A/N: Hello all, I am sorry for the repost but I noticed when I post this the first time word left all my corrections in the documents I was posting. Weird, well I hope I fixed the problem… so here it is again, please tell me what you think in a review it would be really appreciated.

Prologue

It was over. It was finally over. The Kyuubi had been sealed in this little baby boy sleeping quietly in his arms. He had the unfortunate privilege to watch the boy's parents give up their lives for the child's survival. His honor demanded he make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain. Loathed as he may be to go forward with this plan, it was the best shot at saving the boy from Danzo and the rest of Konoha. Never had such distaste for his village welled in his heart; even now their cries for the "demon's" death rung in his ears.

Where was that damn Jiraiya? If he did not hurry they would have to quickly come up with a new plan. Moving quickly to the window he spotted Danzo outside heading into the Hokage tower with his tired gait, relying heavily on his cane for support. Damn. One of the few times Jiraiya decided to be late and it had to be now. He understood though. Hearing news of your student's death—particularly a student as seemingly unstoppable or undefeatable as Minato had been—was no doubt a devastating even that merited some contemplation. Sighing he pushed away from the window and sat at his desk waiting for the up-and-coming battle with the war hawk that he once saw as his nakama.

"Sorry I'm late, had… well I just had to take care of some things."

Sarutobi quickly turned to the window he had just been peering through and saw Jiraiya looking like a kicked puppy. Instantly, the reprimand he'd prepared for Jiraiya's lateness left him. Sure when Orochimaru had lost his family he was there with comforting words to help the boy through the pain. When Tsunade had lost her brother and her lover he was there for her to vent her frustrations. Jiraiya...well, Jiraiya was a different story all together. He had never seen Jiraiya let anything get to him. Not even when Orochimaru and Tsunade left had he shown the slightest inkling that it affected him

So Sarutobi did the only thing he knew would work when dealing with Jiraiya. He got straight to the point. "Jiraiya I have a mission for you."

Jiraiya looked up to send a glare at his sensei. How dare he ask him to do a mission right after-! He cut himself off of his rant, after seeing who Sarutobi held in his arms. "I-Is that…"

"Yes Jiraiya. Meet your Godson and your mission, Namikaze Naruto."

"Namikaze Naruto?" Jiraiya asked unsure at what to say at first. Apparently they were serious about naming him after the main character in his book.

"For now. It will change once the mission starts."

Instantly he understood, looking back at the boy realizing he wouldn't let the same fate that befell Naruto's mother transfer to the boy. He would not let him suffer. "What must I do Sensei?"

Sarutobi could only smile as he looked over at his all-seeing ball to see that Danzo was almost half way up the tower. Pulling open his top drawer swiftly, Sarutobi retrieved some scrolls, a satchel the size of Jiraiya's leg that looked like it would burst at the seams, and finally a long case that his student recognized instantly. He watched as Sarutobi inspected the scrolls one by one before stuffing them into the satchel, the rushed task punctuated only by the sound of stitching tearing slightly with rough handling.

"The scrolls hold both his parent's family jutsu, the satchel also holds the money that his parents left him, and we both know what's in the case. His mother would want him to have it."

Jiraiya nodded before looking at what lay before him. "The real question is what do you want me to do with these things?"

Sarutobi looked at his ball once again. About ten minutes. "Jiraiya, your mission is to take one Namikaze Naruto to the orphanage of U~indofurawā no sato *."

"Wh-Wait a minute old man! He's the heir of a Hokage, you can't just-!"

"I'm sorry Jiraiya, this has to be done and we don't have much time. The enemies inside the village are already moving. Please just trust me."

Jiraiya nodded resignedly, grabbing the things off the desk before moving over to Sarutobi, and taking his burden from his sensei's arms. Opening the window Jiraiya prepared to depart. "I hope you're right about this sensei." He didn't even look back.

Sarutobi just stared at the empty window for a moment. "You and me both." He turned back to his desk and pulled out some paperwork to fill out and look busy with. It certainly failed to keep the agonizing silence of his wait from tormenting him. Finally the soft tapping against his office door hit his ears. "Enter!"

Danzo walked in, expecting to see Sarutobi coddling the baby Jinchuuriki, and instead found himself surprised, not that he would ever show it, to see the man behind his desk working diligently on the paper work that ever plagued those in high offices. "Where's the boy… Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi looked up from his work to eye Danzo carefully before setting his pen down. He reached across his desk, grabbing his pipe and bringing the end to his mouth. Taking in a deep breath and letting a few puffs of smoke escape between his lips in order to collect himself before he decided to address the man staring him down. "He is no more."

