But first let me ask you a question." At this Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. He was only five feet away from him. Naruto's instincts were telling him to run away from this man. Too bad for him that his curiosity got the better of him.

"What is your question?" asked Naruto bluntly not wanting to tip-toe around what he wanted to know. Danzo's lips twitched up ever so slightly at his question. 'Got him.' Thought Danzo with glee while on the outside he was the epitome of emotionlessness.

"Do you wish to protect Konoha?" asked Danzo. Naruto's eyes widened by a large margin and he answered immediately without even thinking about it.

"Yes!" yelled out Naruto without thinking and immediately covered his mouth with his hands in embarrassment.

"Well if you truly wish to protect Konoha then I can give you that chance. I can give you several chances where you are able to save Konoha. There is only one thing that I ask from you." Stated Danzo knowing that the kid was now his for the molding. This kid would be his finest pawn. He would be the Pride of Root.

Naruto was hesitating in whether or not to ask him what it was he wanted. He wanted to help Konoha so that his parents wouldn't look at him with those eyes. He didn't want them to be ashamed of him he WANTED THEM TO BE PROUD OF HIM!

"What is it you want?" asked Naruto with slight hesitation in his voice. That was when Danzo finally smirked on the outside and told Naruto what he had to give him.

"You don't have to accept right now. You have until tonight to accept if you do not then I will simply make you forget about this and never ask you again."

Later that day at the Namikaze Household

Naruto had been pondering throughout the entire whether or not he should accept that man's offer. If he did then he would finally be able to be of some use to his family and to Konoha. But he would lose something that could be considered just as precious as protecting one's home. Besides he had no guarantee that the man would keep his word.

He was thinking of possibly declining the man's offer at least until what happened that night's dinner.

The day was nearing its end and it was time for Naruto to finally see his brother and sister. He was looking forward to their family dinner because Minato said that they would talk about something important.

So there they were sitting around the dinner table not a word being spoken. Naruto, while normally opting for silence, decided to be the one to break it this time. "Hey Tou-sama, Kaa-sama wasn't there something important that you wanted to tell the three of us?" asked Naruto innocently as he put on his biggest smile which would be considered a regular size smile to the rest of the world.

Of course both of his parents flinched slightly at hearing his question, having hoped he merely forgot about that. The reason for that is that they had already told his little brother and sister since the information mostly involved them and not Naruto. So now that Naruto was asking them what they were going to tell them they hesitated ever so slightly. Too bad it was slight enough for Naruto to notice. 'Why are they hesitating? And why did they flinch when I asked them the question?' thought Naruto feeling a slight sense of foreboding. He didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Well Naruto-chan, since your brother and sister both have half of the Kyuubi sealed inside each of them they are going to need to begin their training earlier than the other kids." Stated Kushina with a little bit of sweat traveling down her cheek. Naruto understood this due to his intelligence being far above those his age and could guess what that meant for him.

"So that means you'll be training them and not me, right?" asked Naruto with his head slightly down showing his slight disapproval of this decision. His parents noticed this and immediately panicked. And unfortunately for them whenever Minato panicked in a family situation such as this he immediately said the first thing that popped into his mind.

"Well it's not like we were going to train you anyways Naruto-chan." Said Minato before realizing exactly what he had said. He immediately opened his eyes in shock at what he had just said. Before he or his wife could say anything their other son Menma decided to open his huge mouth. "You shouldn't be surprised Nii-chan, after all considering what you look like why would they want to train you." Stated Menma as a joke trying to lighten the mood with his horrible 'joke' if you could even call it that.

Throughout the conversation Naruto had his eyes obscured from their view but if they could see his eyes then they would have taken a step back. His eyes at this point were completely devoid of any kind of emotion but if the tears running down his cheeks were of any sign then one would say that he was distraught at what he just heard. His family thought that he was unworthy of their skills. They thought he was a monster just like the rest of the children and a good portion of the villagers did.

While knowing that the villagers feared him hurt him, the pain he was feeling in his heart right at that moment was easily 1000x worse. He felt as though his world was crashing down around him. 'Am I really a monster to them?' though Naruto as began to walk away from the table and towards his room. He entered his room and closed the door silently. The worst part of that was that no one tried to stop him.

Everyone at the table just sat there not understanding how such a normal dinner could have gone so wrong. Unfortunately for them they never noticed the pale blonde hair thaqt whipped by teir window. If they had they would have seen that Fu Yamanaka, one of the very few Yamanakas that Danzo had under his thumb, had placed a slight truth genjutsu on them. While they were under the effects of a genjustu it could not be denied that what they said was what they truly felt on the inside.

