Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story and any original characters, that's all…

General Warning: This story contains graphic violence, sexual themes, graphic language and sheer awesomeness.

Author's Note: I'm beginning to think that I should've picked a different title. Just a Dream seems more apt for a prequel! By the way, my story assumes that the reader has at least a basic knowledge of either the anime or manga of Naruto. Please review and give me meaningful criticism and/or advice!

OOOOOO

A woman in labor, a blond man by her side. An elderly nurse whispering calming words…

"It's a boy!" The nurse announces proudly.

2 years old: First Memory

Little Naruto stared at his mommy. Something red swung across his eyes. He grabbed some of it and pulled.

"Ouch! Naruto!"

He giggled, his mommy smiled back even though his hands still pulled at her hair.

Somewhere in the house, a door opened. "Kushina, I'm home!"

Even with the loud shout, little Naruto somehow fell back to sleep…

3 years old:

There were men and women all in this office. Naruto didn't really understand any of it, and just looked around.

"It's confirmed, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Otogakure have joined together in an alliance. Jiraiya's intel suggests a surprise offensive in fifteen days." An old man said. Naruto had talked to him earlier. Called him jiji. His mommy called him the sandaime…

"The leader of Otogakure, as you all know, is my former student, Orochimaru." The old man continued.

"Should've killed him when you had the chance." Another man scoffed.

The blond man with the funny hat interrupted, "That's enough Danzo, we can't change the past. Let's focus on the present. We've already started a discrete mobilization of our forces. Iwagakure is still weak from the last war, Sunagakure isn't so good either, and their Daimyo's been cutting their funding every year. Furthermore, they would have to have long supply chains to reach us anyways. The main threat is Otogakure. Orochimaru's managed to gather several thousand shinobi together. It's a veritable threat, and Rice Country is very close to us, the main fighting will take place there."…

Naruto fell asleep again. When in doubt, go to sleep was what he did.

4 years old:

Uzumaki Naruto waited as the matron finished bandaging his knee. As soon as she was finished, Naruto was off.

"No running in the halls Naruto, or do you want to scrape your other knee!" The matron called after him.

Naruto had lived in Konohagakure's Orphanage for Children for almost a year now. He didn't remember his parents that well, although to be frank, he thought he was lucky to remember something about them at all. His other friends here didn't know anything about their own parents.

His clearest memory was of a fire, and people fighting. He could always impress the other kids with retellings of that story. He remembered his mother had red hair. He didn't see his father much, but his dad had…yellow hair. The adults wouldn't tell him anything about his parents…

4 years old:

"Naruto! Come to my office now!" The matron shouted.

"Ha! You're in trouble now!" Another boy told him.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't think so, the matron likes me." Naruto replied.

None of the others could refute that; the matron did seem to have a soft spot where Naruto was concerned. She was always worried about his safety, and making sure he had enough food. Naruto himself didn't know why.

When Naruto got to the office, the Matron was sitting behind her desk and there was a man inside the room, in red and white robes, and a Konoha shinobi uniform partly visible underneath.

Naruto gasped in recognition.

"Hello Naruto, do you know who this is?" The matron asked.

"You're the Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed with awe. The Fourth Hokage had ended the third great shinobi war, and was now fighting bravely in the fourth. He was the youngest man to receive the title of Hokage and was famous around the elemental nations. Whenever he and his friends played ninja, he always wanted to be the famous Yellow Flash of Konoha.

"Yes, and anything else Naruto?" The matron asked, looking intently at the boy.

"And…and you're my hero! I really look up to you!" Naruto gushed.

The fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato gave Naruto a strange smile that looked both half sad, and half proud.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, I really appreciate it." Turning to the matron, Minato sighed wistfully, "I suppose it's for the best."

"It won't be forever Hokage-sama." The matron gently replied.

"Um, what's going on Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked, emulating the matron's reverence of his hero figure.

"Ah, Naruto, in a few days, I'll be heading off to lead an offensive in this war to break the current stalemate. But before I'm going, I decided to visit you. See, I heard great things about you Naruto-kun." The Hokage answered, smiling.

"Wow! Really?" Naruto asked. The Hokage thought he was great? That was awesome!

"Yup, I heard that you always help others out, and that you have a lot of energy, you work hard in pretty much everything you do. Our village needs more people like you Naruto, I'm proud of you!" The Hokage bent down and ruffled Naruto's hair playfully.

Naruto winced but put up with it, it was the Hokage after all, "Cool, thanks! I think…" Naruto stared up at the expectant Hokage and thought about it. He grinned, "I think I want to be Hokage when I grow up! Just like you!"

For a moment, Minato looked shocked, then he smiled gently. "Of course Naruto, and I think you can make it too Naruto. But Naruto, becoming the Hokage is going to be hard. Can you work hard enough to make it? And more importantly, do you have in you, the Will of Fire?"

"The…the Will of Fire?" Naruto asked, confused.

"The Will of Fire is what gives us the strength to fight against all odds, and to have the strength and willpower to fight for Konoha, especially for those that can't fight for themselves. Being a shinobi of the Leaf and thus, the Hokage means that you have to protect everyone, can you do that Naruto?" Minato explained solemnly.

The Will of Fire…to protect everyone. Naruto glanced at the matron, who smiled at Naruto's look. Looking back at the Hokage, he thought hard.

"I have the Will of Fire, I'll become the Hokage for sure and protect everyone! Dattebayo!" Naruto confidently stated. Both the matron and the Hokage sighed at the verbal tic.

"Then I'll be waiting to hand this hat to you Naruto." Minato smiled.

4 years old:

Naruto was dressed in black, like everyone else. He stared dumbly at the procession.

"The Hokage has fallen in battle!"

A gnarled old hand clasped Naruto's shoulder. Naruto looked up to see the Sandaime.

"It's alright Naruto…" The old man sighed, "It's my fault really, if I had finished my former student for good…"

Another old man, one Naruto recognized as looking shifty came up and clasped the sandaime's shoulder, making the three of them look like some sort of connected line.

"It's alright Hiruzen. It's over. Let it go, Minato finished it for you. He took out Orochimaru and over a thousand enemy shinobi before falling. His sacrifice alone has effectively taken Otogakure out of the war. The best we can do is to finish it for him." The man said.

"I guess you're right Danzo. I'll finish it, the council has asked me to take up the hat again…I think I'll say yes." Hiruzen said. He ruffled Naruto's hair just like the Hokage had…

"Ah, Jiji, I want to become a ninja! Can I join the academy?" Naruto asked.

Both men looked shocked. Sarutobi Hiruzen sputtered.

"N-Naruto, you're only four!" He replied, surprised at Naruto's sudden outburst.

"But jiji, Reiji, Yui and the others are the same age as me, and they got accepted into the academy already! And I'm almost five anyways!" Naruto whined.

The third hokage gritted his teeth, it was true, Konoha needed more manpower, and had seriously lowered the age restrictions for the academy and for genin graduation. They needed more cannon fodder, as much as it pained Hiruzen to admit it. Looking at Naruto though, he shook his head resolutely. The life expectancy for new genin at nine years of age was one and a half battles, there was no way he'd put Naruto in the academy. He had promised them to take care of Naruto after all…

"Naruto, you're-" The Third began, "Just a minute Hiruzen, Naruto, why do you want to join the academy?" Danzo interrupted, "Becoming a ninja is a hard job, especially with a war going on, this isn't about…saving beautiful princesses, gaining fame or rescuing the daimyo is it?" Danzo asked. The Third glared at Danzo for his interruption, but looked attentive for Naruto's answer as well.

Naruto turned to face both men properly, and stood up straight. "I want to become a ninja so that I can protect everyone, I promised the Hokage that I would, and I'll become Hokage too! I never go back on my word, that's…that's my nindo!" He proclaimed.

