Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N - 8/27 edit: Hello and welcome! I thought I would put in a little disclaimer to let everyone joining us for the first time know a little bit about what this story is before you jump in. A second disclaimer is that the first three chapters are pretty much total shit, but they are a necessary evil to explain the backdrop of the story. Please note, everything Kakashi says are his intentions for the team and most certainly NOT how things will turn out, for the most part.

So, what is this story? It's a pretty massive Alternate Universe fic where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are all a bit different from canon. I tried to flush out the shinobi world and make it a bit darker, and a bit more honest to the notion of child soldiers, nations openly selling themselves as mercinary fores, assassinations, subterfuge, and widesweaping political machinations. Also, making working economies, an actually thought-out system of training shinobi, intelligent leaders, realistic combat, and severly checked 'power-levels.' This fic is not going to be one big downer, though it will probably feel that way at times. There will be ups, there will be touching moments and bonding and some romance, and there will be a lot of shit that makes you sad and upset.

The first major arc shows our three young heroes thrown from the comfort of the Academy into the harsh and unforgiving shinobi world where death sits at every corner, sex is a weapon, and everyone and everything is a means to an end in a massive political war game.

Rape and torture will happen. Killing will happen (of good people as well as the bad). Heroes will die and be mutilated. Good people will win. Bad people will win. Who is good and who is bad will depend entirely on whose perspective you side with; there will be very very few people in this fic who are evil just for the sake of being evil.

Again, the first three chapters really need some work and eventually I will come back and edit them, but they are kind of a necessary backplot for the story. Chapter 4 is something of a prologue, and the good stuff, the messy embroilio of a plot really begins with Chapter 5.

And a final note on power levels. Anyone can die to knife in the back. The Academy is compitent at producing trained shinobi, but they are only thirteen when they graduate. An Academy student could expect to fight three untrained adults and manage with difficulty. Jutsu will have drawbacks, molding chakra will be hard, performing techniques will require handseals. S-ranked shinobi will not be able to fight entire villages by themselves. All in all, Academy students will be a little bit more compitent, but unlike in the anime and manga, they will not be able to fight chūnin fresh out of the academy. In the same way the Academy is compitent, enemy ninja will be compitent. Most shinobi become chūnin at 18, after years of training, and those who have serious talent will go on to become jounin. The difference between a genin and a chūnin will be large, and the difference between a chūnin and a jounin will be even larger, but this difference is not always in terms of raw strenth. And again, everyone bleeds just the same.

You will not see our heroes becoming amazing ninja overnight. They will slowly develope and hone their skills while overcoming the myriad obsticals in their path, there will be no 'three chapter training montage', save for possibly one exception (and you won't even realize it until it's almost over).

With that out of the, lets get into the story:

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Prologue / Part I

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. Tensions with Iwa had passed the point of no-return it seemed. War was looming. What was worse, Kakashi reflected, was that he was being tasked with instigating it. The Sandaime had insisted that his ploy was the best chance they had of preventing war, but Kakashi suspected it would only further stoke the flame of Iwa's hatred for the Leaf.

Kakashi couldn't help but watch the children playing in the street as he passed them with a pang of regret, in a year they will have forgotten the sound of laughter.

Kakashi pulled out his favorite copy of Icha Icha Paradise, which had been signed by the legendary Jiraiya-sama, and immersed himself in the plight of Yukie-chan trying to warm her heart in the Land of Snow. Kakashi absently noted that he was a full three hours late to his meeting with the apparently bellicose Hokage.

'He can wait,' Kakashi thought. 'Yukie-chan on the other hand is in dire need…' He giggled silently behind his mask. Yes, the Hokage could wait. After all, this would be the last time Kakashi would be able to stroll through the village at peace if everything went according to plan.

The streets were bustling with happy, ignorant villagers. A group of children were playing a ball game. Several vendors were calling out to the crowd hoping to inveigle some patronage. A man was cleaning orange paint off of what Kakashi assumed was his store while muttering to himself about demons and pranksters. Kakashi took it all in; the smell of the village at peace: Pine, Birchwood, burning asphalt, wet paint, window cleaner, a little sweat, dandelion and sakura, steel, and freshly baked dough. The laughter of innocent youth, playful and sometimes mean-spirited, but full of life, rang like sirens in Kakashi's eardrum. It was almost too much. Kakashi caught himself sliding his hand down toward his kunai holster, and instead carefully redirected the offending appendage into his pocket while flipping the next page adroitly with only one hand.