They decided it would be best if they simply let Naruto cool off and then try to patch things up the next morning. Too bad that apology wouldn't come for several years to come.

Later that night

It had been about an hour since Naruto had locked himself inside of his room and he decided that he should apologize to his parents at least. So he walked outside of his room and headed towards his parents room knowing they would be awake at this time. However as he was walking he noticed there to be a light on in his sibling's room so he went to investigate being the curious kitsune he was. As he placed his ear near the opening in their room his ears widened upon hearing the subject of their conversation.

"Menma-nii, don't you think that you were being mean to Naruto-nii?" questioned Mito with a childlike pout. Menma simply frowned at her question.

"I know I know Mito-nee, but you have to admit, doesn't Nii-chan scare you sometimes?" replied Menma with a question of his own. Mito could only frown at his question just as he had done to hers.

"Well yea but you still shouldn't have been so mean!" stated Mito with a nagging tone in her voice. Menma simply scowled and responded in tandem.

"Think about it. If Nii-chan wasn't dangerous then why is it that Kaa-chan and Tou-chan separate us from him." Asked Menma smugly as if daring Mito to respond. And just as he thought Mito didn't have a response.

Throughout their entire conversation Naruto was simply standing there with wide eyes. His clawed hands and feet began to scratch the walls and flooring. So he merely ran as fast as he could back to his room with tears running down his face. But not without leaving 5 gashes on the wall and 10 scratches on the floor near his siblings' room. They heard the noise but chose to ignore opting for going to sleep so that they could rest not knowing what repercussions their words would have.

For in the morning when they would wait for Naruto to arrive at the table for breakfast, he would not arrive.

Back in Naruto's room

Naruto had closed the door behind himself as silently as he could. He just stood there shaking. Not moving from that spot in fear of his legs not being able to support him any longer and falling to the floor. After a while Naruto simply stopped shaking but he also stopped feeling for a little while. He went to his desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen.

He wrote for what seemed like hours to him but was in reality only 4 minutes. Once he finished he simply folded the paper into thirds and left it on his desk. He went towards his window and took one last look at his room for it would be the last time he would be ther in a long time He took nothing with since he figured that Danzo would provide him with the materials he would need. Ad with that he jumped out the window and headed towards the Hokage Monument. Towards his new beginning. Towards the death of Naruto Uzumaki and towards the birth of the Pride of Root.

The next morning in the Namikaze Household

The two parents of the Namikaze-Uzumaki family had just awoken moments earlier and had awoken with a feeling of foreboding in their souls. They couldn't help but feel as though their perfect world was about to come crashing down on top of them. However they powered through this feeling as they got dressed and one of them began preparing breakfast while the other was going to wake up the kids. And by kids they meant Menma and Mito since they usually let Naruto get up whenever he wanted.

Kushina made a couple shadow clones to help her make breakfast while she went and prepared the table. After a couple minutes she heard her husband walking down the stairs of the house. She had him help her serve the food and set the plates. After a few more minutes the other two children finally ran downstairs and waited for Naruto to come down the stairs and join them. They waited and waited until a full hour had passed by.

Each of them were beginning to worry about whether or not he was alright and one of them even began to worry that he might not even be in the house. So out of worry and anxiety they decided to go to his room and bring him downstairs so that they could resolve their little mishap from yesterday. As Kushina was about to grab the handle to the door she froze and her eyes widened in shock.

She had just realized something important. Something that caused a surge of guilt to go throughout her body. She had never been inside of Naruto's room. After the age of 3 they had separated Naruto from his siblings and gave him his own room. Yet neither of them had ever entered his room. How many nightmares had he gone through without their help? How many sleepless nights had he passed wondering why his parents secluded him from his siblings?

Minato noticed her struggle and understood why. After all he couldn't help but feel the exact same way. They had begun to ignore the existence of their oldest in favor of his younger siblings. They felt as though he might be dangerous for the other two children to be around so they tried their best to separate him from their family without actually doing so. That is when they both noticed something. He never called them Kaa-chan or Tou-chan like Menma or Mito did.

It was always Kaa-sama or Tou-sama as though he felt that he wasn't good enough for them. Which in all seriousness was completely true. And was only now that they were noticing this. One though rang through both of their heads. 'What is wrong with me?'

So with that final thought and with the feeling that they would be able to learn the answer to that question and be able to fix the current situation Kushina opened the door with Minato's hand over hers What they saw next froze them and their hearts in place. Or rather the lack of what they saw did that.