Hiruzen actually gasped softly at Naruto's bold statement. Danzo looked thoughtful.

Danzo nodded slowly, "Then I think that you'd fit right in as a shinobi of the Leaf Naruto."

Hiruzen gave Naruto a look, "Are you sure about this Naruto? You could die and you'd have to kill others as a ninja."

Danzo scoffed, "He's already in danger, considering last year's assassination att-"

"Danzo." Hiruzen silenced his old teammate with a glare.

"He can learn to defend himself. It's better than simple anonymity." Danzo countered.

"…Alright."

OOOOOO

6 Years old:

"Well, let's begin by introducing ourselves." Their jounin leader said. He had tanned skin, a standard Konoha jounin uniform, and his hair gathered up in a ponytail.

"I'll start off, my name is Umino Iruka, I'm 16 years old, and a jounin of Konohagakure. I like going to the hot springs and eating ramen. I dislike…Oto-nin. That's because they killed my parents. I suppose the Fourth has avenged their deaths when he killed that snake Orochimaru. I'll do my best to protect all of you and lead you to safety." He said. He gestured for the second oldest member of the team to start.

The boy had dark hair and pale skin. He had an unusually serious look for one so young, "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I am 11 years old and a chuunin of Konohagakure. My favorite foods are cabbage and seaweed onigiri. I want to protect Konoha from all those that attack it. As your second in command, I'll do my utmost to safeguard you all." He finished.

Naruto grinned, it was his turn, "Hi! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm 6 years old, and I just became a genin of Konohagakure! My favorite food is ramen! I don't like vegetables and the waiting time for the ramen to cook! My dream…my dream is to become Hokage and protect everyone. I promise to protect everyone; I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way!"

Itachi stared and Iruka had his mouth open slightly. Itachi then smiled, "That's a good ambition Naruto."

Iruka brushed his nose, chuckling, "If you like ramen that much, I'll show you a place called Ichiraku afterwards. They make great ramen there!"

Naruto gave a happy smile, "Thanks Taichou!"

"Just Iruka, please, now, last but not least…"

The last member of their team, a girl with pale skin, big pupil less eyes, a headband over her forehead and her hitai-ate around her neck spoke up, "Hello, my name is Hyuuga Satomi. I'm 5 years old and a member of the Hyuuga Branch family. I like training with my big brother Neji, and helping my cousin Hinata with her flower garden. I want to prove myself to my father and uncle and protect Konoha."

Iruka grinned, "Well, it looks like we have a pair of veritable prodigies on our team. I heard that both of you graduated in under a year. That's impressive, we'll receive our first mission together in two days, but first, Ichiraku Ramen, my treat."

They got up with Naruto bouncing around in joy.

OOOOOO

6 years old:

His hands shook. It had been so easy. A droplet of blood fell from the tip of his kunai. One clean cut across the neck. The girl he had killed, an iwa-nin he noted absently from her headband didn't look much older than him. Maybe two or three years older, no more than ten he'd say. It looked like Konoha wasn't the only one with manpower problems. He wasn't vomiting or crying like Satomi had when she made her first. What did that say about him?

The grass rustled. Naruto immediately turned around, his kunai ready and his hands already in the process of forming the seals for the kawarimi.

"Relax Naruto-kun, it's just me." A shinobi in a leaf chuunin vest approached.

Naruto stared into the blood red eyes of his teammate Itachi. Three black comma-like tomoe swirled around in the Uchiha's eyes- the mark of a fully formed Sharingan, the kekkai genkai the Uchiha clan was famous for. "Itachi-senpai…"

Itachi glanced at the dead iwa kunoichi with her neck split open and Naruto's still shaking hands. "Don't worry Naruto, it gets easier."

7 years old:

"And what about these two? They're kids! Are you sure they can do their job? That boy there, he doesn't look any older than six, and that girl is even smaller!" The samurai sneered.

"I'm seven, samurai-san." Naruto retorted.

"Samurai-san, I can guarantee you that both Naruto and Satomi are talented and experienced shinobi of the Leaf. They have both partaken in at least a dozen battles each." Iruka mollified the samurai.

The samurai nodded, "Alright, but your role in this battle will be very important. I don't want to go through with all this preparation only to discover that you guys aren't able to perform your ninjutsu."

"We'll do our job, don't worry." Iruka replied.

After the samurai went out of earshot, Naruto snorted, "Arrogant prick."

"It's not his fault Naruto, Fire Country's samurai forces have a different lifestyle compared to us shinobi. A samurai at your age would still be practicing basic sword moves with a bokken. They train for decades before going into battle." Iruka admonished.

"But still, you'd think after this many years into the war that they would get used to seeing younger shinobi. I mean, they've probably fought plenty of them as well!" Satomi argued.

"The samurai did have a point though. The strategy we're using will take a lot of chakra to pull off. He was rightly concerned that you two wouldn't be able to produce enough chakra for it." Itachi responded in place of Iruka.

"It's only a C-rank jutsu." Naruto scoffed, playing it down even though he knew he'd probably only have enough chakra to pull off one shot.

The next day…

About 3000 Fire Country samurai and warriors charged across the open field. On the other side, the same number of Wind Country soldiers mirrored them, with a number of Suna-nin mixed in as well.

They got closer and closer, about 300 meters away from each other however, a shimmering veil of energy dissipated in front of the Fire Country forces…

Naruto was side by side with his teammates. Itachi sent a fireball off to the enemy force with the Uchiha Clan's signature Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu.

Naruto made handseals, tiger, ox, dog, rabbit, and finally snake, channeling his chakra through the patterns of each seal and releasing it. Fuuton: Daitoppa!

His technique fanned the flames of Itachi's katon, improving its power two fold, as well as several nearby fire release techniques as each of the 200 Konoha-nin shot off similar jutsu. A great wall of rolling flames roared over the Wind Country forces, engulfing hundreds.

They had been hidden under a cleverly created 35 layered genjutsu. Even before the battle, their troop movements had been carefully hidden and had little by little, traveled to the staging grounds. Intelligence suggested that they had successfully moved their shinobi force to the front undetected. This all culminated in a surprise barrage right at the battle's start, to swing the odds in their favor. The move had taken out several hundred Wind Country soldiers.

The Wind force had lost all momentum in the center. The Fire Country Samurai yelled battle cries and charged in, cavalry troops rumbled through the now open center, separating the two disorganized sides of the enemy force.

Naruto, breathing heavily after doing that wind release, charged right in with them. He paired up with Satomi, they had learned how each other fought very well over the last year they were together. They covered each other efficiently, wading into the chaotic battlefield, amidst war cries and screams of defeat. Naruto fired off a kunai at a random Wind soldier, nailing him in the throat. The man went down, gurgling.

"Naruto, crack and pop up front." Satomi warned.

A fully armored Wind samurai approached them, lacquered armor gleaming in the sunlight. The warrior wore heavy armor, and was further protected by channeling chakra into the specially designed armor, making the armor virtually impervious to most regular weapons. This man strode to the pair of child shinobi, sword raised and ready to cut them down.

Naruto scoffed, and raised his own konoha chakra blade. He dashed forward and slashed. The samurai was obviously confident in his armor's defense, and made no move to block Naruto's attack. To his shock, the blade cut right through, the wind chakra being channeled into the chakra blade easily slicing through the samurai's own chakra imbued armor and cutting into the man's flesh.

Before the samurai could recover, Satomi had smoothly switched places with Naruto and used a palm strike to hit him in the now exposed chest. Her family's taijutsu style of combat, the jyuuken or gentle fist allowed her to bypass his outer body and hit his vital organs directly. The samurai's heart stopped.