Kakashi tried to return his attention to Yukie-chan and the prince who had just rescued her from a hundred thousand Jounin bandits, but his mind kept wandering to the memorial stone and the three names he would undoubtedly be adding to it; four, if he counted himself. An hour prior Kakashi had traced his finger over Obito's name. He had a bitter taste in his mouth that even Icha Icha couldn't satiate.

Finally he arrived in the Sandaime's office. The secretary nodded him in without a second glance.

"Ah, Kakashi, you're here." The Sandaime said. If he was bothered by Kakashi's lateness he didn't show it. The wrinkles in his face grew and contracted as he blinked.

"Sorry I walked past the Yamanaka Flower Shop but it was closed." Kakashi said.

The room was silent as the Hokage seemed to contemplate the nonsensical excuse. After several puffs of his pipe, the aged legend nodded. "Shall we get down to business then?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Unsurprisingly the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi Clan Head's didn't approve of the idea of their children being used as 'fodder,' as they phrased it."

Kakashi nodded. His first choice had been the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination, but that had always been a stretch. They were the only team Kakashi felt had a chance of survival, which would have been optimal, but the pragmatist in Kakashi had known that their influential fathers would shut down the idea of the three Genin's involvement down. The Sandaime's plan required a team with flawless teamwork, and those three Genin were probably the best chance Konoha had of accomplishing that.

"And Hiashi-sama?"

"He wanted your head for even suggesting his daughter be involved in our ploy."

'When did this become our ploy?' Kakashi thought.

"So who are the unlucky three?" Kakashi sighed. Either these three would spark the Fourth Great Shinobi War, or they would die mercilessly in enemy territory. Probably the latter.

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

It made sense. Haruno's parents were both civillians, although her father had attended the Academy. They had no real clout in the inner-workings of the village. The Uchiha and Uzumaki had no parents to protest their children's involvement with Sarutobi's plan. 'Our plan,' Kakashi reminded himself with a sad half-smile. The three Genin still technically had to accept the plan as an A-ranked mission, but it would not be too hard to convince them to; the young were very easily manipulated.

"Very well, Hokage-sama." 'Forgive me, Minato.'

The Sandaime passed Kakashi four scrolls. Kakashi immediately unsealed the largest of the scrolls, revealing his old ANBU uniform complete with his old Inu mask. He slipped the mask over his face with practiced grace. It felt natural against his skin.

A frown depressed itself upon the Sandaime's weary visage. "I never wanted to see you in that mask again."

"Hokage-sama."

"But the shadow of war looms over this village, and you, Inu, and your Genin squad, must baptize Iwagakure in blood."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The Sandaime nodded once and immediately Kakashi disappeared in a smokeless Shunshin.

Sarutobi grimaced into the silence of his office as he thought of the necessary evil he was about commit. 'Forgive me, Minato.'

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"Beginning today all of you are real ninjas. However you are still merely Genin, the hard part has just started. Now, you will soon be assigned duties by the village, so we will be creating 3 man teams. Each team will be led by a Jounin sensei. Now, Team One…

"…Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Team Eight: Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino your Jounin sensei will be Yūhi Kurenai…

"Okay now you all have a lunch break before you are introduced to your Jounin instructors, except for Team Seven, you guys have to head over to Training Ground 3 right now."

Naruto, upset at being denied his favorite meal of the day, voiced his outrage. "What the hell Iruka-sensei! Why do all the other kids get lunch but an outstanding ninja like me has to go without?" Iruka sighed. The graduates slowly filed out, some curious as to Iruka's reply, others totally oblivious to all but the allure of food and the excitement of finally becoming ninja. Nauto, Sasuke, and Sakura however, sat glued to their seats, all eager to learn why they were being denied such a basic commodity as lunch.

"Your Jounin-sensei must have some influence with Hokage-sama is all I can say, this ritual is pretty standard, so your Jounin instructor must be pretty important. I'd say you three lucked out." Iruka smiled.

"Yata!" Naruto yelled, immediately forgetting his anger and punching his fist up into the air in a show of his excitement. Sakura was holding her hand in a fist as well, obviously pleased with the answer. Even Sasuke had a small smile on his face and a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

"Let's go Sakura-chan!" Naruto reached out to grab her hand, but was repelled by her fist smashing through his face and was sent flying to the other side of the room.

"Baka!"

"Hn." Sasuke stood up and walked out the door. Sakura looked at Naruto's crushed form and admired her handiwork for a second, before realizing that Sasuke was leaving and quickly chased after him.

"Wait for me Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto slowly recovered from the traumatizing blow, stood up, and shook himself off, grumbling about scary women and broken bones. In a sudden moment of clarity Naruto realized that Sakura had long since left and hurried after her.

"Wait for me Sakura-chan!"

