Chapter 2 Thoughts of the Past and Beginning the Future, Hades Revealed

Konoha Ninja Academy

13-year-old Uzumaki Naruto was bored; he had so many things he'd rather be doing, but today was the graduation test for his age group in the Academy. Contrary to his enthusiastic proclamations, he didn't want to be Hokage, hell he didn't even want to be a ninja. He was quite happy working as one of the Shadow Hunter. Unfortunately Ares, his boss/sensei/father figure, had decided that it was best for the Hunters to have him trained in the ninja arts, thus here he was.

He met Ares after an attack when he was 8. Something frightening had happened to him and he was left wandering, about in a body not his own until Ares had found him. Ares had recognized what had happened and took him to a safe house and helped him return to normal. At first he had been suspicious of the masked man, especially since he remembered what had happened the last time he encountered masked people, but Ares had quickly convinced him of his sincerity, and gave concrete proof of his claims.

Flashback

Konoha Naruto age 8

Naruto had been wandering around the alleys of Konoha, avoiding the mobs and threats of the villagers. He was halfway down the alley, heading for his apartment; when he sensed someone land behind him. With the near soundless landing he figured it was a ninja and ninja were always bad news. Trying to act unconcerned, he slowly increased his pace hoping the ninja wasn't here for him.

No such luck, as he neared the exit of the alley, three more figures landed near him, cutting off his escape, each of these wearing a white mask with animalistic designs. "Well, lookey we have here," exclaimed the one in front of him, "A little foxling, far form its den."

"Foxling?" asked Naruto, discreetly looking for an escape route "what's that supposed to mean?"

"It doesn't matter fox", said the one behind him, "you're gonna be dead soon anyway!"

"And to make sure you say dead," said the one on his right, before slamming his hands on Naruto's chest, "Kokuhyouhan (1)!"

"And now you die," exclaimed the fourth, before shoving a kunai into Naruto's chest and another in to his temple. "Now lets go, someone should be along to dispose of its corpse, we can't risk burning it because it might be able to reform." About 20 minutes after they left black and red tendrils began extending from the corpse and shifting around, but no one was around to see it.

Elsewhere

Kabunko Hiroshamawas having a bad week. Most of his squad was off duty resting after a mission turned sour. It had started off well, but a stroke of bad fortune during the execution of the plan had caused them to face more resistance than they had planned for, and his squad mates had taken enough damage to put them out of commission for a few days. Unfortunately that meant he couldn't take missions, but he still had bills to pay and needed some cash, thus he found himself doing a few D ranks for a quick buck. This particular mission was from a friend of his and was for the disposal of "hazardous trash". He had taken this mission for two reasons, the pay was good, and he his friend had told him it would help to get revenge on the Kyuubi.

So he found himself looking down at the bloodied corpse of a small blonde boy, hidden under a genjutsu in the marked alleyway. Taking a tarp provided by the client, he wrapped the corpse up, taking care to avoid contact with the boy. After wrapping it up he began making his way towards the infamous Forest of Death.

When he arrived at the fence he cautiously looked around, and when he had determined that no one was watching, he vaulted over the fence and made his way inside. When he was out of sight of the edge, he tossed the tarp down, and began to dig a pit to bury it. AS he worked he failed to notice that the tarp was twitching.

Naruto was confused, the last thing he could remember was a blinding pain in his head, and then he had been woken up when he hit the ground, wrapped up in a canvas tarp. Struggling he managed to unwrap himself and look around. He found himself in a large forest, surrounded by enormous trees. Off to one side there was a man using a shovel to make some sort of pit. Confused he decided to see if the man knew who he was.

He approached the man, who was too busy digging to notice and asked, "Excuse me, do…" the rest was cut off when the man jumped in surprise and spun, swinging the shovel like an axe. Acting on instinct, Naruto raised an arm, and blocked the shovel causing it to splinter, before stepping forwards and driving his fist into the man's gut. As his fist entered the man's body, small red and black tendrils sprang from his arm and attached to the man. The man's body began shrinking; getting sucked into the tendrils as the absorbed his body, clothes and weapons. When the process had finished, he felt something in his head. Memory after memory, emotion, he watched as a whole life flashed before his eyes, before a pain in his temple caused him to black out.

