Of Computers And Tailed Beasts

As the train came to a stop, the monotone female sound was heard in all the coaches. "Passengers, we have reached the Konohagakure Station. The train will be halting here for about half an hour. Passengers switching to the…" and so on. However only the first part of the announcement caught the interest of our blond hero. Naruto Uzumaki snapped up in his bed. "Yosh, I'm here. I thought my legs were gonna fall off from sitting on this bed". He said to no one. Naruto opened the door to his compartment (to the relief of the other passengers there.) He picked up his travel pack and moved out. The doors were already open and Naruto was out to the bustle of passengers who were coming in and moving out through various gates. Being somewhat of a crowd's person, Naruto was pumped by all the commotion, which was a staple of all subway stations. So this Konoha huh….Pretty neat even if I say so. Naruto thought. Well places to be and people to meet. The blond exited the subway and moved to the road. He put his hand out for a taxi and a taxi halted soon. Entering the taxi, he told the driver. "Will of Fire IT solutions Please"

"Yes Sir." came the reply.

As the car moved, Naruto was observing the city and so far it seemed pretty nice. It was really quite the beautiful place. There seems to be lots of parks and gardens about this place. Not that I am complaining. I did always like a bit of green. As they continued it seemed they had reached some sort of residential area. Cottages and flats lined the area. Again parks were present every here and there. "You people sure have a lot of parks" Naruto commented. The driver's face had a smile. "Of course sir, we are the village hidden in leaf. The entire city is built on a hill and the hill used to be a thick forest. Why? Even now the city is surrounded by forests in all other sides. Since the IT industry here needs a lot of dust free environment, the prefectural government won't allow any logging around here" The car went uphill till it reached the very top of the hill. A large if not somewhat worn out building stood there. The sign at the gate read "WILL OF FIRE IT SOLUTIONS". The taxi stopped. Naruto got out and paid the man.

Moving into the building, Naruto came to the desk. Another blond appeared to be manning the reception there. "What can I do for you sir?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki.I have an appointment with Mr. Hiruzen Sarutobi , the company president."

The woman in purple pant suits opened a register and browsed through. She replied "Oh, you are just on time. The president is just done with the board meeting, I'll tell him you are here. Please wait here" and she went in.

Naruto turned around and saw a couple of sofas, again rather worn out. Man…if even the reception is worn out, the company must be in pretty bad condition. I have work cut out for me. The lady came back.

"Mr. President will meet you know. His office is the first on the right corridor." she said in a crisp smart manner.

"Ok. Thanks" and he left.

This guy looks very relaxed and there were no stiff "Thank you"s. I wonder why he is here. This was going on the receptionist mind.

Meanwhile Naruto had opened the door and entered. Compared to the reception which was built modern, even if a bit weary. This room was purely traditional. The floor was tatami and there were giant calligraphy written on white paper all over the place. The only indication that this was the office of an IT company president was a computer on an office desk at far corner of the room. It looked pretty odd in such a traditional Japanese room. Naruto walked to the desk and saw Hiruzen Sarutobi, the legendary programmer of the flamestraw programs. The flamestraw were the beginning of the new IT age and Hiruzen as it progenitor was called the Professor for his superior knowledge among all thing IT. Naruto's face broke into a grin when he saw the man. "Jiji, how do you do? Is your health keeping up old man?" He asked cheerfully. "I am keeping well my boy. How are you? I heard you were with the Will of Lightning group? I was surprised when you asked for an appointment."

"Ya, I was there, but you know me Jiji. My ways don't go well with theirs so I quit. Then I remembered your offer. So I immediately mailed you for the appo. So, is your offer still up? Can work with you?"

This seems to have cast a shadow on Hiruzen's face. "The offer is always up my boy and the position you wanted is empty too, but I am not sure how long you can stay Naruto-kun."

"Why? What's wrong Old man?"

"This company is a sinking ship Naruto. You know our History. We are at the verge of closing down itself. That's what the board meeting was all about. Would anyone pull themselves into a sinking ship?" Each word seemed to make the man look older and more miserable.

Naruto gave him a bright smile "Sure would old man. And if you are sinking, what's the harm in me trying?"