Danzo shifted uncomfortably, the only sign that the answer affected him. "What do you mean?"

"I have decided to follow through with the wishes of the village and have put the boy…down." He hated himself a little more for that one.

"Hmm," Danzo raised and dropped his cane with a loud tap. "Good… Good."

"Is that all Danzo?"

The man's one lone eye leveled a calculating gaze at Sarutobi before he shook his head and turned to leave. "Pity though, the boy would have been a fine asset to the village."

After Danzo left, Sarutobi once again turned to stare out the window. "You have no idea how true your words are Danzo. But one day he will return and surprise us all. It's in his blood after all." He turned away from the window to look at the past Hokage's on the wall landing on the last picture. "Please forgive me Minato, it's the best I can do for him with all that I have."

With that the third put down his pipe and leaned back in his chair praying to whatever was out there that everything would work out for the best.

Chapter 1

Jumping From rooftop to rooftop at speeds that he deemed safe in Manjushage no mura* was always a good way to clear his head. Nothing was better than running freely through the air without a care in the world, the wind whipping through his hair and against his face. Unfortunately the weight on his heart couldn't be lifted by such frivolities. He had just walked by a butcher's stand when he had smelled the smell of one of the pork legs hanging from the stands roof when it happened: he made a rash decision. He didn't know what came over him, he had never stolen something so big and at the moment he was regretting it whole-heartedly. It was a lot heavier than he had thought and adding chakra to his hands didn't seem to help him keep a grip on it. It also didn't help that the butcher himself was a retired shinobi and hot on his trail.

Jumping to another rooftop he looked behind him just in time to see a butcher knife flying towards his head. Putting wind to his hands he pushed upwards, sending himself down to the ground in between the two buildings. Once on the ground he looked up to see the butcher jumping from off the walls of the buildings he had just fallen in between. The butcher was quickly making his way down to his level and he wasn't going to stand here and wait for him to do so. He took off towards the crowd in the middle of the square hoping to lose the butcher in it. He would have made it too if a bandaged arm hadn't appeared out of nowhere. He tried to lean backwards to avoid collision but only ended up leaving himself open to a devastating elbow-drop. The unexpected blow caused him to lose his footing as well as his breath following a rough impact with the ground.

He opened his eyes to glimpse the assailant briefly before having to shift his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the butcher's knife now imbedded into the ground where his head had been. Rolling to his feet he turned to run but got jerked back by a firm grip tugging on his shirt collar. He tried to add chakra to his feet and jump but the same hand brought him rattling back to earth. He looked up barely catching the man adjusting the bandages on his arm. He shook his head feeling like his energy was vanishing, something he's never experienced before. He pushed himself onto his butt looking up to see the butcher stomping his way towards them. Once again he tried to get up only to get pulled back down with a grunt.

"Ha! Seems like you got caught you little bastard." The butcher said wiping off the blade of his butcher knife on his apron as he got closer to the boy.

"Seems that the fat doesn't slow you down at all either." The boy said grumbling as he glared up at the old bandaged man holding onto him still.

"What did you say you little bastard." The butcher raised his hand that held his knife. He went to swing it down only for it to be caught in the old man's other hand. The man glared at the man only for his face to drop in fear. He instantly collapsed to his knees in a bow with his forehead maybe centimeters from the ground. "Danzo-Sama! I'm sorry I didn't know that he was one of yours."

"He's not mine, yet." The old man squinted his un-bandaged eye eyeing the boy. "What is your name boy?"

A discourteous grunt was the only response. The butcher stood quickly and his foot shot out kicking the teen in the side causing him to roll over in pain. "Danzo-Sama is speaking to you, answer you little orphan shit."

"You fucking fat fuck! Holy Kami!" the teen rolled on his back giving Danzo a better look at him. He had strawberry blonde hair that was almost orange in color, too dark for what Danzo had in mind, but he could fix that, his eyes were blue enough, and they could always etch in the whisker marks with a knife if need be. He smile he was perfect for this, well not as good as Atsui but good enough to put a competitive streak in the other boy's talkative ass. With the other two that he gathered, one from Kumo and the other from Iwa, he figured he had enough to start putting his plan in action.

"What orphanage are you from boy?"

The boy just glared at him until the butcher kicked him again. Well tried to at least. The boy caught the butcher's foot and with a kunai sliced behind his knee cap. Rolling away as he did this, the boy grabbed the leg of meat he had dropped earlier and ran like a bat out of hell.