As the samurai staggered, Naruto swapped with Satomi again, and using his blade, cut open the samurai's body. The man dropped bonelessly, splattering blood and intestines all over the ground. Sure, with a stopped heart, he would've died quickly anyways, but the last time they had used this move, their opponent had tried to use his last seconds of life to avenge himself. He had nearly succeeded, and since then, Satomi sported a long, nasty scar across her abdomen.

Naruto dispassionately flicked the dead man's blood off his blade before motioning for Satomi to continue on.

Together, using the same technique, they confronted and killed nine more Wind samurai. Before they knew it however…

The field was suddenly empty. Around them hundreds of Fire samurai, warriors and fellow leaf ninja cheered, standing on the bodies, gore and blood of thousands. Maybe a hundred Wind Country and Suna-nin stragglers tried to run. A unit of Fire Country cavalry gave chase.

That night…

Naruto wolfed down his fourteenth bowl of ramen. It wasn't as good as Ichiraku, but ramen was ramen.

"Geez Naruto! Slow down, I know ramen's good, but how the heck can you eat so much!" Iruka cried.

Another konoha-nin, a jounin, with shoulder length white hair chuckled. "Well, he did use that daitoppa today, he's a growing boy, he's going to need a couple thousand calories to replenish his chakra."

"But c'mon Mizuki, fourteen bowls?"

"True, I guess that is a lot. Personally, I don't see what's so good about ramen." Mizuki continued. At Naruto and Iruka's sudden glares, he quickly rectified himself, "But hey, to each and his own." Mizuki started to munch on some dango.

In the distance, the Fire Country troops were still celebrating. Their cries of "Victory! Victory! Victory!" was audible even from across the camp.

Satomi walked in, covered only with some chest wrapping and pants. She shook her head, "With the way those troops are celebrating, you'd think we had just won the war."

Uchiha Itachi came in behind Satomi, completely silent. "Let them celebrate, we did just win a massive victory. We killed well over 5/6ths of the enemy force with just over 10% losses on our own side."

Satomi jumped, turning around in surprise, her right hand already reaching into her weapon holster. She paused and gave a sigh of relief when she recognized Itachi's voice.

"Don't scare me like that Itachi." She glared.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and strode past her to the food table. "My apologies Satomi." He said as he picked up a stick of dango.

Then, the samurai general that had mocked them yesterday for their young age came in. Instead of his earlier demeanor though, this time, he looked…contrite.

Iruka turned to greet the general. "Ah, samurai-san, how may we help you?"

"I've come to apologize. Naruto and Satomi was it? I saw how you two fought today. You accounted for many samurai. I was wrong to judge you by your age. I apologize for my insults shinobi-san. If it wasn't for your aid, we would not have won such a great victory." The samurai said, bowing slightly.

Well, that was deep gratitude coming from a samurai, considering how high ranking this one was.

Naruto bowed, "Thank you, I accept your apology samurai-san."

Satomi bowed as well, "Thank you, and we're in this together, it's our job after all."

OOOOOO

8 years old:

A dark long haired man with a bare forehead and pupil less eyes observed the kneeling blond boy. "With the authority vested in me by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, I promote Uzumaki Naruto to the rank of chuunin."

Naruto rose, "Thank you Hyuuga-sama."

Hyuuga Hiashi nodded, and moved to the second person. "With the authority vested in me by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, I promote Hyuuga Satomi to the rank of chuunin." This time he smiled.

Satomi also rose, "Thank you Hyuuga-sama."

"Ah, you may be the youngest Hyuuga to make chuunin rank Satomi-chan. Not yet 7 years old. Even the prodigious Uchiha clan heir was only made chuunin at an older age than you, my niece. You hold the record alongside Hatake Kakashi."

Both Naruto and Satomi mentally rolled their eyes, and after glancing at each other, knew for sure they had both done the same thing.

Later…

Both brand new chuunin were trying on their new flak jackets and standard konoha uniforms.

As she was adjusting the slip in protective ceramic ballistic plates, Satomi said, "Did you hear? Itachi-senpai was transferred."

Naruto nodded while securing his weapon holster to his new shinobi trousers. "Yeah, he got into the ANBU Black Ops. We aren't supposed to know that, but he told me anyway. Don't mention it to anyone though, or he might get in trouble."

Satomi frowned, "Huh. Still, I can't believe it, we just made chuunin and he's left the team."

"He's meant for greater things," Naruto grinned. "Besides, we still got each other and Iruka-taichou. And I heard that we're also joining together with a new battle group. We're going to the Northern Front."

"So that's going to be against iwa again and whatever's left of oto…" Satomi mused.

8 years old:

The moon was totally obscured by the clouds this night, and in the darkness, Naruto could barely see his comrades around him.

"C'mon brats, get a move on!" Jounin Mitarashi Anko yelled, leading the way as they hopped from tree to tree, using chakra to boost their leaps.

Well, the two of them were the youngest on the team, the third youngest was Uchiha Hikaru, at 10.

"Don't worry about us Anko-san!" Satomi shouted back. "Snake bitch…" she muttered under her breath. Only Naruto heard her, and he just smiled.

Their new team had 15 shinobi, made up of 3 jounins, Anko, Iruka, and Mizuki, 2 tokubetsu jounin, Gekkou Hayate, who was a kenjutsu prodigy apparently, Inuzuka Hana, along with her three Haimaru brothers clan dogs, and 10 chuunin, including them.

Mizuki made the halt sign in Konoha's shinobi sign language. Everyone came to a stop, eyes sharp, looking carefully all directions. "Alright, we're at the rendezvous point." He said.

"The sun is bright today like a ball of fire in the sky. The leaves of the tree grow under its warmth." Mizuki recited, seemingly to no one at all.

A voice echoed out of nowhere, "And we are the leaves that grow underneath in the shade. Kai."

With that last word, the air appeared hazy and a quartet of Konoha ANBU operatives shimmered into view.

Someone, probably another young chuunin gave a small gasp. Naruto didn't blame whoever it was, ALL of them were on high alert and they didn't notice the ANBU standing not 5 meters right in front of them.

"So you're blue team huh?" Mizuki asked.

The ANBU team leader nodded, "Yes, I'm Eagle, this is Otter," Indicating dark haired woman, "Coyote" pointing to a bald man, "And Weasel" pointing to the shortest member of his team. Only Weasel nodded when he was introduced.

"I'm Touji Mizuki, leader of 17th platoon. These are my squad leaders Umino Iruka and Mitarashi Anko." Mizuki said, pointing at each person in turn. Anko gave a little wave and a grin.

"Very well, we'll proceed with phase 1 of the operation. Move out." Eagle ordered.

With nods of confirmation, each of the 19 shinobi went off under the cover of the night.

The operation was a fairly straightforward one. With Sunagakure effectively defeated after nearly half a decade of continuous war and having to maintain long supply chains across the desert, only Iwagakure was left. Konohagakure as well as several smaller allies like Kusagakure and Takigakure were launching a massive offensive along the northeastern front. Teams like Naruto's own were destroying border bases all at the same time. 24 bases were being targeted simultaneously to make the most of the advantage of surprise, the vanguard of the main offensive was more than a week away, and they were operating in enemy territory.

Naruto blended in with the surrounding forest, his green and navy blue konoha uniform perfect for the task, and his otherwise distinctive spiky blond hair covered under the bandana portion of his hitai-ate. Somewhere a couple meters to his right was Satomi, hidden well enough that he couldn't even make her out.

One of the ANBU operatives, Weasel came up from his left, signing for them to follow him.

Naruto acknowledged, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Satomi doing the same.

"Long time no see Fishcake-kun." Weasel said.

Naruto glanced at the ANBU, puzzled; only Itachi called him that.

Satomi gasped, "Itachi-san!"

Naruto shook his head, chuckling. "Of course you'd get a weasel mask, it suits you."