Opening his door they imagined an entire number of things and what they imagined was what scared them along with the fact that none of those things were found in his room. They imagined there to be scratches and gashes across the walls and flooring. They expected his room to be filled with books due to the amount of reading he did. However none of that was what actually existed in reality. His entire room could only be described with one word.

Empty.

His room was the same grey that it was when he first moved into it. His bed was the same size and make as the one 2 years ago. The clothing in his closet was mostly comprised of what he had when he was 3 years old. However there were a few pieces of clothing that were slightly larger than the rest and noticeably newer. However none of those pieces of clothing were what Kushina nor Minato remembered buying for him.

The desk he had was also the same one from two years ago and they noticed there to be a folded up paper on his desk with some writing on it. The writing on it said:

Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, Mito-san, Menma-san

I apologize for the shame that I have caused you. I cannot imagine how much fear I have caused you to feel. While it is not my fault for having been born this way I would not blame you for thinking so and for thinking that I am a monster. Why? The answer to that is that you would be right. I am a monster. I do not look human, rather I look like a grotesque joke of nature that has cursed your family. So I have decided to leave so as to no longer cause you feelings of fear or disappointment or shame. I am leaving for the darkness. For that is where monsters live. Monsters live within the darkness because they must never lead a life in the light. For the light would reject them. So they must live within the darkness in order to protect the light. Even if our own light begins to waver and flicker. Even if our own light is consumed by the darkness we must continue to protect the light. For even though the light may reject us it is all we have. So goodbye Namikaze-Uzumaki family and rejoice, for this monster will ail you no longer.

Signed,

Nothing

P.S. I have discarded the name Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. He died before he could take his first breath in this world. It would be a disgrace to your family if I continued to use it. The monster was all that lived. The monster is all that is left.

The room was deathly silent, not a sound having been made since they had begun reading the letter. While the children had trouble reading the letter they were able to understand the gist of it. However that silence was deafening. It was broken however by the sound of Mito running out of the room with widened eyes. Within moments of her leaving the room a scream reverberated around the house. The rest of the family immediately sprinted to her and saw her on her knees in front of the part of wall that was directly joined to the door opening. They tried consoling her to see what got her so shook up.

She said nothing but merely pointed shakily to the wall she was looking at. When Menma laid his eyes on it he began shaking as well and fell to his knees too.

"No. Oh Kami no!" screamed out Menma as he stared at the gashes on the wall. They were obviously made by Naruto and only Naruto. As well as the gashes on the floor. He had heard them last night! He had heard what they said about him! This was all their fault!

"Menma! What's wrong? What is it?" asked Minato worriedly as he stared at the gashes on the wall feeling dread in his stomach. The answer he got next justified that dread.

"W'we were j-just talking. A-and Nii-chan m-must h-have heard u-us. I-I didn't m-mean it! I-I swear!" cried out Menma before burying his face into his father's chest just as Mito was doing with their mother. While both the parents felt the need to release their frustrations, to release their sorrow, they knew that their kids came first.

So they spent another hour like that before the two kids passed out from emotional exhaustion. They laid them out on their beds before returning to their own. The moment they sat down they let out their tears, they let out their yells of anger and sadness, they let out their misery, for they knew not when they would see the child they ostracized again if ever.

With Naruto

Inside of a medium sized, grey room with two beds and two closets laid Naruto asleep wearing new clothing. He now wore a black version of the ANBU vest along with the ANBU black sleeveless shirt along with pure black ANBU grade arm guards. Looking at his arms one could see the traditional ANBU tattoo on the side of his bicep. For pants he wore black ANBU grade pants with black steel toed combat boots. Laying on the side of his head was an ANBU mask that would seed fear into all who laid their eyes upon it. Unlike other ANBU masks his was a pure black with a red lining around the eyes.

He began to open his eyes and analyzed his new surroundings. He noticed that he was wearing new clothing and that he had a mask on the side of his face. When he stared at the mask he thought back as to why he was here. He frowned at those thoughts and immediately banished them from his mind. He placed his mask on his face and walked outside of his living quarters. He began his journey towards the end of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and towards the birth of Pride. The Pride of Root.

He walked towards the training ground reserved for the training of the rookies. As he arrived he noticed that there were another 23 rookies standing in a horizontal line, each one facing the instructor that was in the center of the room. The instructor wore a Tora (tiger) mask and stood at a height of just below 6 feet tall and wore the same uniform as Naruto and the rest of the rookies. Except for Naruto's black mask, he was the only one with that type of mask.