Danzo watched the boy disappear through the crowd. "Hmm interesting." He turned to the butcher, who was now on the floor screaming as he gripped the back of his knee. He shook his head and stepped over the man as he snapped his fingers and pointed in the direction the boy had ran to.

- - - - - - - (-) - - - - - - -

What the hell was going on? He could sense two people currently following him. It was really creeping him out right now that these two had been following him for the last three hours nonstop. As if just responding to that thought, the two figures' presence drifted off to the left before vanishing completely from his senses. He stopped his movement and hid in the trees on the side of the road for a good hour before he deemed it safe and left his perch. God, the other kids were going to be pissed at him for getting back so late with the meal. He sighed in frustration as he faced the village and headed home.

He was cautious on his way, making sure that he wasn't being followed and sometimes backtracking just to make sure. He didn't need to bring that kind of attention to the others. He was almost home when he noticed that the orphanage was really quiet. The orphanage he knew was always noisy during waking hours; no this was highly uncharacteristic. He slowed down his pace cautiously heading to the front door. He reached for the handle slowly, stopping when he heard noise on the other side. He sneered at the noise knowing that it would be an ambush of some kind. Either from the head lady or from some unknown force.

Taking a deep breath he turned the door handle and let it swing open slowly. The smell of blood hit him hard. Taking a step back with his eyes widening, he stepped in quickly running towards the room where he stayed and instantly stopping in his tracks at the sight that awaited him.

Sitting on his bed was the old man from earlier spinning his cane in his hand carelessly. He looked up at the boy, keeping his features straight for a few seconds before his one visible eye tightened into a glare.

"So, Nagato was it." The man spoke as if bored of the situation.

Nagato let a kunai slip from his sleeve jacket reading himself for whatever this old man had in store.

"Put that down." He stopped spinning his cane lifting it slightly before slamming it down. His glare deepened when Nagato didn't budge. "At least you have brains. More than I could say for the others that lived here."

Nagato tightened his grip on the kunai, but stayed put biding his time. He looked from the corner of his eyes to the left then quickly to the right. He looked back at the old man who now wore a smirk.

"I see you sensed my friends. Good." He stood, the smirk disappearing as fast as it had appeared. "You are mine now. You will come with me, you will do as I say, you will wear what I say, and you will do it all without question do you understand." It wasn't a question it was a statement. "You have nothing left here, so you have no choice."

"When do we leave?" he asked through clenched teeth, slipping the kunai back in his sleeve.

They rode in a wagon which was unusual in his experience, but, perhaps, not as odd as his company. There were three other boys in the wagon with him. The boy with the longest hair went by the name of Deidra. Next was a boy name Atsui, who kept talking about his sister and how he was going to make her proud. The last was a boy that went by C, who kept saying he was destined to be the third strongest ninja from his village. With the boys that lined the wagon, Nagato didn't have a clue on what was going on. Each of the shared a similar quality with two others in the group. They all were a little loud in the personality department, C being the quietest one. There was blonde hair between the other three his being orange was the only difference, but that could be easily remedied. Three of them had blue eyes, C being the only one that had brown.

What was this mad man trying to do?

Given the similarities in their appearance it seemed he was looking for somebody specific, or maybe replace them…but who would this old man go to such lengths to replace? The wagon they were riding started to slow down. As it came to a complete stop the sound of someone jumping down from the front, accompanied by a slight shaking of the wagon, met their ears followed by the a faint set of footsteps trailing away. Nagato leaned back against the tarp covering the wagon so he could hear better. As another person appeared to now be steadily approaching the back of the card, the footsteps only stopping when he must have been right outside. The unwilling traveler leaned forward and waited patiently for whoever was coming their way. The back flap swung open revealing a man with spikey silver hair and half of his face covered by a mask, and a forehead protector with the leaf symbol covering his left eye.

"Get out," was all he said before letting the flap fall back in place. The four boys looked at each other before they lumbered out of the wagon. Danzo was a couple feet back from the exit and the other man was setting up the camp fire, dropping logs in a pit.

"Have a seat." Danzo struck his cane against the pile of logs once the other man had completed his task and they were set aflame instantly. "You all know me, I am Shimura Danzo, the other gentlemen before you is Hatake Kakashi, and there are two other gentlemen at the estate that will be waiting for our arrival. What I have planned is dangerous, but at the same time is a necessity to cut out the weakness of Konoha. So I decided I'm going to give you a choice." He laid his cane down beside him and stared at the four. They all looked at each other before slowly sitting down on the other side of the fire in front of Danzo. "We are going to be doing something that borders on… treason. We will be training one of you to be Namikaze Naruto the heir to the past Hokage."