The trio arrived at Training Ground three roughly half an hour later, having walked at there at a leisurely pace in a subtle attempt to let their sensei know that they were upset with their lack of lunch. Sakura was desperately trying to catch Sasuke's attention while Naruto tried to put down the Uchiha while simultaneously vying for Sakura's attention. This of course would only invoke Sakura's wrath, which resulted into a quite bruised Naruto by the time the three made it to the clearing.

Training Ground Three was a rather large clearing with a wide river on one side, three stumps in the center of the clearing, and what Sakura recognized to be the Memorial Stone towards the far corner of the field. An ANBU officer was leaning against the right post, apparently watching the three Genin approach. When they were within speaking distance he straightened himself and spoke. "You're late."

"We aren't late you bastard we came straight here from the academy and didn't even ea—" Naruto was cut off from his tirade from Sakura's fist reuniting itself with the back of his head.

"Naruto, don't speak to ANBU-san like that. Sorry, ANBU-san, it won't happen again." Sakura bowed slightly to the ANBU officer who hadn't moved an inch since greeting them. Sasuke just stared at the ANBU with apparent boredom, but a skilled professional would have easily noticed the silent gleam of excitement in his eyes and the nervous tension in his legs.

"Sakura-chan, you didn't have to hit me! I was just standing up to this bastard for you!" Naruto complained.

"Naruto you idiot!" Sakura shouted as she hit the blond with considerable force in the back of his head. "Show some respect!" Naruto brushed himself off then frowned stubbornly before sticking his tongue out at the ANBU.

Naruto was about to respond when the ANBU officer spoke. "Normally, Genin fresh out of the Academy are given a test to determine if they are truly capable of becoming Shinobi. At most, three of the nine teams will pass and become full-fledged Genin while the rest are sent back to the academy for a supplementary year."

"What!? No fair ANBU-san, I can't go back to the academy! I barely passed as it was! Naruto protested.

"You three, however, have caught Hokage-sama's attention. He wishes to assign you three an A-class mission starting tomorrow. If you choose to accept your mission, you will automatically pass this test."

"Yata!" Naruto shouted, already forgetting his prior indignation. "Did you hear that Sakura-chan? We automatically pass and get a super cool A-ranked mission because we are so awesome. It's too bad Sasuke is on this team too huh, he's probably just going to drag us down."

"What was that, dead-last?" Sasuke responded coolly, his eyes never leaving the ANBU officer in front of them. It was strange how much room the man was allowing them for conversation. In Sasuke's past experiences with ANBU they had been straight to the point, allowing no room for debate or discussion. They put the mission above all else, which meant that this ANBU officer's current mission was probably to get them to agree to take on this A-ranked mission, it was the only explanation. What Sasuke could not understand was why the Hokage himself was not telling them of their opportunity to partake in an A-ranked mission fresh out of the Academy. 'There must be something I'm missing,' Sasuke thought. His eyes narrowed at the ANBU officer.

"What's the catch?" Sakura asked, cutting off Naruto's attempt at a rebuttle. She as well had come to the realization that something was amiss with situation, Sasuke noted.

"It is very dangerous. Hokage-sama chose you three specifically because of all of the rookie Geinin teams, Team Seven is only one that has even a chance at success. Hokage-sama is counting on you." The Inu masked ANBU said.

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at that. Of course his team would be picked for this dangerous mission, he was after all, a genius. Naruto's grin threatened to split his face in half and even Sakura was supporting a small smile, though she was obviously ruffled by the apparent risk.

"What's the mission?" Naruto asked. "Do we have to save a princess from a demon or something?"

The ANBU officer remained completely still. "The mission itself is an S-ranked secret, and actually is comprised of two parts. Understand that everything you are about to hear is an S-ranked secret, and if you are caught distributing this information to anyone, even your family or the diary you keep under you bed, you will be executed. This remains true even if you do not accept this mission. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yeah." Sakura managed to make out, shocked at how quickly the conversation had turned deathly serious.

"Good. From here on out you will refer to me as Taicho. When I ask a yes-or-no question, you will respond with: 'Hai Taicho!' Do you understand?"

"H-Hai Taicho."

"Hn."

"What if the answer to your question is no?"

A wave of killing intent washed over the three Genin. In an instant they saw themselves die a thousand deaths, each more brutal than the next. Sakura began shake uncontrollably and cried, Sasuke dropped to his knees and threw up his breakfast, silently thankful that he had not eaten lunch, and Naruto fell backwards, frozen in place for a moment before joining Sasuke in puking up his breakfast. Slowly the three recovered and shook themselves off, realizing they were still alive after all.

"Holy shit, what was that?" Naruto managed to ask weakly.