Later

Kabunko Hiroshama blinked; for some reason he had zoned out while he was digging the demons grave. Shaking his head to clear it of the stray thoughts, he went back to digging, wondering what had happened. Figuring it was just stress, and the he needed a break he decided to hurry up and finish the pit.

When he had completed the grave he went back to the tarp and lifted it up. 'Odd' he thought, 'its lighter than I remember. I must be really tired,' he decided before tossing the tarp down the pit, before filling it with an earth jutsu. 'Did I know that before?' he asked him self, 'I must have,' replied a voice in the back of his head, 'how else could you have done it?' After deciding that he really needed a vacation; especially if he was having conversations with his stress related thoughts, he headed back to his apartment.

Two days later

Hiroshama was having a bad day. He had taken a few days off after his trip into the Forest of Death, but it didn't help. He kept getting strange flashes of something. He'd pass a store and remember a detail or two, he'd see a face and remember that they'd attacked him, but he knew these weren't his memories. He didn't know what was wrong with him and it was slowly driving him insane. In his poor mental state he failed to notice the man landing in front of him, or the strange glowing eyes behind his silver mask. Nor did he see the man's intense stare, as he looked him up and down. When he final realized that he wasn't alone, the man had already stuck, and darkness claimed his mind.

Shadow Hunter Safe House

Naruto woke, in a strange white room place, on an unknown bet with the sound of machines beeping near by. As he peered around the room he realized that he was in some sort of medical room, complete with all sorts of strange medical apparatuses. As he finished looking around the room he heard the door open, causing him to snap his head in its direction. As he looked he say a man enter. The man wore a Black cloak, trimmed with crimson, a crimson shirt, black pants and shoes, and on his right hand a crimson glove his sleeves has a black stripe that raveled from the side of his shoulders twisting down to cover the back of his gloved hand. On left hand he wore a strange looking gauntlet, and his face was covered by an eyeless mask. Both the mask and gauntlet were made out of the same blackish silver metal.

"Hello Naruto," said the man, "My name is Ares."

End Flashback

After meeting Ares, Naruto learned what had happened to him. After he had been killed by the ANBU, it had awoken his powers, and caused him to feed on the nearest threat, which happened to be Hiroshama. After consuming the man he had downloaded his memories, but his youth, coupled with the temporary memory loss from awakening, and his uncontrolled shape shifting abilities had caused his psyche to believe that he was Hiroshama, and when his memories had begun to return, it had started to break his mind. Ares had found him wandering Konoha, as his new abilities began to flare up, and had knocked him out so that his subconscious could finish dealing with the assimilation process. He assured him that it wouldn't happen again, especially if he trained with his abilities. Ares then offered Naruto the chance to join him as one of his Hunters, and help him achieve his goals. From then on Naruto had decided to follow Ares, and learn the skill of their kind.

You see Ares had informed him that he wasn't exactly what people would call human. He was a Protohunter, an evolved form of human that ha appeared a few decades back. There were very few of them, but they all had similar base abilities. They also had a different moral code than regular humans, though some aspects remained the same. Under Ares Naruto learned how to hunt, how to shift, the art of the stealth consumption and infiltration. He learned how to sort through the lives of many minds in seconds. Ares had also told him the reason the village hated him, and who his father was.