"Alright, each and every one of you will be starting out with training your body and chakra control. Once your muscles are at a satisfactory level and so is your chakra level then you move onto learning ninjutsu along with fuinjutsu. While we train your body you will be learning taijutsu and kenjutsu. You will not be expected to become taijutsu masters nor kenjutsu master. You simply need to be proficient in it. Later on however you will delve deeper into those arts." Stated the instructor who was known by the codename Tora.

"Mow begin with 3 sets of 50 fifty pushups, crunches, and squats. After that you will each run 5 laps around the training ground which is equivalent to 3 miles. Once you finish that you will begin the wall walking chakra excersise. If you are able to reach the ceiling then continue by walking slower each time you go up and down, until your chakra reserves run dry. Am I understood?" asked Tora with an emotionless tone in his voice.

A chorus of "Hai!" rang throughout the training ground. And so began their training regimen for the day. None of them faltered, and none of them fell behind. No matter how tired they were they carried on. For they were ROOT. They were nothing but tools to be used and tools did not fatigue. It was a whole hour before they all finished and were able to reach a satisfactory level for the time being. After this they were moved to what resembled a classroom and were taught mathematics, strategy, history, and politics. This went on for months. They all progressed and became stronger, faster, and smarter. However one shined amongst all of the others.

This particular student was once known by the name of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze but now went by the codename of Pride. He was able to run faster, push harder, and analyze more strategically. He would have been considered as the perfect tool by Danzo if it were not for his one flaw. His emotions. Throughout the time he had been trained his emotions persisted along with another individual. He needed to find a way to fix this flaw of his but not yet. He still had time. Besides shadows were patient just as he would need to be.

Timeskip: 2 years later

It had been two years since Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze had gone missing from his family. In those two years man things had changed. Kushina had spent the first month or two locked inside of her room crying her heart out for causing her son to feel this way. However after crying for those months she finally straightened out and began training her other two children and training herself. Her husband had done nearly the same as her except due to his duties as Hokage he was unable to leave his duties to another. He mourned at home while put up a front for the village.

The two remaining children of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family had only one goal. To find their eldest sibling so that they could bring him home. They would not ask him to forgive him or to love him. All they wanted from him was for him to come home.

So they trained in order to make that dream that a reality. They knew it would a long time before they would be strong enough but that did not make them hesitate, if anything it encouraged them. The harder they trained the sooner they could get their Nii-chan back home.

When the council found out about Naruto's disappearance none of them felt sorry and very few of the civilian council felt as though this was a blessing. The rest were simply indifferent to this. The few that were foolish enough to cheer were removed from their place on the council and replaced. Minato felt ashamed of those he had once called friends for they had let their fear take control of them and ruin Naruto's childhood just as they had done. Strangely enough Danzo was silent throughout the entire meeting and said not a word.

Minato expected Danzo to tell him to send out his ANBU in order to bring him back and make him a loyal weapon to Konoha. Hell, he had even stopped insisting that Mito and Menma be trained to be mindless drone since Naruto disappeared. Of course Minato was suspicious of this but he had no proof so he had to bide his time and wait for Danzo to make a mistake. After all that was a he could do now besides train his children, his wife, and himself along with sending out ANBU squads every month to search for Naruto.

With Pride (Naruto)

It had been two years since Pride had been admitted into ROOT and since then he had not regretted his decision. He was becoming more powerful with each day that passed and at the rate at which he was progressing maybe one day he would finally see pride in the eyes of his father and mother instead of disappointment along with seeing fascination in the eyes of his siblings instead of fear. (As of this point all the way until he meets his parents again he will be referred to as Pride by those of ROOT and Sound.)

During his stay at ROOT he noticed everyone around him become emotionless drones. All except himself and Sai. They were roommates and brothers. They bleed together, they sweat together, and they trained together. They were the only two that kept their emotions unlike the others but that would come to change that very day.

Pride had been called by Danzo for an important mission. This would be his first mission sine he spent his first two years training until exhaustion. Missions were reserved for those who were above ANBU level in strength and mentality. These missions were reserved for those who were willing to give their lives for Konoha and one day Pride would join them.

"You called for me Danzo-sama?" asked Pride as he went down on one knee and bowed, waiting for further instructions. He received them.

"Yes Pride. As you and the rest of my subordinates know, I have been working with Orochimaru for the greater good of Konoha. He may be a madman but he is one of this world's greatest scientists if not the greatest. I was able to convince him to implant a sort of bloodline into you in order to make you stronger. Now follow me." Stated Danzo as he rised from his throne and began walking. Pride followed him with a quick "Hai." And kept right behind him the entire time. After 15 minutes they arrived at a door that seemed to be covered in stitches. Danzo opened the door and inside the room was a chair with restraints that Pride could only assume was for him. Besides the chair was a table with syringes and scalpels scattered on top. And behind the chair was Orochimaru wearing a medical mask on his face along with a lab coat.