Hiruzen looked up. He seemed to be thinking. Soon he made up his mind and rung the intercom. "Ino-kun the board members Koharu, Homura and Danzo must still be here, can you call them back to my office."

"Yes sir"

A short while later two men and a woman entered the room. "What happened Hiruzen why did you call us back?"

"Board Members, I wanted your approval for hiring Uzumaki Naruto-kun here to our company. Have a look onto his resume. I think you will find it interesting."

"Oi old man I'm standing here you know." Naruto added.

The three board members were obviously not happy with the informal way greeting and opened the resume with distaste. They skipped straight to the academics and experience. After some minutes Koharu spoke first.

"Quite the interesting Resume, made it to the International Institute Of Informatics, world's leading IT college but came as dead last and barely passed the three years. However is the winner of the prestigious Chemdard Award for all three years. Can you explain how that happened?"

An embarrassed looking Naruto started scratching his head and answered "My marks sucked cause all the definitions and laws were driving me crazy, but for the award it was purely application so I made it…. At least I think so. I met old man here at the award ceremony and he offered me a job here if I wanted" He said pointing to Hiruzen.

Danzo was the first to talk. "Hiruzen. It is because of your this nature of picking up young pass outs instead of the experienced that we are closing down, You and your ridiculous policies will be the downfall of the company."

"You have decided to close this place down in one year if we don't generate 4 million ryo in profits. So what is wrong in letting him trying?"

Homura and Koharu relented "That is fine. You can hire him. If you don't make the target, we will sell our shares to Danzo and let him takeover. By the way, I thought you already manned the development department completely. Who will you fire to place this person?"

"How thoughtful of you Koharu, Don't worry, I'm not firing anyone. He will be the Assistant Sales Manager; Ao-Kun resigned his post last year and its still empty". Naruto thought he heard a slight sarcasm in his bosses voice.

"What? Isn't he supposed to be a genius programmer or something?" It was Homura this time. "why is he in the sales?"

"Naruto-kun seems to like working in the sales department only. So I'm placing him there."

"Whatever Hiruzen, at least try to cut the losses by the time you close" Koharu hit back.

All the time Danzo was silent. He finally spoke up. "Naruto Uzumaki, Your name is often put together with another rumor. Do you really have it with you?"

Naruto smiled "Yes, I do"

Danzo looked surprised "Hiruzen, is that why you brought him here? To unleash it against our enemies"

Hiruzen looked pale. "Gods! No! It should stay destroyed. Naruto-kun is very talented. That is why I invited him, not for any other reason behind it"

"What are you talking about?" Koharu and Homura had not seen Danzo and Hiruzen that pale together.

It was Naruto who answered. "The strongest of the Nine Notorious Viruses, the Kyuubi."

Now it was their turn to go pale. The kyuubi was such a phenomena, the greatest Virus ever created. Orgin - No idea Programme used - No idea. An utter enigma. A virus that could thwart the strongest defenses of the computer world like they didn't even exist. And also, the cause of the downfall of Will of fire group. Will of fire was the leading Software designers at that time, and they were led by a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy, Minato Namikaze, when kyuubi hit the company, it crashed through their entire server, even infiltrating into many of the softwares developed for swiss banks and many other prestigious clients. Minato, after nearly a month, was able to halt its spread and using a programme that destroyed millions of terabyte worth of company data along with the virus itself. The losses were too much and unable to carry on with his shame, he had comitted suicide. That was the start of the fall of the group. Even when the previous Director, The Professor had returned, the company had lost its reputation. A defaming campaign by rivals also did its own damage and now the company was on its last knees.

Hiruzen hastily said "That was all director board members, I thank you" They got the message A polite please-get-out. They moved out.

"Well, we got that out of the way. No we have some paperwork for you Naruto kun. Shall we?"

A grueling hour of filling forms later, Naruto was given his contract to read. He drifted quickly through it and whistled. "For a company on its last knee, you pay pretty well Jiji"

"It was the first Director's wish Naruto-Kun, he wanted his workers to be well paid and so I continue it"

Naruto signed both the copies of the contract and handed it over to Hiruzen who signed them and returned a copy. He put his hand out and shook Naruto's.

"Welcome to the Will of Fire Group, Naruto"