Naruto: Don't Die, A Cold Winter Kill

Author's Message: This is just a short story, don't expect it to be full of chapters. It is simply dealing with Naruto, Sasuke, Akira(my character who was introduced in my other fic, Naruto: Sharingan Tears), and Kris(another character introduced in Sharingan Tears) who have become part of Konoha's ANBU group. They are older and have become a five man ANBU squad but something goes wrong on an assassination mission. I know Akira is supposed to be dead in the other story I am writing but who cares, this is fiction, maybe he was raised from the dead, lol. a Alright, let's get this story on!

Chapter 1- For Knowing It's Too Easy

The reign of sun had ended in Konoha, now the snow started to slowly poor in signifying the winter season. Even though the cold had consumed the village everyone seem to not really notice, they were still wearing their traditional clothes as if the cold didn't bother them at all. In the Ramen Bar sat its usual customer, Uzumaki Naruto, who had four bowls sitting in front of him, he could eat more but his wallet was beginning to show a big hole thus he cut back on the ramen and instead bought Insta-Noodles which was much cheaper and still satisfyed his hunger. ANBU missions were at a low now-a-days, that made him happy and at the same time mad, no missions meant no pay, and no pay meant no ramen. But other people had more important things to worry about. A recent attack on the village by an unknown ninja who wore no headband had caused a few structures to need some rebuilding. Of course Naruto didn't really care, he usually just went into the woods to train by himself, his daily routine.

On the other side of the village Sasuke was getting a briefing on his ANBU squad's next assignment. Tsunade made it clear to him that the mission was to be secret and the town was not to know that it was the Leaf who attacked. "You will not bring your headbands, your masks are all you need. Your traditional uniforms are fine, just keep in the shadows. Go notify the rest of your team, you must leave at sunset." Sasuke nodded and left the Hokage's office. The mission was a simple assassination assignment in a small town that harbored a small group of missing-nin. The ninjas called themselves The Still Water, mainly because their leader was from the Mist village. As Sasuke passed the many shops and homes in the village he was trying to see in his mind the image of where his next mission was. It was unlike the Leaf to issue missions such as this, but the leader of The Still Water was very dangerous and they needed to end his group before they launched a full-out attack on some village or town.

After Naruto, Kris, and Akira got news of their new mission they immediatley went to their homes to change into their ANBU uniforms. They all looked almost identical except for the masks and weapons that they held. Their uniforms consisted of a black jumpsuit, a white body armor vest and a mask based on some type of animal. Sasuke's mask was of a bird while Naruto had a tiger mask. Akira wore one that resembled a fish and Kris was wearing a dog mask. Akira and Naruto had two short blades as their weapons and Sasuke and Kris used swords. They met up in a forest just before the sun set and in joined in a moment of silence. After this they did their ritual prayer, "In our next assignment we ask the spirits to protect from harm. Bring us back safely to the village from which we came. We ask that none get hurt, only those of evil shall die. If any of us gets hurt, in our final moments please teach us how to die..."

"Alright, let's do this. Are you guys ready?" Naruto asked enthusiastically as he started off in the direction of their mission.

Sasuke was completly annoyed by Naruto's feelingless sentence. After all, they were going to kill someone, "Shutup you idiot. Let's go." Akira almost laughed at how mad Sasuke got over Naruto, but he didn't want to cause a fight so he just followed Sasuke silently. Kris followed behind the group, as quiet as can be. The snow seemed to be all over the place. As they passed through the forest and even when they arrived in the next country they found it was still very snowy. Of course they were in the Wave country, a country that was always cold so snow wasn't uncommon.

The town they were to go to was a small one. It wasn't very interesting, very normal, or so it seemed. In its snowy forest was a hidden base underground. The entrance was cover by leaves, and now snow also. It was hard to find for the ANBU squad, markings on a nearby tree practically gave away the base. The four of them went to work brushing aside all of the snow and leaves that blocked them from entering the base. When they finally cleared everything they found a large wooden door. As they pulled it up it revealed a very dark corridor below. It was time for them to take out their rope. They attached their rope to a skinny tree that didn't seem to hold up well to the weight but was good enough for a quick ride down the rope. When they reached the bottom they found that the corridor really didn't have any light at all, they had to rely on their senses to navigate in it.

Sasuke didn't like anything about the corridor. It was as if a trap was awaiting them at the end. Everything seemed too easy. The tree, the entrance, and now the non-resistance of enemies. Something could be wrong but he could just be too paranoid about the situation. Everone else was calm, why shouldn't he be?

"Everyone stop! Someone's coming!" Kris whispered, sure enough the sound of footsteps were heard. A small light in the distance could be seen, the light got brighter and brighter to reveal to men holding torches. They were unaware that the ANBU were there but they would find out soon if the team didn't find somewhere to hide. The team looked everywhere but the corridor had no doors or anything to hide in. Sasuke was calm still and was thinking of all the options. One was to retreat and the second was to fight. But another idea came into his mind, the special jutsu that was taught to all ANBU in training, camouflage. With a few hand seals he was now invisble to the human eye. The rest of the team did the same. As the men got closer the team practically held their breath. Even though they were blended in with the walls they were still dealing with top-tier ninjas, would they be able to sense their chakra? The answer seemed to be 'no' as both ninja passed the group without hesitation. The ANBUs let out a huge sigh and continued forward still in camouflage form.

"WHAT THE HELL!" this exclamation was heard throughout the corridor. The team realized then that the two men had reached the entrance of the base and found the ropes and the uncovered wooden door. A sudden rush back towards the ANBUs' direction was heard. The group didn't know what to do, the end of the corridor could be far from where they were, and if they battled they wouldn risk the chance of being identified.

"You guys go, I'll take them. Naruto take these." Akira said as he took off his Anbu mask and vest to show the men that he was not a special intruder.

Naruto was ready to battle but decided not to risk the mission, he took the two articles of clothing and dashed off. Sasuke and Kris gave him a nod of good luck and went after Naruto. Akira was not sure what was going to happen, but he knew he would have to fight hard.

Sasuke was mad at himself. His seemingly paranoid thoughts turned into a reality. He wanted to go back and help, but it would do no good if he was to seperate the team in half. For some reason he thought that Akira would end up dead. But ANBU were strong, he would be fine. Cheers for knowing it was too easy...

Author's Message: Hope you liked that. There will be more later. This story will probably be around 4 chapters long. I've always wanted to do something with the older version of Naruto and Sasuke since the manga isn't really into the older part of their lives yet, so here it is. Reviews would make me happy if you guys could do that, that is all I need.