Itachi turned to Naruto, and even with a mask on, Naruto could tell he was raising an eyebrow quizzically. "Oh? How so Naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned brightly, "Well, you act all cold and um, like uncaring all the time, but we know you're just a big softie on the inside, just like a weasel is, right?"

"Really Naruto." Itachi deadpanned.

"Or maybe, there's the fact that your name means weasel Itachi-san, just like Naruto's is fishcake." Satomi smirked.

"Oi! My name means maelstrom!" Naruto protested.

"Whatever you say fishcake."

"Time to go silent you two." Itachi warned. They were approaching the perimeter of the enemy camp.

Both chuunin immediately hushed up and followed Itachi's lead. The enemy camp was a triangular setup, three different earthwork walls risen up to protect rows of tents and a few more permanent structures of wood and stone.

There were a few shinobi looking outwards, and several patrols as well, but Itachi obviously knew the routes somehow, and signed for when to stop and hide or when to move again. All three of them were carefully suppressing their chakra. With years of practice under each of their belts, Naruto couldn't sense either Itachi or Satomi's signatures despite staring straight at them.

It was slow going, they had exited the forest and were moving through high grass. Over the next 40 minutes, they methodically inched their way through the undergrowth, past lantern carrying guards, until they reached the earth wall. Naruto could tell the wall had been made from a doton jutsu judging by the patterns of the base.

I'll proceed with phase 2. You two plant your tags along this wall. Wait for me to come back when you're finished back at this spot. If the alarm is raised, go to phase 4 immediately, otherwise, stay put. Itachi signed. Naruto and Satomi acknowledged.

Itachi used a grappling hook to traverse the wall, not even the miniscule amount of chakra used for wall walking could be risked, secrecy was the only advantage they held in this operation.

Naruto and Satomi started planting explosive tags on the wall at specific intervals, pushing them in to make sure they adhered properly. Elsewhere on each side of the base, the other members of their team were doing the same. The tags were on a remote fuse and would go off simultaneously.

They finished, and went back to the meeting spot. They didn't need to wait long, with barely a whisper, Itachi scaled the wall again and had dropped down between them.

Let's go He signed.

They had just reached the cover of the forest again after another half an hour of painstakingly slow progress past all the patrols again when the tags blew.

The night sky was suddenly alight with fire as hundreds of carefully placed explosive tags detonated sequentially. Tents burned and sleeping soldiers were incinerated. The buildings went up in explosions of rock, shrapnel and meter long splinters of wood that impaled anyone nearby. The earthen walls crumbled and collapsed from the force of dozens of blossoming blasts.

Eagle nodded, satisfied with the results, "Fall out, we're heading back."

Anko grinned vivaciously, "Good job kiddies, you're not so bad after all."

"Watch out for surviving patrols and stragglers." Mizuki warned.

"Pfft, no one could've survived that." Naruto replied.

10 minutes later, he would eat those words.

"Sir, we've got enemy forces coming in from the left, twelve signatures- Closing fast!" Otter warned.

Eagle swore, "Battle formations, stay calm, we outnumber them."

"You just had to open your mouth didn't you Naruto?" Satomi hissed, before drawing ten kunai, five on each hand and activating her byakugan. Naruto shrugged in reply, drawing his trusty chakra blade in his left hand and a quartet of shuriken in his right.

"Incoming!"

A sudden gale of scything wind blasted through the woods towards the konoha forces. Fore-warned and prepared, the leaf-nin all dodged the fuuton jutsu successfully. As the gust blew past harmlessly, a dozen shinobi charged into their midst. Most wore iwagakure hitai-ate, but there were a few with hitai-ate sporting a musical note- remnants of Otogakure, its shinobi still fighting on even years after their leader, the traitor konoha-nin and sannin member Orochimaru died in combat against the Fourth Hokage.

An interestingly white haired boy in a gray outfit charged in front. Naruto channeled wind chakra into his shuriken, making them a lot sharper and stronger than normal before throwing them right at him. The iwa-nin seemed to scoff, raising a katana to knock them away.

Behind him however, the next iwa-nin realized that the shuriken were coated with wind chakra and shouted a warning, "Rikimaru you idiot! Move!"

It came too late however, the iwa-nin had already swung his blade to knock the shuriken aside. To his utmost surprise, the wind chakra coated ninja stars spun through and shattered his sword, before plowing a quartet of fist sized holes through his torso. The momentum of his charge let him move a few more feet forward before dropping to the ground and sliding the last bit, making a bloody smear on the forest foliage.

Naruto smirked at the easy kill, around him his teammates were moving to engage each enemy ninja. The iwa-nin that had tried to warn his teammate drew a wakizashi and swung at Naruto.

Naruto countered the attack with a kunai. They had a blade-lock for two seconds before disengaging at the same time. All around them the sounds of combat, blades clashing, fists flying, shuriken whistling through the air, the forest was alive with echoes.

"Too bad your friend was a dumbass eh?" Naruto taunted.

"Shut up!" The iwa-nin charged forward, swinging his wakizashi in an overhead cut with both hands.

Naruto blocked with his kunai, but his opponent was bigger and stronger, and Naruto got forced to the ground on his knees with the heavy hit.

Despite this, Naruto grinned, "But I guess you're a dumbass too."

Before the iwa-nin could respond, Naruto slashed out with his left hand, the one still holding his chakra blade through the unprotected midsection of his opponent. His blade tore through cloth, flesh, bone and sinew, spraying blood all over Naruto. The iwa-nin dropped, the two sections of his body hanging on by a sliver of meat.

"Tatsumaru! You bastard!" A voice cried out, before a young iwa kunoichi blindsided Naruto.

Naruto swore, barely evading the girl's flashing blades. He backpedalled and threw his kunai at the kunoichi to buy himself some time.

The iwa-nin simply ducked under it, not losing speed, and got into blade range with Naruto again. She swiped her dual tanto at Naruto in an intricate pattern of cuts, stabs, and slashes. Kenjutsu wasn't Naruto's strong suit, and he was hard pressed to block or dodge all of her attacks. He was nicked in several places, but his flak jacket warded most of the damage off. The iwa-nin broke the rhythm of the fight by suddenly lashing out with a kick.

Naruto got hit square in the chest, and flew back, the air knocked out of his lungs. The enemy ninja started flipping through hand seals.

Alarm bells rang in Naruto's head when he recognized the snake and bird seals in the combination. He had to dodge it. Going up was out of the question, he'd be a sitting duck, so he poured chakra into his legs and jumped to the right.

And not a second too soon, his opponent's Doton: Doryuusou sent a row of rock spikes coming out of the ground toward Naruto.

He managed to avoid being skewered- but it left him off balance. Naruto gritted his teeth as the enemy kunoichi closed in on him, bloodlust in her eyes.

Then the girl was knocked over with a pained yelp as a brace of shuriken thudded into her body.

Naruto turned his head to see Iruka, smiling reassuringly. Then the jounin turned back to his fight with an oto-nin.

Naruto thanked kami for Iruka-taichou for watching out for him, and promised to treat his commander to ramen later- Iruka's appetite was nearly as great as Naruto's own.

The iwa kunoichi got up with an angry growl, ripping out the bloodstained throwing stars embedded into her body.

Naruto had to end this quickly while his opponent was off balance and he while he still held the advantage. With his empty right hand, he started forming one handed seals for a basic genjutsu behind his back. His proficiency with one handed seals wasn't good enough for anything else, but in this case, it would do.

His plan set, the child chuunin dashed forward with a flourish of his blade, locking against the kunoichi's crossed guard. Naruto tried to sweep her feet out from under her, but she kicked forward with one leg and halted his momentum, then took one hand out of her guard and attempted to stab Naruto at the kidney level. Naruto stepped back quickly enough so that the tanto only grazed him, unable to penetrate his flak jacket.