One could basically feel the grin coming off of Orochimaru's face. It was as though the kind of grin Madara would get on is face when fighting Hashirama.

"Welcome Pride-kun. Please sit down." Said Orochimaru as he waited for Pride to do as he was told. Once Pride sat down the restraints automatically strapped down onto his arms and legs and neck. His movement was severely restrained but Pride did not resist since this was for the greater good of Konoha. From behind Orochimaru grabbed a small syringe filled with 10mL of a purplish black color that had the same viscosity as blood.

"Now hold still because this is going to hurt. A lot." Said Orochimaru with a gleeful tone in his voice as he placed the syringe at one of Pride's veins. He injected the substance into Pride's bloodstream and there was an immediate effect. Immediately every single one of his veins began bulging and seemed to have darkened in color. Pride began throwing up red blood with patches of black. His hair was beginning to darken with each minute that passed as he convulsed in his chair. He could do nothing but wait for this pain to stop!

It felt as though his entire body was being set on fire through his blood! It was as though he was being melted from the inside yet the more he threw up the regular colored blood the less pain he felt. However as his blood left him so did the feeling in his heart. Before he felt anger, rage, and betrayal, but now his heart felt nothing but emptiness. He could feel nothing not even the pain that was coursing through his body was felt anymore.

For a few moments he laid completely still and did not even breathe. At first both of the men thought that the boy had died, at least until he began to breathe and lift up his head. They gasped upon seeing the change in the boy's demeanor and physical aspects. His skin had become a sickly grey yet his muscles proved that was not sick. His hair had gone completely black and now reached done to below just below his shoulders. His hair had also gone from the spiky mess it once was to straight and smooth black hair. He grew a full 4 inches in height and looked to be a teenager. And his ears had slightly grown in length and the tips were covered in black fur. His canines now reaching farther past his lips.

While these might have been the most noticeable changes to his body the greatest change were his eyes. His red eyes that once glowed like rubies now held no life. Their piercing gaze no longer showing any emotions, they showed only…emptiness. Today was the day. Today was the day that Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze had finally died and Pride had been born in his place.

"Pride….how do you feel?" asked Danzo, barely able to restraining a grin from being shown on his face. Orochimaru had a similar grin on his face knowing that his experiment was a success and looking forward to all the experiments he would be able to put this ROOT agent through.

"…..My body feels fine if not more powerful due to the substance that Orochimaru injected into me. I have retained no injuries internally nor externally." Responded Pride without any emotion in his voice. He sounded like the rest of Danzo's troops and thankfully retained all of his skills without any foreseeable drawbacks.

"What I meant was how are you feeling emotionally?" clarified Danzo hoping that the serum truly worked as Orochimaru said it would. Unfortunately it worked perfectly.

"…What do you mean by emotionally Danzo-sama? Are emotions not useless to the duties of a ninja?" questioned Pride with a completely emotionless tone and a blank look on his face. Oh the serum worked, all too well.

"Yes they are Pride. Now head back to your living quarters and take a mandatory rest until I send one of your fellow ROOT to wake you for training. Dismissed." Said Danzo as began planning in the inner workings of his mind of when the next experiment should be and what he should have Orochimaru implant into him next time. Oh yes Pride would become the monster he set out to become.

"Hai Danzo-sama." said Pride as he got out of the chair and began walking towards his living quarters that was shared with Sai. It took him less than five minutes to get back there since he didn't have to go at Danzo's walking pace. When he arrived he saw that Sai was drawing in his personal picture diary.

"Hey Pride-nii. So what did Danzo-sama want?" asked Sai with a small smile on his face. However when he noticed the changes in Pride as he closed the door behind him. His eyes widened in shock and he slowly began standing up and approached Pride.

"Pride-nii! What happened to you?" exclaimed Sai worriedly as he looked into his eyes. But when he saw his eyes he took a step back. His eyes…..they were exactly like the other ROOT agents. They were so lifeless and empty and….emotionless. This was not his Pride-nii. This was someone else. Something else.

"…." Pride simply stood there for a few more seconds in silence before moving towards his bed. He laid on the bed and pulled the covers over his head. Sai dared not break the silence and instead chose to sit back down on his bed. However instead of continuing his picture diary he simply sat there with tears flowing down his cheeks. His brother was gone. He had lost another brother.