When Naruto was born, the three HunterBeasts; Zeus, Hades and Poseidon had attacked Konoha, however only Poseidon, who had taken the visage of the nine tailed fox, was large enough to bee seen clearly. The 'Shinigami' that had been 'summoned' was the HunterBeast Hades, and the HunterBeast Zeus, who was the size of a man, had ridden on top of Poseidon. Ares had assisted the Yondaime, in the battle Naruto's father had been forced activate part of his sons bloodline and use it to consume Hades. He then had sealed its consciousness to prevent it from overshadowing Naruto, much like Hiroshama did. Ares told him how he had assisted the Yondaime, in the battle by consuming the weakened Hades and Zeus. Minato had wished that the villagers would see him as a hero; however that was not to be. The villagers feared their race and their abilities and thought him to be a monster and called for his death. It was only the manipulations of Danzo and Hiruzen that allowed him to live, so they could forge him as a weapon.

Ares had left shortly after awakening from the battle, believing that Naruto's godfather, who was still in Konoha at the time, would raise him until his abilities had began to show. However, Jiraiya and Hiruzen had different plans, and Naruto was left alone, to be beaten and abused, in an attempt to make him loyal to Hiruzen, who would come and 'save' him from the beatings, always just before Naruto gave up hope.

When he had learned this Naruto had been outraged at the betrayal of those close to him, but Ares had managed to calm him down, stating that letting the Hokage know that he had been found out would be detrimental to getting his revenge. He had to train in his abilities and learn his unique skills from absorbing Hades. If he followed him then he could make him great. Reluctantly Naruto agreed and began crafting his mask. He hid his strength and speed, faked masked his intelligence and cunning. He became the ignorant dobe, barely doing well enough to be considered a ninja, while in his spare time, he sent clones shifted as various people he had consumed to learn anything and everything.

He had learned that from Hades, he gained the ability to 'return' minds or even fragments of minds that he had consumed to 'animate' bodies, coupled with his growing ability to form his excess Biomass into bodies and other objects gave birth to his own gang, that he called the Tendrils. The Tendrils were mostly reformed bodies that had been reanimated by mind fragments, each capable of 'hunting' in his place, and bringing the Biomass back to him. Very few of its members were human, and they usually were generally treated as pets, unless they had proven to be useful enough to keep the original around.

That brought them to today, they knew Mizuki was planning something, and that it involved Naruto failing, and they planned to use it as an opportunity to distract the Hokage enough to move a few of their plans forward. But first, he had to believably fail the final. He was broken from his in Looking up he noticed that he was the last student, it was time to begin.

Hokage Monument

Evening

The plan had gone off without a hitch; he had failed just enough to look like he was trying, while still falling short of the requirements. It turns out that Mizuki was sabotaging him, not realizing that he planned to fail, which was good, because he could use that to get it overturned. Anyway after he failed Mizuki approached him in regards to a 'Secret Genin Mission Test' wherein he had to perform a mock mission involving infiltration of a 'secure location' theft of a certain scroll, and learn one of the techniques inside, as proof that he was capable in ninjutsu. He then had to rendezvous with Mizuki for the drop and prove that he had learned a technique from the scroll.

When he had informed Ares of his 'mission' he couldn't be happier, they had been looking for an excuse to obtain the scroll and the idiot gave them a perfect chance. Even if he got caught, he could easily shift the blame to the silver haired bastard. Morphing his clothes to a skintight black suit, he jumped off the monument and glided towards the Hokage's office window. The room was dark; the Hokage was busy with the council, determining team placements. Morphing his fingers into a razor claw, he sliced through the lock on the bottom of the window and slid it open. Morphing his body into stealth mode, he slid silently jumped from the sill to the desk's chair and from there to the shelf, containing the hidden passageway. Pulling the hidden lever he allowed the door to swing open before using a bladeless Whipfist to snag the scroll, before closing the shelf and leaping out the window.

After using his powers to absorb the scroll, shifted into a random ANBU, as he hopped across the rooftops, towards Ichiraku's.

Abandoned Shack, Konoha Outskirts

Umino Iruka raced through the trees, searching for his wayward student. He'd been at the academy, going over the written tests; his gut had told him something was and he'd learned to listen to it. There had been something odd about Naruto's test but he couldn't tell what, and after examining it a few times he realized what it was. The handwriting on his answers was slightly off, but that could have just been nerves, however the ink used in name was a different type than the ink used for the answers. He was going to check his theory with the other exams in the boys file when Mizuki had burst in, claiming that Naruto had stolen the Scroll of Seals, and had fled.