"You will refer to me as Taicho. When I ask a yes-or-no question, you will respond with: 'Hai Taicho!' Do you understand?" The Inu masked ANBU repeated.

"Hai Taicho." The three mumbled in poor unison.

"Do you understand?" It was not a question, it was an invitation to pain.

"Hai Taicho." It was a slightly better attempt, Kakashi admitted to himself, although it was still pretty disappointing.

"Good. The first part of this mission is a 6 month training excursion, in which I teach you three how to operate as a team and cultivate your individual skills beyond what you thought you were capable of."

That peaked the Genin's interests, six months of training with an ANBU sounded pretty good.

"Genin teams are normally required to perform D-ranked missions to improve teamwork and team coordination while slowly improving team member's individual skills, however, you three will forgo this probationary D-ranked mission period. Instead you will train intensively with me outside of the village for six months, at the end of which, each of you will be promoted to the rank of Chūnin should you complete the second part of the mission; competing in the Chūnin Exams in Iwa. No other Genin from Konohagakure will be given the opportunity to advance, or even participate in this Exam. You will be the only team from Konoha to participate."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Something was definitely wrong, why would Konoha only send one team into Iwa to compete in the Chūnin Exams.

"Why only send one team Taicho?" Sakura asked, obviously thinking along the same lines as Sasuke.

"This is an A-ranked mission. And our sending of only one team, as well as this entire conversation, are considered S-ranked secrets, I feel compelled to remind you. Tensions with Iwa have long since passed their boiling point. War is imminent. We imagine that Iwa will use the Chūnin Exams as a chance to preemptively strike us, killing as many of our promising Genin as they can under the guise of the Exam so when, and if, we retaliate it will appear as if we are attacking unprovoked and Iwa will likely gain the sympathy of Kuso, which is an essential buffer between the Land of Fire and the Land of Stone."

"So you're just sending us to the slaughter? Why send any Genin at all?" Sakura demanded, on the point of hysterics.

"We are still technically allied with Iwa, and sending a Genin team is a sign of good will. As to sending you to the slaughter, you have the completely wrong idea. I am going to dedicate the next six months of my life to transforming each of you into capable assassins. You are not being sent to the slaughter, you are going to be the harbingers of it. Each of you will be strong on your own. However, I will train you to operate flawlessly as a team, and together you will accomplish things that would be impossible for any of you individually. You leave a bloody trail through Iwa that will force them to seriously reconsider ever challenging Konoha again."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, he would be getting personalized training from an ANBU for six consecutive months, and then he would get to test his potential against enemy nin in live combat. This couldn't have gone better for him. Still, he assumed he would have to convince his teammates to accept as well. Luckily they would both be pretty easy to manipulate, Sakura would follow him to ends of the earth with her crush, and the dobe could be challenged into it without any trouble.

"Ne, Taicho, why only send one team though?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura, answer him."

"Hai Taicho. I think it's because it sends a statement. Think about it, most of the Genin participating will probably be much older and more experienced Genin right? Well when they hear that Konoha has only sent one team of rookie Genin—and of course we will release that information, because why else would the Hokage choose us—they will think we are sacrificial lambs waiting to be killed. And then when we blow through the Exam it will make Iwa think twice before engaging Konoha, according to Taicho. Was I right?"

"Pretty much, anything to add Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought about for a minute. "Merchants often watch the Chūnin Exams, when they see how well a single team of rookie Konoha Genin do, it will surely increase Konoha's revenue as well as our standing with Daimyo." Sasuke had actually visited the finals of a Chūnin Exam with his father when he was still alive and remembered his father talking about the political and economic ramifications of the exams. "Also, the village probably loses a lot of revenue by taking an ANBU-member out of active duty for six months, it would be stupid to hurt our economy any more than we currently are in case war breaks out."

"Oh, that makes sense." Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of neck.

"I want you three to notice that even in this conversation you have demonstrated the benefit of teamwork. Naruto noticed a discrepancy, which Sakura was able to analyze to an extent at which point Sasuke was able to finish the analysis. Each of you possess a different skill set and perceive the world in different ways, combining your efforts, even in such a small act as conversation, can lead to brilliant results. Do you understand?"

"Hai Taicho." Team Seven said in awkward unison.

"Good. Any other questions before I continue?" The Inu masked ANBU asked. Sakura hesitantly raised a hand. "Yes?"

"Um…Taicho, isn't there a chance that sending us in there and having us essentially humiliate Iwa will only further provoke war?" Naruto and Sasuke looked at their teammate, completely missing this pretty obvious potential consequence.

"Yes. That is why each of you will be responsible for bringing me the heads of twenty foreign ninja."