The iwa-nin rushed forward after him, and did a cross slash with both tanto. However, her attack fell short by a full two feet. Naruto's delayed action depth perception altering genjutsu had done its job. The genjutsu was very basic, and the nature of its delayed function made it easily detectable and nearly useless against any experienced enemy. But Naruto had noted that his opponent was young, genin probably from the lack of an iwagakure flak jacket, and inexperienced enough that his plan worked.

The kunoichi had a flicker of confusion in her eyes, and then Naruto made a downward diagonal cut through her lowered guard. His slash hit her left shoulder, the chakra blade easily cleaving through her upper body and down, progressing to her right hip before losing enough force to be stopped by her pelvic bone. Naruto pulled his blood covered blade out with a slick, wet sound as the kunoichi fell backwards.

He stared into the dying kunoichi's panicked eyes, as she choked, unable to breathe. A few seconds later the light went out of her eyes. Naruto felt nothing but contentment, the satisfaction of a clean kill.

The fight was still ongoing, so he turned to find a teammate to help.

They were doing well, a few injuries but no losses so far, and ten of the enemy shinobi were dead. Victory seemed imminent. Then something strange started happening to one of the remaining enemies, a sound-nin. Dark lines flowed across his body, enveloping him in a sea of black.

"Fuck! Curse seal!" Eagle warned.

Naruto was confused, "A what seal?"

Nearby, Itachi answered while raising his ANBU issue sword, "Some sound shinobi have curse seals that greatly enhance their power, be careful Naruto."

The horns started to branch out of the sound-nin's head, and he gave off a chilling bestial roar before charging forward, shockingly fast, brandishing a sword.

The leaf-nin closest to him, Uchiha Hikaru tried to block him, but the sound ninja was too fast. There was an indistinct blur of motion, then the leaf chuunin spun away with a shrill cry of pain, blood spraying as her right arm was cut off at the elbow.

Mitarashi Anko growled angrily and ran forward, but in her haste to engage the curse seal wielder, she missed the other remaining enemy shinobi. A barrage of kunai nearly ended her life, but Itachi had leapt in her way and skillfully deflected all the kunai aimed at her with his blade.

The cursed seal oto-nin closed in on the distracted pair of konoha-nin by then. For once in his life, Itachi was too slow.

But Naruto was close enough. He didn't think, he just reacted. He slid in between Itachi and the charging oto-nin. The strength of the curse seal powered ninja was immense, Naruto had raised his chakra blade in a guard position but the oto-nin's blow simply cut right through. It continued on, going into Naruto's flak jacket, the ceramic ballistic plates shattering, and then his body.

Agony exploded in him, red spots filled his vision. The pain was so great that he swore his shoulder was screaming…no wait that was him.

"Naruto!" Someone shouted. He couldn't make out the voice. His hearing was failing. He tried to turn around, but his body didn't move. His vision blurred, darkness crept from the corners of his view.

"Naruto!" The voice was even more indistinct this time. Naruto wanted to reassure whoever it was. He had been hit worse before, this…was…nothing…

But maybe he'd sleep a little first…

OOOOOO

8 years old:

Naruto's eyes sprung open to see the sun hanging high in the sky outside his window, bathing the white hospital room in a radiant golden light. He immediately turned away, irritating spots already forming in his vision from getting an eyeful of the bright star.

"Finally awake huh?" A feminine voice softly spoke, with a touch of humor.

Naruto turned his head to see Satomi, reclining in a chair next to his bed.

"H-How long was I out?" He rasped. He tried to sit up, but his chest hurt.

Satomi handed him a glass of water, "10 days. The doctors weren't sure if you were going to make it. We almost lost you when we were dragging you back to the forward fire base. Your chest got ripped open, one of your lungs collapsed, and your heart very nearly got nicked."

Naruto gave a start, 10 days… "The invasion?" he asked.

"Going well." Satomi shook her head, "Don't you worry about that."

Naruto took a long breath, "What about Itachi? Is he ok?"

Satomi nodded, "He's fine. You saved his and Anko-senpai's lives. He nailed that curse seal shinobi with a Sharingan genjutsu after you got hit, guy went down like a sack of potatoes. Heck, even Hikaru's fine, the medics managed to reattach her limb."

To Naruto's surprise, the normally taciturn girl started crying. "Don't scare me like that ever again!" Satomi blubbered into his chest. He awkwardly tried to rub her back.

Satomi sniffled, "We couldn't do anything, only you acted…"

Naruto disagreed, "My body moved on its own. And it was all happening too fast anyways."

He looked around, the place looked too well stocked for a rear line CSH.

"Where are we?" He asked.

Satomi smiled, "Konoha General Hospital."

Naruto stared at his teammate, "You mean-"

"Yup, welcome home."

Home. He hadn't been in Konohagakure for nearly 3 years. The closest he'd come was at the regional command headquarters at Tanzaku Castle, where he received his chuunin promotion and reassignment three months ago.

"Itachi's here too, he wants to invite you to a dinner or something. I kind of want to bring you to the Hyuuga compound as well." Satomi said.

OOOOOO

8 years old: two months later

"Hmph, we Uchiha live so clumped up together in this one area we might as well start calling this place the Uchiha District." A lanky boy with the distinctive Uchiha Clan features said. He was wearing the iconic dark blue Uchiha turtle neck shirt with the Clan symbol embroidered on the back.

"No…Inabi and Aiko live over in the second residential sector, on Tobirama Boulevard remember Shisui? And what about the non-Uchiha that live around us?" A girl replied. She was tall and had creamy white skin, and dark Uchiha-style hair tied up in a ponytail. She was also in an Uchiha turtle neck.

Shisui rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, "Oh yeah, forgot about that Shiho, whoops."

Naruto turned to the pair, "Hey Shisui-san, am I doing this right?"

"Show me." The older boy asked.

Naruto took a deep breath and channeled chakra around his entire body, vitalizing it in a specific pattern that Shisui had instructed him in. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke only to reappear ten feet away. However, his image wavered and disappeared again. Naruto appeared back at his starting point, panting hard.

Shiho gasped and Shisui started clapping, grinning broadly.

"That was spot on, I'd say you've got the double shunshin technique down good. Hey, pretty soon, they're gonna call you Shunshin no Naruto!" Shisui smirked.

Shiho looked at Shisui curiously, "I thought you said that you'd need a sharingan to do the technique properly."

Shisui shrugged, "I was lying to stop everyone from bugging me about it. You don't really need a sharingan to do it, all it takes is some careful chakra manipulation and voila! No more annoying half second after-cast after each shunshin. With enough chakra and concentration, you can essentially perform endless consecutive shunshins. It's still a poor man's substitute to the Fourth's Hiraishin though…"

Naruto sucked air in and out to get control of his breathing, "Hey Shisui, thanks again for teaching me your technique!"

Shisui shook his head, "It's the least I can do for you since you saved Itachi's ass." He then turned to face Shiho.

"Speaking of Itachi's ass…I heard you two were together last night. Did you…you know…"

Shiho turned bright red, "Nothing happened, he just treated me to dinner…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Itachi went on a date?"

Shisui chuckled, "I know right? Who would have thought, aloof Itachi…"

"He's not that bad. He's actually very personable." Shiho protested.

Naruto nodded in playful agreement, "Yeah, I always said he's a big softie at heart."

"What was that fishcake-kun?" A monotone voice called out.

The trio turned around to see Itachi ambling toward them, with an obviously Uchiha boy being carried on his back. Naruto scowled at the name.

Itachi let the boy down. The boy was about as tall as Naruto was- which was to say that the two of them were the shortest in the group.

"This is my little brother Sasuke, he's about a month older than you Naruto." Itachi introduced.

Sasuke whipped around to face his brother, "This is who saved your life ni-san? But he's younger than me!"