Nagato's eyes widened in shock. This was not good.

"So to do this, I need at least one of you. You will no longer be C, Nagato, Deidra, or Atsui. You will be Naruto. However if you want you can leave now." He picked up his cane and pointed behind him. "You just go that way for 12 miles and you're back to the village we just left from. Just forget that we ever met and you can be on your merry way."

The way he smiled after he said that sent chills down Nagato's spine. He knew instantly that whatever this guy said was not to be trusted. No one moved for a while, then the other three began to shift uncontrollably as the uncomfortable silence began to get to them. Finally Atsui stood before bowing deeply to Danzo.

"Thank you for this opportunity but to not be able to see my sister again would bring me too much pain. I am sorry but I will take my leave." He stood up straight and stared at the old man until he gave him a nod. They watched him walk behind Danzo slowly, once he was a good five feet away he picked up his pace until he reached a light jog. Nagato kept his eyes on Danzo who just kept looking at the remaining three that still sat before the fire.

"Atsui, come back!" Nagato spoke up not letting his eyes leave Danzo.

Atsui stopped and turned to look at the group once more. "I can't. I'm sorry, but my family is waiting for me to come home. I shouldn't have left in the first place I see that now and I know I am going to be in hot water with my sister when I get back."

"You can't leave."

"Hey kid I'll leave when I want to leave."

"That's not what I mean, what I mean is-."

Finally Danzo's eyes shifted to Kakashi.

"Atsui get down now!"

"Wha-?!"

In an instant, almost to the point that Naruto couldn't follow, Kakashi's hand moved. Nagato looked to where Atsui had been only to see that he was now laying on the ground face first with a Kunai protruding from his chest.

"It's a shame that he didn't listen to you, Nagato-kun, He was the one I had the highest hopes for too." Danzo had not even turned to see what the outcome had been still looking forward at the three remaining in front of him. "Don't be fools. I just said that what we are about to do is nearly treason. If you are not selected to be Namikaze Naruto then you will die, you will not exist, and no one will know or care after we are done. Now eat, pack up camp and get back in the wagon. You have twenty-five minutes then we go straight for the estate no more stopping."

They watched the older man stand and walk back to the wagon. Deidra and C quickly began to eat, while Nagato just stared at where the man had gone. He looked to where Atsui's body lay to see Kakashi standing over it. He watched the man do quick hand seals before a stream of fire left his mouth and covered Atsui's body. Once he was done burning the body he began to bury the ashes. He turned away from the site and began to eat himself as he stared into the fire with a faraway look.

"It was cool and all that you tried to save him and all Nagato, yeah. But, if either of you two get in my way, I kill you before you get the chance to even impress the old man, yeah." Deidra spoke between bites.

"Ch, I'd like to see you try." C spoke back now glaring at the taller teen.

Nagato simply stood and began to pack up camp. He grabbed the bucket, which had been sitting next to where Danzo was sitting, and dumped the water onto the fire. Watching the fire sizzle out, he knew he must focus himself entirely on survival, lest he be extinguished like too.

He tried not to think too much of the situation at hand. It was awkward enough without him over thinking it. He shifted a little at the two pairs of eyes trying to burn a hole between his shoulders. The wagon finally came to a stop once again, meaning they had reached their destination and he would be saved from the ever-intensifying glares of the other two boys. He sat up and once again Kakashi opened the flap of the wagon telling them to get out. Nagato didn't want to waste any time and it didn't help that he was really getting tired the silent hostility. He jumped out of the back and took in his surroundings.

The site of endless trees down in the valley, as he sat on top of a hill, met his eyes. It was beautiful to look at to say the least. He let a smile grace his lips before hearing the other two climbing out of the wagon. He quickly killed the smile and turned to look at the Shimura estate. It was huge, to be expected of a councilmen of Konoha. He looked over at Kakashi who had an orange book out and seemed so into it that he wouldn't notice anything. Nagato knew better, however.

"Come."