The next day

Pride was called out of his room and was ordered to meet Danzo in the training ground by one of the ROOT ANBU with the weasel face mask. He arrived at the designated location within minutes. But not without taking one last glance at Sai, noticing how the markings below his eyes signified that he had been crying. He did not understand why Sai had been crying yet he felt as though he should.

However he immediately banished those thoughts from his mind once he stepped inside the training ground. Before him stood Danzo in his ever bandaged glory. Beside him were two instructors each standing at a height of 5'11". One of them wore a weasel mask while the other wore a dog mask. Their codenames were obviously Itachi and Inu respectively.

"Pride these two will be your personal sensei's from now on. They will train you from morning until night. Your only rest will be while you're eating and while you're asleep. They will be teaching you about your new bloodline and teach you how to master it. Understood?" asked Danzo after explaining to Naruto who these two individuals were and what their purpose was. The only response he received was a nod and that was all he needed before he began walking out of the training ground and prepare for the rest of his day.

"Alright Pride-san we will begin by informing you on exactly what your bloodline is capable of and then continue on from there." Began Itachi as he explained with what they would begin with. "Your bloodline is unique only to yourself. No one else in the world has it. This means that there are no jutsu's for it as of yet so almost everything you use this for will be from your own creation."

"Your bloodline consists of a few unique traits. The first one is the ability to make your blood and in turn the rest of your body harder than obsidian. The second part of your bloodline is the ability to heal from just about any wound. The last ability of your new bloodline is that your blood basically becomes a weapon. You can turn your blood into any weapon you so please. You can use as much of your blood as you want since it is virtually impossible for you to bleed out and every drop of blood that you shed from your own body no matter how far away it is from you can still be controlled by you and only you." Continued Inu in the explanation. Throughout the entire explanation Pride showed nothing in terms of emotion. However when they mentioned that he would be able to heal from any wound, he decided to test that theory. He made a slight incision on his left wrist using one of his claws on his right hand. He began to bleed almost immediately but once the black blood began to ooze out it began hardening just as fast. A few of the drops landed on the floor. When they mentioned that he could control the blood that had left his body he decided to try it out as well. He could only make the drops of blood float a couple of feet above the ground and move around a little bit but that was it.

"Hmm. It seems your control of your bloodline is greater than what Danzo-sama had previously anticipated. No matter this simply means that you will become a far more useful ROOT for Danzo-sama and for Konoha far quicker. Now it is time for us to truly begin the training regimen." Stated Itachi as he got into a fighting stance alongside Inu. It seemed as though Pride would be in for a rather interesting training session.

A few months later

It had been a few months since Pride had received his bloodline which had now been dubbed as the Kuroi Chi bloodline. While he had yet to truly master his bloodline he was still frighteningly proficient with it. Before he had used a regular tanto but now he simply used his blood to create a pure black katana that held no hilt. It was of great length considering it reached up to 6 feet with just the blade and another 2 feet with the grip. Like most katana it was slightly curved at the end. Whenever he bled in battle he would simply concentrate and have the droplets of blood become needles that would pierce his opponent(s). However this would take a great deal of his concentration and he would not consider this to be mastered until he could do this with a single thought while in the midst of an intense battle.

If he tried doing so at how he was now then the concentration he was using for his sword would dissipate causing his sword to become a puddle of blood and for him to either get stabbed multiple times or for the blade his opponent was using to break against his hardened skin. Thankfully his healing abilities helped significantly with his wounds but he was not so arrogant as to think that he could simply rely on those healing abilities completely ignore his wounds. So he continued training his other aspects in order to minimize his weaknesses.

If he only used his bloodline then he would be able to take on a B-rank ninja with some difficulty but if he used every ability he had such as ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the like then he would be able to take on an A-rank ninja with some difficulty but he would be able to come out on top. Which was extremely impressive for someone his age. Even Itachi Uchiha was not at this level at Pride's age.

Besides the training Pride had also gone through a couple more experiments thanks to Orochimaru. Most of them were simple blood tests and some exercises in order for Orochimaru to get some data. However thanks one particular experiment Pride no longer needed to sleep at all. Though for some strange reason the dark circles around his eyes continued to form as a sign of a lack of sleep.

Whenever he needs to rest and recover his chakra he simply meditates and uses his sensor skills to extend his reach and continue improving upon it. Currently his reach was around a 50 meter radius which was the equivalent to about 150 feet. This was exceptional for someone his age but Pride always considered himself as inadequate. There was always room for improvement and there would always be room for improvement.