Itachi nodded, "Yes, he's my teammate. He made chuunin some months ago."

Naruto observed Itachi's little brother. He was probably assigned to the home guard like half of the Uchiha Clan was. A good deal of the Uchiha Clan were out in the front fighting, but even understaffed, the Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force was still active and playing a last line of defense as well as weeding out spies and enemy agents.

"But…I'm still in the academy…I bet I'd be a chuunin too if father and mother let me join the academy 3 years ago instead of last year…"

Itachi sighed, "Sasuke, 7 years old is the standard wartime age for joining the academy. Father and mother had their reasons. Naruto's just…unique."

Sasuke stopped trying, although he was looking grumpy. Itachi smiled, "Now Sasuke, do you want to learn a technique? Naruto and the others and can help."

Sasuke's demeanor transitioned from sullen to excitement in an instant.

Shisui mock whispered to Shiho, "We're only 'others', he says."

OOOOOO

8 years old:

"So Naruto-san, what do you want to do when the war is over? Do you have a goal you aspire to?" Hyuuga Hiashi asked.

His twin brother Hizashi, identical except for the konoha hitai-ate covering his forehead turned to listen. Satomi, her older brother Neji, and Hiashi's eldest daughter and heir to the family Hinata also turned to listen. Hiashi's little 3 year old younger daughter Hanabi didn't seem to pay attention to the sudden change in focus of the rest of her family and continued picking at her food, pushing away bunches of parsley with a yuck face.

Naruto gulped at all the sudden attention but gathered his courage and looked Hiashi straight in the eye. "Hiashi-sama, when the war is over, I'll continue on my road to become hokage. My goal is to protect all of konoha."

The room was completely silent at his declaration, save for small noises coming from Hanabi. For a moment, Naruto thought Hiashi was going to laugh.

But instead, Hiashi simply smiled and nodded, "That is a good goal."

The rest of the kids smiled as well.

"And I think you'll make it too, after all, with your pedigree…" Hiashi trailed off.

Naruto looked confused, Hizashi however, smirked.

"My…what?" Naruto asked, not knowing the word.

"Er, I mean your meteoric rise through the ranks at such a young age and excellent record. You have the makings of a superb shinobi of the leaf." Hiashi nodded sagely.

This time Satomi frowned, that didn't seem like what her uncle was going to say at first.

"So how did you come up with your goal Naruto-san?" Hizashi asked.

"I want to become hokage because of the Fourth Hokage." Naruto answered. Hiashi made a small choking sound, but nobody noticed.

"He's actually the reason I became a shinobi in the first place. When I was four years old, he visited me in the orphanage, right before the Counter-Offensive actually. He explained to me about the Will of Fire, and I told him that he was my hero and that I would become Hokage to protect everyone, and he believed that I could do it too." Naruto explained. "He said he would be waiting to put the hat on my head one day…" Naruto said with a wistful expression.

There was a short silence.

"Well, did you know that I was on the same genin team with the Fourth Hokage Naruto? Along with the current Uchiha Clan head too actually. Minato was a very good friend of mine." Hiashi began…

OOOOOO

9 years old:

Blood and bodies lay everywhere. As he stared at the lifeless faces, he screamed. They were all people he knew.

Iruka-taichou, his chest caved in, bits of bone and gristle lying around him.

Satomi-chan…her arms and legs had been torn off, and she was naked, her body bloodied and bruised, her face was contorted in silent anguish.

"Naruto!" Someone called out. Naruto snapped his head away from the corpses of his teammates. He couldn't let them get to him, for there was still one other.

Itachi was in his ANBU uniform, kneeling, bloodied and dirt caked, one arm limp and his weasel mask askew. He was helpless.

A figure shrouded in the darkness approached, katana raised for a killing strike.

"Damn it!" Naruto tried to step forward, but found he couldn't move. "What-" He stared down in horror, his legs were missing from the knee down, just a pair of bloody stumps. Without further ado, gravity took over and he dropped down on his stomach.

'It should hurt…why doesn't it hurt?' Naruto thought in shock.

"Naruto!" Itachi cried out again. The unknown executioner stepped closer.

"I-Itachi!" Naruto shouted. He tried to crawl closer, but it was now that his legs started to hurt. It was a sudden burning sensation, and it distracted him well enough.

"Naru-"Itachi's cry was cut off as the executioner decapitated the Uchiha with one clean stroke.

The rolling head came to a stop just a few feet from Naruto's face. Naruto froze, stupefied.

Then, to his horror, Itachi's head opened its eyes, "Why didn't you save me?"

With an anguished cry, the illusion broke.

Naruto gasped and took a deep breath. He was stripped down to his underwear, once white, now soiled with urine and feces. His diminutive body was chained to a chair in the center of a windowless room with only a single dim flickering light bulb for illumination. Naruto heaved hard, his body racked with pain from beatings and pain serums. He felt like throwing up- but he had long vomited whatever was in his stomach, he had nothing left to hurl.

"So, do you remember now Naruto-kun?" A flat, emotionless voice asked.

Naruto slowly looked up, squinting at the figure, trying to see in the dim light.

The man strode closer and grasped Naruto's chin. Directly under the light bulb, the man's iwagakure hitai-ate was prominently visible.

Well, he definitely remembered the torture. The guy was good, that was probably the fifteenth or sixteenth time his interrogator had used that juiced up version of the hell-viewing technique, every time still felt like the first. Inventive nightmare genjutsu, psychological torture, phobias…the one that made him think he was being castrated by crawling insects still made him shiver. He had endured beatings, knives, needles, flechettes that gave small but sharply painful cuts for god knows how long.

"Naruto, I am a man of peace." The man opened spread his arms as if to say he was harmless.

"My people are enlightened, we don't want to hurt you. So please, just tell us one thing. What's this week's base entry codes?"

The question hung in the air.

Naruto coughed and looked at the man in the eye. He saw only sadism in them, emotional nihilism. The man leaned closer, expectant.

With some effort, Naruto managed to gather enough strength…and spat in the man's face.

The man looked impassive, even with a blood tinged wad of saliva dribbling down his left cheek.

Naruto coughed again, and spoke in a hoarse voice, "U-Uzumaki…Naruto…Konoha Chuunin…Ninja registration ID number 012-" He was interrupted when he started a hacking cough again. His body convulsed, chest on fire, he coughed harder, and gagged. Something that tasted like copper was in his mouth. When his coughing subsided, he saw blood slowly drip from his mouth and chin down to a spot between his legs.

Naruto suddenly grinned. The man raised an eyebrow.

"I…I'd tell you…but…you see…I forgot. Sorry."

The man sighed, "Well, we'll just have to help you remem-"

"Alright Ibiki, that's enough, cut him loose." A gravelly voice came out of nowhere.

Ibiki turned around to face what seemed to be a blank wall. "Well, I suppose I'm not getting anywhere anyways."

"He's still too young, any more and he might suffer permanent damage." The voice continued.

Naruto looked around in confusion, what was going on?

The wall shimmered away to reveal the Sandaime Hokage, looking stern in his full Hokage ensemble.

"He's passed the test anyways, it's good enough."

Ibiki looked back, taking off the iwagakure hitai-ate and replacing it with one that had a leaf symbol on it.

"39 hours and 32 minutes. Very impressive kid. Alright, I think you make the cut."

A pair of medical corps ninja in white scrubs moved in and released Naruto's restraints. One of them gave Naruto an injection.

Slowly, his mind grew less hazy. Ibiki had used a serum…something that made him think he was a captive of Iwagakure…

"You placed eighteenth on the list of longest time endured. Considering that I didn't pull any punches and the next seventeen in line are all way older than you, I think you did very impressive indeed. I bet you could have probably gotten an even better rank too if we kept going, wait until the guys around the base hear about this." Ibiki continued.