Nagato looked over at Danzo who was already walking into the estate's gates. He followed the slow pace of the old man which he could tell was to let them get a view of where they would be staying for however long this ridiculous plan took. It wasn't anything extravagant, it seemed like the man really didn't care about the place. Stepping inside wasn't much different. A picture here and there was pretty much all that made it look like someone actually ever stayed here. As they stepped into the lobby, Danzo raising his hand for them to halt. The lobby was huge, with couches lining each wall and a fancy stairway that went up then split into a 'Y' to a balcony that lined the 2nd floor. Danzo walked to the foot of the stairway and turned to face the three. He slammed down his cane and two men appeared on either side of him.

"To my left is Ryuho Mizuki, he will be teaching you history and basic Ninja knowledge." The man was almost as tall as Kakashi with silver hair, but instead of spiking up his hair laid flat almost reaching his shoulder. "You have met Kakashi already; he will be teaching you taijusu, ninjutsu, and some kenjutsu. To my right is Yamanaka Santa, he is the keeper of this place and will show you to your rooms. Get some rest tonight, because tomorrow is when everything begins."

Danzo and Mizuki vanished as Santa stood to his feet. "Follow me." They followed him up the stairs leading to the first room which Nagato quickly claimed for the big window. He was about to fall on the bed when an arm grabbed him and turned him around.

Nagato came face to face with a boy no older then him with a plain face, black hair and eyes and no emotions what so ever. "You will take a bath first before you ruin any of Danzo-sama's stuff." He pushed a towel into Nagato's arms and pushed him towards another door that Nagato hadn't even noticed before. He opened it to find that it led to a miniature hot springs bath. He smiled as he dropped his orange clothes and towel before stepped into the warm water. He let the hot water relax his muscles as he himself began to relax. No! He couldn't relax, not while he was in this house. He needed away to ensure he was chosen as Naruto. He had to stop Danzo from whatever he was planning.

He was in the bath for a good twenty minutes before he stood and reached for his towel. Getting out he noticed that his clothes had gone missing. Quickly stepping into the room he spotting the guy from before standing by the bed that had a pair of black clothes laying on it.

"My name is Sai, I will be your escort throughout your stay here as well as your sparring partner." Sai picked up the clothes and tossed them to Nagato. "Put those on dickless."

"What do you mean sparring partner?" Nagato asked frowning a little at his new nickname as he shoved one leg into his pants then the other as he began to jump up and down to slide them on, before grabbing his shirt.

"Danzo-Sama needs all of you at least until near the end. So to keep you guys from killing each other 'accidently', he has assigned each of you one of his own to train with. Did that answer your question completely, dickless?"

Nagato's eye began to twitch. "Yes," he said between clenched teeth. "Where are my other clothes?"

"Burned."

Nagato froze after getting his head through his shirt. He turned slowly as he glared at Sai. "You Did What?"

Sai, still with his damn emotionless face, began to step only to shake his head and turn his gaze on Nagato. "I. Burned. Them. Danzo-Sama said your clothes stank worse than Tsunade-sama's pet pig. So he says, I wouldn't know I never met the pig."

"Dammit." He quickly exited the room and sniffed the air. Following the burning sent, down the stairs, and through the kitchens, he found the ashes of his clothes in the back yard. Looking around and seeing and feeling that no one was around. He waved his hand over the ashes causing a small breeze to blow over them revealing a necklace unharmed in the pile. He smiled grabbing it quickly and pocketing it after once again making sure no one was around. He made his way back up the stairs and to his room only to run into Sai leaving.

"Your drawers and closet have been filled with your new attire. Be down stairs in the lobby tomorrow at 0400. Do not be late." With that Sai walked past him and into the room next door.

Nagato shook his head before heading into his room. It was somewhat late, or so he assumed as he watched the sun begin to set. Which was perfect for him. He walked to the window and did a quick series of hand seal before waving his hand over the window seal. Small written seals began to appear under his hand and onto the window seal. Nagato kneeled so that the seals were eye level with him. He smiled wiping his hands on his pants leg before he began to do another set of seals. The seals on the window rose off the wood and into the air. Nagato quickly swiped his hands through them and watched the seals vanish for good. Smirking to himself he opened the window slowly until it was opened enough for him to slip through.

Once he climbed through the window, and was outside, he climbed his way to the roof to get a better view of the surrounding area. "Now let's see if we can find anything useful around here." He grinned mischievously before descending the roof. The first stop he made? Why the kitchen of course. A man needed to know where to get his food if he needed to escape.

U~indofurawā no sato – village of the windflower = meaning Forsaken

Manjushage no mura – Village of the Red Tiger Lily = meaning Never to meet again/Lost memory/Abandonment