He would hardly ever return to his living quarters and when he did he would simply go for a change in clothes and a shower. He and Sai would rarely even see each other now let alone speak to each other. However every time Sai saw Pride he would have a contemplating and calculative look on his face as though he were trying to figure out the answer to an extremely difficult Physics equation. And the current Pride was the result of the equation with the original Pride being the initial part of the equation and the factors that created the new Pride scattered in between the equation.

Pride was currently sitting down in the center of the training ground trying to expand his reach farther than before. That was when he sensed Danzo approaching the training ground he was currently located at. Thinking that he would send him on another mission Pride ceased his sensoring and stood up at attention. Within a few minutes of being sensed, Danzo had arrived at the training ground and what directly in front of Pride.

"Pride, I have a new mission for you. Your mission will require you to go to Kiri and assist the Rebels there against Yagura. This will provoke a treaty between our two nations and your secondary mission will be to attempt and bring some bloodline users with you so that they may be integrated into ROOT for the continued protection of Konoha. You depart within the hour. Dismissed." Stated Danzo before walking away, not looking back having already known that Pride was already inside of his living quarters preparing his tools for battle. He would have sent other subordinates with him but he knew that if pushed to his absolute limit, Pride would be able to finally and truly master his Kuroi Chi bloodline.

However a frown appeared on his face when he thought about the tool's family and how insisted they were on finding him. He knew it was only a matter of time before they found out about what part he had in all of this. Danzo could only hope that he enough time to complete Pride's experimental training before the Uzumaki-Namikaze's found out about this. He knew better than to fool himself. He knew that the moment they found out about this his life was forfeit, yet he had no plan of surviving after they found out. He did have a plan for a good amount of his ROOT soldiers to survive and reintegrate into Konoha to protect Konoha from her enemies.

With the Hokage and his family

It had been almost 3 years since Naruto had disappeared and so far there had been no evidence that told anyone of where he could be right now. However Minato had a feeling that Danzo might have played a hand in this so he sent two spies to infiltrate ROOT and find out whether or not Danzo had played a hand in his son's disappearance. That old war hawk had been trying to force Minato to give one of his children to the ROOT program so that they may become weapons for the protection of Konoha.

Yet for some reason he had stopped insisting upon that once Naruto had disappeared and that seemed like too great of a coincidence for him. Especially since it involved Danzo. So far his spies had yet to find Naruto or any evidence about him. He wouldn't give up so easily however. He and his family would do whatever they could to find him and get him back.

However at the moment he was to meet with his two spies that had come for their weekly report. At the end of every week the two spies would sneak away and inform the Hokage of whatever new information they had found on Danzo. While he already had enough information to execute Danzo for treason he could not help but admit that while being inhumane the ROOT program was effective. The other reason why he didn't execute Danzo now and kill/capture his subordinates was because any one of them could be Naruto and he didn't want to have to take that risk if he didn't have to.

He approved and disapproved documents for a while longer before Itachi and Inu arrived in their signature Shunshin's. Itachi's being a murder of crows and Inu appeared in what could be considered as Kumo's Shunshin. Except the difference was that his lightning was a pure white color. Too bad that due their Shunshins most of Minato's documents were sent flying across the room causing anime tears to flow down the man's cheeks.

"Oh…ummm…Sorry sensei?" Kakashi chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Itachi simply stood there with his mask on the side of his face as he ate some green tea flavored pocky. No one understood his addiction to the food. Whenever someone stole a piece of his pocky without his permission then you could expect to see them in the hospital in about an hour after the stealing of the pocky.

"Just forget about it. I'll probably just hire some Genin or Chunin to clean this up. Now report before I lose it and decide to beat you two into the ground for this." Threatened Minato as he had at least 3 large veins bulging out of his forehead. Seeing his sensei's ever-growing frustration Kakashi decided to quickly state what they had learned in order to save his ass.

"W-well apparently Danzo has sent Pride out on a mission to help with the war in Kiri. He is to aid the rebels in their fight against Yagura and his followers and if possible to bring back some bloodline users for ROOT." Stated Kakashi in a hurried tone as he blurted out the information. Now up until this point Itachi had remained completely quite except for the nearly non-existent chewing noises. However he decided to tell Minato his suspicions.

"Hokage-sama I believe that Pride could possibly be your son." Stated Itachi as if he were simply talking about the weather. The resulting reaction was exactly what he had anticipated. Minato immediately stopped what he was doing and focused his entire attention onto Itachi while an aura of death surrounded his entire being.

"Itachi, you had better be sure about this because if what you have told me about Pride is true then there will be Hell to pay. Now tell exactly while you think he is Naruto." Ordered Minato as calmly as he possibly could without throwing Itachi into the wall and interrogating him.