Naruto tried to nod, but his neck hurt too much to move. Slowly, the voices became vague and indistinct. He was just so tired…

The Hokage went beside Naruto and clasped the boy's shoulder. "Welcome to ANBU…Platypus. I'm afraid that as a rookie, you're given one of the least desirable names. You'll get to pick another one later."

"Ok…jiji…" Naruto shut his eyes and darkness blissfully claimed him.

OOOOOO

9 years old:

"Naruto-kun, hold still." The brown haired medic scolded, her hands glowing with luminous green medical chakra. The young woman had shoulder length hair, dark eyes, and a pair of distinctive purple cheek markings.

"Aggggh, Rin-neechan, the war is over the moment I join ANBU. I didn't even get to go on a single mission!" Naruto moaned.

Rin shook her head in mirth, "You've already fought plenty even before you joined ANBU, and even with the war over, ANBU still has work to do." The glow of her medical jutsu faded, "There, you're good to go, now no strenuous training or activity with that shoulder for the next two days alright?"

Naruto nodded vigorously, "So Rin-neechan, when do you think Kakashi-taichou's going to proposition you?"

The ANBU medic blushed, "W-Where did that come from? We're not together Naruto, we're just…friends."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah...'friends'." he said, making air quotes. ANBU Captain Hatake Kakashi's relationship with Rin was notoriously well known. They seemed to forget that this was ANBU, and people could be discreet enough to not be noticed whenever Kakashi and Rin embraced or something. Naruto had it on good authority that Kakashi and Rin had exited a supply room together looking quite flustered and disheveled after spending at least an hour inside yesterday.

Rin sighed, and had a sudden smile, "So what about you Naruto? I heard that your old teammate Hyuuga Satomi expressed interest in joining ANBU as well. I guess with two of her closest friends both in here now, she must be feeling left behind."

"Eh, Satomi-chan?"

"Yup, and get this, I heard that recruitment has already started evaluating her." Rin grinned.

Naruto became silent, looking deep in thought. Rin's grin dropped, "Er, you two could be together again soon!"

Naruto nodded distractedly, "I know, I'm just not sure whether I like the idea of her going through all that conditioning and SERE training."

Rin wanted to facepalm, her idea had backfired on her.

OOOOOO

10 years old:

The group of konoha ANBU hopped from tree to tree at breakneck speeds.

"We're coming up on it now, watch out for traps." Dog said. He had silver hair and a captain's uniform. The rest of his team silently acknowledged.

Weasel, also now sporting a captain's uniform glanced behind him for a second, "Stay close Maelstrom, we'll be entering through the west side."

Naruto grinned behind his mask, at least Itachi called him by his real name in the field instead of that fishcake crap. "Roger captain." Turning to look behind him, "You hear that roots? follow the captain."

"Of course fishcake-fukutaichou." A gray haired boy deadpanned.

Naruto glared, although it couldn't be seen under his mask.

"Please call Maelstrom by his codename Shin." Itachi asked, not bothering to look back again.

"Of course, of course, sorry taichou." Shin replied.

A brown haired girl came up beside him and smacked him in the shoulder. "Yeah baka! We're on a mission here!"

Their group dropped down from the trees and into a rocky area.

"The hidden entrance should be just up ahead. Tekko." Itachi stated, the last word with a gesture.

Tekko was a dark haired teen, the group's explosives expert. He came forward and slapped a single seal onto a rock face. The team huddled against the rock on either side of the tag.

Itachi nodded, and Tekko made a single hand seal. The tag lighted, and then the rock face caved in, the directional explosive tag detonating inward, leaving the ANBU team unscathed.

The team rushed in, Itachi in the lead.

"So Shin, how does it feel to be out of the terminal stage?" Naruto asked.

"I'm relieved, Tsunade-sama is very skilled, I'm glad I have some more time to spend with Sai, fukutaichou." The boy in question replied.

"Tachi" Itachi said, talking to the brown haired girl, "Take Tekko and Sarujin and search down that hallway. Maelstrom, Shin, come with me."

Each member silently acknowledged Itachi, and the two groups of three separated down the T-intersection.

Each of Orochimaru's bases had exactly the same décor, drab sandstone. Even years after his death, and after the war had officially ended, they were still stuck clearing his bases and outposts out of Rice Country.

"Careful, we've got enemies ahead of us." Itachi cautioned.

Up ahead, indistinct silhouettes moved around. They resolved into misshapen forms, what were once human beings mated grotesquely with claws, protrusions, extra limbs, all made to serve the deceased otokage's orders.

"Damn chimeras." Naruto cursed. Itachi fired off a weakened Goukakyuu fireball as not to damage the corridor structure.

Naruto also flipped through hand seals quickly and fired off his own complement technique.

Fuuton: Kazekiri no jutsu!

A blade of wind sliced through all the chimeras, dicing them into body parts.

"Nice shot!" Shin said.

They continued down the corridor, past the dead chimera guards.

Minutes later, they entered a large room, big enough to fit several hundred people. There were second story rails in the room. The other ANBU teams were already waiting there, Dog and his team, Tachi, Tekko, Sarujin, and a Boar masked ANBU captain as well.

"Well, I guess intel got it right for once, there's barely anyone left in this one." Shin said.

Dog nodded, "Plant the explosives, the sooner we can get out of here…"

A loud bestial roar coming from outside the room interrupted him.

"What was that?" Someone asked.

"Trouble." Boar growled.

The wall blew in, boulder sized chunks of rock narrowly missing some of the ANBU members. A shirtless giant of a man, easily 3 meters tall and with bulging muscles roared, stepping in. His body was bright orange colored, and he had an almost hunchbacked posture. Naruto immediately recognized the signs of a Curse Seal stage 2 user.

The man charged, Tachi's team was closest to the wall and they were knocked away with cries of pain. Immediately the rest of the ANBU threw a barrage of kunai, shuriken, and other projectile weapons. They all bounced off the man's rock hard skin.

"Tenzo, now!" Dog cried.

"Right Taichou!" The ANBU operative in question said.

Tenzo rushed forward, hands forming rapid seals. Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no jutsu!

Tendrils of wood shot out of his arms to entangle and restrain the curse seal user. The berserk man roared and tried to break free, but the tendrils held tight.

Itachi turned to Naruto, "Maelstrom!"

"Right!" Naruto said. Time to use his new original technique.

With both hands locked together, he channeled a ball of wind chakra into his grip. With careful concentration and force, he compressed the ball tightly, until it was no bigger than a tennis ball. Then, with a burst of wind, he shot it at the entrapped enemy.

Fuuton: Kaze Suto Kyanon!

The ball rapidly reached the enemy and explosively decompressed from the lack of Naruto's compression waves. A small vortex of extremely sharp cutting winds detonated outwards and completely shredded the man, painting the floor and nearby walls a vivid red.

Dog whistled, impressed. Tenzo just shook his head, chuckling, "I guess that's why they call you Maelstrom."

The others helped Tachi's team back up. Naruto panted hard, that technique always took a lot out of him. "Let's just plant the damn explosives and get out of here before we have any more surprises."

Dog nodded, "That's command thinking. Besides, I've got a date to get to."

Everyone else stared at him in shock, Dog looked around, "What? I know we were pretty obvious."

"Wow, he's finally owning up to it." Boar said.

OOOOOO

11 years old:

"Well Naruto, you have an excellent record in ANBU. I formally accept your retirement from black ops, and promote you to tokubetsu jounin. Congratulations." The old man said.

Naruto nodded, "Thank you Hokage-sama."

The old leader lit a wooden pipe and began smoking it.

"So Naruto, what do you want to do now?"

"I guess I'll start helping out in the reconstruction effort. I have to continue on my road to become Hokage right oji-san?" Naruto grinned.

Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled, "Well, I'll be waiting to hand this hat over then Naruto."