"Well first of all though his physical aspects might be different and so is his personality I checked his medical records and found that he had been experimented on by Orochimaru. And as stated in his file his hair changed from a blonde to a black because of the serum and caused his hair to go from spiky to straight. Also his ears have the point that Naruto's had and they now seem to be covered in fur. I have yet to see his face but from the blood sample that I saw, it is extremely likely that Pride is indeed your son." Explained Itachi in an orderly manner.

"And according to the file he now has a bloodline that has been dubbed the Kuroi Chi bloodline. This gives him the ability to turn his blood and by extension his skin harder than obsidian and gives him full control of his blood allowing him to manipulate it to his will. However the negative side-effect from this experiment was that Pride lost all of his emotions and truly believes himself to be nothing but an expendable tool that has an obligation to give its life for Konoha." Continued Itachi noticing the grim look on the Yondaime's face as his hair shadowed his face eyes from view. However one could clearly see the river of tears cascading down his cheeks as he tried to convince himself that this could not be his son that was suffering so much.

Because if it truly was his son then how much was really left of Naruto? And how much was now Pride, Konoha's personal weapon? These were the questions that kept him up late at night, unable to sleep simply staring at the ceiling wondering how all of this could have happened. How he could have let this happened. He was the father and yet he completely ignored how his eldest felt about everything. How could he call himself a father if he let all of this happen?

Yet no matter how much he thought about it, no matter how much he tried to desperately find an answer, he found no answer to any of those questions. He found nothing to comfort him. And that was how he spent the rest of his night.

With Mito

Mito was shifting and turning in her sleep. The covers tightly wrapped around her body as she began to seat and pant in her sleep. Tears began to leak out of her eyes as she began to whimper in her sleep. Almost everything she said was incoherent, however there were a couple words that could be made out. She kept saying "Sorry, Nii-chan, I'm so sorry. Please…please come back."

That was how it was just about every night ever since Naruto left and disappeared. She was so regretful at what she had said to Menma about their elder brother that she never forgave herself and she knew that Menma felt the exact same way even though he never mentioned it. You could see it in his eyes whenever he was training or whenever Naruto was mentioned. During training his eyes lit up with a fire that refused to be quenched. However whenever Naruto was simply mentioned his eyes would be downcast with an aura of guilt and self-loathing. He like the rest of his family never forgot and would never forgive himself for causing Naruto to run away.

This was how every night for the past couple years had gone and this would be how the next few years would pass. Unable to forgive themselves for their mistakes they wallow in their self-pity whenever not training. Yet still the fire burned within them. For they were part of the light burned away the darkness and shed light to the heroes of Konoha.

With Naruto

He had just finished packing up most of his equipment for his long term mission moments before and was leaving the main ROOT base for the first time in five months. As he left the base he noticed that the surrounding area was similar to that of the forests that surrounded Konoha for a few miles. He knew the general direction of where Kiri was so he headed in that direction at his fastest pace. He knew that the longer he took to complete the mission the longer he would have to wait until he could properly train and become stronger. For the climb to strength is all there is. Strength is like a ladder and the climb is all there is. Some climb the ladder and fall never able to recover. There are those who have the ability to make the climb but desperately hold on to their gods or morals. The climb is all there is. The ladder is all that truly exists. The only question is are you willing to take the climb?

And that is the first chapter of Naruto the Pride of ROOT. Now for those of you that are readers of my other two stories you need to know this. The updates will arrive but they will take their time. I am sick and and I am writing three stories at time along with the fact that I have school to go to equals not much free time for myself. And whatever free time I have I mostly spend on typing. Besides this is just a hobby in the end and not my entire life. So if you think that this is all there is then you might want to read the last few sentences of the story. And yes I took that line from Game of Thrones and tweaked it a little bit.

Now while my other stories might be harems and have a fair amount of sex scenes in each of them this story will be different. First of all there will only be one girl in this pairing and she is a femgaara. Still coming up with a name so I would appreciate it if you readers comment on your suggestions for what I should call you.

Also I am putting up a poll that will be left for the comments. Should I have the FemGaara have tanuki ears and a tail? Oh and Tanuki means raccoon by the way for those of you who do not know its translation or meaning. Also later on Naruto will get a secondary bloodline. I will not reveal what it is except for what has already been revealed about so far. As you know this is a Naruto and Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist crossover. While I will most likely not include other characters from these said anime except for the characters that are already within the Naruto universe. Naruto has the black blood or also referred to as the mad blood that Crona has except without Ragnarok. Next chapter won't be out for a while so please just be patient. Please read my other stories and rate and review!

Sayonara!