The two sat in companionable silence for a while, both lost in memories.

The interlude was broken however, when the door opened and a small boy rushed in.

"Fight me old geezer!" The boy shouted. Naruto managed to not react, were he not familiar with the Hokage's 7 year old grandson's antics, things may have ended violently…for the grandson.

The boy promptly tripped over his own overly long scarf. "Owww!" he wailed.

The Hokage sighed, "Not again Konohamaru…"

A man in a konoha uniform without the flak jacket rushed in, nearly tripping over Konohamaru's fallen form in his haste. He wore his hitai-ate in the bandana form and pushed up a pair of sunglasses. "Honored grandson! Are you alright?"

"Aggh, alright, who set a trap? Was it you?" Konohamaru yelled, pointing at Naruto with one hand, the other massaging his bruised forehead.

"For the record, there is no trap here, and that's Naruto-san, a capable chuunin of Konoha!" The man stated.

The Hokage interrupted, "Actually Ebisu, Naruto has just been promoted to tokubetsu jounin."

The man looked surprised, "Oh? Congratulations are in order then Naruto-san."

Naruto nodded, "Thank you Ebisu-senpai." Despite the man's appearance, Naruto knew Ebisu to be a deadly shinobi, having fought alongside him on a number of occasions.

The Hokage sighed again, "Alright Naruto, you may go."

Naruto nodded and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

OOOOOO

12 years old:

Naruto looked at the memorial stone somberly, tracing each name with his fingers while reciting them. Well, it was more of a memorial wall. The Fourth Great Shinobi War (Although Naruto thought they should strike the word Shinobi from it as plenty of samurai and normal warriors had fought as well) had claimed an entire generation of lives. What remained were hardened veterans like him, knowing nothing but how to fight.

Nanahara Satoshi

Kasai Reiji

Shibaki Yui

Many of his friends were on the wall.

Nara Shikamaru

Akimichi Chouji

Yamanaka Ino

Many more his age that he had only known in passing had perished as well.

Naruto sighed, after all that had happened though, there were some bright spots. His old platoon leader Touji Mizuki was getting married to the love of his life, Tsubaki. She was a kind woman, and Naruto thought the two were made for each other. Kakashi and Rin were getting married as well.

'About time' Naruto thought.

Shisui had also hinted that Itachi and Shiho were getting more serious about their relationship. Naruto was happy for them, Itachi had known nothing but war, Naruto knew now that Itachi hated war and would try to avoid it at any cost. He deserved to have some peace in his life. Thinking about it, he was glad he had such good friends and that both Itachi and Satomi survived so many years of war with the odds stacked against them.

And himself…Satomi-chan was still in ANBU. He heard from his old contacts in the division that she was in line for a captaincy. He still saw her on occasion when he visited the Hyuuga compound though, Hiashi and Hizashi both treated him like a son these days.

Maybe he would go visit Sasuke? Itachi was busy enough with ANBU work, and was rumored to be on the fast track to becoming the ANBU Commander with Kakashi deciding to retire. Thinking about Kakashi, the man had said he was thinking about taking a genin team.

Maybe he should get a genin team as well, the Hokage had hinted that Naruto was a candidate, and the position would give him full jounin status and relatively relaxing work…

With a puff of smoke, Naruto disappeared into a shunshin.

The Hokage's office was sealed against direct shunshin access, but those with A-level Konoha Security Clearance could bypass the rest of the tower's security and enter directly into the Office's lobby, which was practically right outside anyways. A-level clearance was granted only to full jounin or experienced ANBU operatives, the latter being the way Naruto got his.

He mentally keyed in the correct authorization seals in mid-shunshin and successfully entered the lobby.

A pair of ANBU operatives, Crane and Panda acknowledged him. He had served with both of them before during his stint with ANBU.

"Uzumaki-san? Here to see the Hokage?" The secretary asked. He was a frequent visitor, and the woman behind the receptionist desk smiled warmly.

Naruto nodded.

"Hokage-sama! Uzumaki Naruto is here to see you!" The secretary called out.

A little muffled behind the door, the Hokage's voice replied, "Come in!"

After shutting the door behind him, Naruto went and sat down in a chair, "Hi jiji." He greeted. The Hokage had always been like a surrogate grandfather to him.

"Naruto, what can I do for you? I must thank you for distracting me from my paperwork."

"Ah, Hokage-sama, I would like to take a genin team."

The Hokage pulled out his signature smoking pipe, lit it and took a puff. "Well Naruto, I think you're ready. There's going to be a new class of academy students graduating soon that haven't seen the horrors of war. I think your experience would let you be a good leader and a great teacher."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Naruto nodded.

The Hokage looked grave all of a sudden. "There's actually another thing. I promised Minato to tell you this when you either made jounin or turned 16."

The Hokage's voice inexplicably started getting drowned out. "It's very important Naruto…"

There was a lot of white noise, and Naruto started feeling…drowsy.

"Naruto…"

Huh?

"Naruto…"

"Hokage-sama?" Naruto tried to say. His mouth wouldn't move.

"Naruto, wake the hell up!"

Everything went white.

OOOOOO

Now:

And that's where the memory ended.

Yamanaka Inoichi sat back, tears already rolling down his face. Uzumaki Naruto had consented to a full mind interrogation. It was a very intimate thing, and Naruto had stressed that he knew what he was getting into, that he was voluntarily letting Inoichi into the deepest part of his mind, to look into his soul, his consciousness, everything.

And Inoichi felt everything, every memory, all the sights, sensations, emotions, the mental aspects- A full mind interrogation would completely immerse his consciousness into the one being interrogated. It would have been mind rape had Naruto not consented, and even then…

For the last 12 hours, Inoichi had been one with Naruto, living through all his memories, even the most intimate and private ones, everything had been laid bare. As an observer, he had seen everything, uncovered secrets beyond belief. Naruto's happiness was his happiness, Naruto's pain his pain. He had felt his own pain when he saw what could have been…and everything else.

He was exhausted, from both the revelations and the effort. They were in the ANBU infirmary, the same one Naruto had been so well acquainted with having spent a full month of recovery time after his ANBU SERE conditioning.

Naruto opened his eyes unsteadily. Inoichi embraced Naruto and wept.

"Naruto…Naruto…I'm so sorry…but…it was only a dream."

OOOOOO

Jutsu List:

1. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique: C-rank, a fireball or a continuous flamethrower is expelled from the mouth and can incinerate even metal.

2. Fuuton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough: C-rank, a great rush of wind is summoned and hits with tremendous force.

3. Doton: Doryuusou – Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears: C-rank, spears made of rock, hardened mud, or dirt rise out of the ground to impale enemies.

4. Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu – Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique: C-rank, summons a piercing blade of wind that can cut through armor and bodies alike with ease.

5. Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu – Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique: B-rank, the user's arm is transformed into nearly indestructible chakra coated tendrils of wood which can be used to capture and restrain an enemy.

6. Fuuton: Kaze Suto Kyanon – Wind Release: Wind Blast Cannon: B-rank, a ball of wind chakra is highly compressed and fired at an enemy. The ball would explosively decompress a certain distance away with devastating results. Created by Uzumaki Naruto

OOOOOO

A/N: I think this is the longest chapter I've written in all my stories so far. The memory sequence wasn't supposed to be so long, but the words just flowed. I liked writing about the dream world so much that I'm considering writing a prequel on it. Maybe… What do you guys think?

Writing the memories in only italics was probably a bit confusing, sorry; I'll change it up in the following chapters. If you're wondering about all the discrepancies in the memories, it'll be explained in the next chapter.

The ANBU torture conditioning scene was hugely inspired from the fic "People Lie" by Nugar. It's an incredibly well written AU Naruto with a great deal of psychology involved. I highly recommend reading his story. The chapter in question is 23.