Realizing the trouble the blonde could get in if the wrong people found him he quickly began his search. Extending his senses he quickly sorted through the hundreds of 'trails' left behind by the students' chakra and latched on to Naruto's. Once he had found the signature, he'd extended his senses further and located the largest source of the boy's chakra and sped off into the woods. In his focus he didn't realize he was being followed by a silver haired man.

As he neared the source he landed on a branch and cursed under his breath, he saw Naruto studying a large scroll, near one of the walls. Leaping down from the tree he landed right in front of the boy and began yelling. "I found you, you idiot! Do you know how much trouble you're in! What the hell possessed you to steal the Scroll of Seals!"

Looking up from the scroll he was reading, Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Scroll of Seals?" he asked, "Why the hell would you think I would steal the Scroll of Seals? I thank you for your confidence in my skills but doesn't it seem odd to assume that the dobe of the class, someone who has been failed on three separate occasions, was able to break in to the Hokage's vault, bypass all its security steal a priceless treasure and get away with it?"

"If you didn't steal the Scroll of Seals, then what the hell do you call that?" shouted the irate Chunin pointing at the scroll in the boys hands.

Looking down at the scroll, Naruto flicked his wrist causing the scroll to rewind itself up and latch closed. Holding it up to the teacher he spoke "This you nosey asshole, is Codex of the Uzumaki clan."

Looking at the scroll Iruka saw the title 'The Uzumaki Codex: A History of our Royal Clan' Raising an eyebrow, he asked "You expect me to believe that your part of a Royal clan?"

"No, I have answered you truthfully, I don't give a damn if you believe me or not, it won't change the truth." As he spoke he pressed the scroll to his chest where it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"But if you didn't steal the scroll, then why would Mizuki tell me you did?" As he spoke his senses went haywire had he pushed Naruto down, as several kunai pinned him to the wall.

"Thanks for finding him Iruka!" cried Mizuki in a falsely cheerful voice, "he's a painto track down!" Looking down at the blonde, he frowned, "you were supposed to steal the scroll brat, what happened? I didn't go through all the trouble to sabotage you just for you to chicken out!"

"Sabotage?" asked Iruka, "what do you mean sabotage!"

Mizuki smirked and said, "He's been good enough to graduate, every year, but I couldn't let that happen, no way in hell! So I sabotaged him each and every year! At first he complained, but it was always my word against his, and nobody would believe Him, so I was able to get away with it! But this year, I decided that I would use him. If he failed a third time, he'd have no choice but to give up on being a ninja, so he'd be desperate! I could use him to steal the Scroll of Seals then kill him! I'd be a hero for killing the Demon, but unfortunately the Scroll would have been destroyed in the battle. But the little bastard chickened out, he never took the scroll, so I had to move on to plan B, and just kill him but I couldn't find him, so I did the next best thing. I went get you, and spouted a sob story about how your little student stole the Sacred Scroll, and let you lead me to him."

"You planned this all along?" asked Iruka, "Everything?"

"Yep, now unfortunately, the demon has decided to show his true colors and attack you for failing him and ruining his plans. Tragically I was too late to save you, but" he fake sobbed, before shouting, "YOU WILL BE AVENGED MY COMRADE!"

Looking up at the ranting Chunin, Naruto raised an eyebrow at the man. "What demon are you talking about?"

Looking down Mizuki smiled. "Oh, that's right," he said, "you were never told! You see there was a law made by the Sandaime, concerning you, but you were never to be told."

"No," shouted Iruka "It's forbidden!"

Ignoring the pinned teacher Mizuki continued, "You see the Kyuubi wasn't killed that night it was sealed. The law made by the third was that nobody could tell you that the fox was sealed into you! You are the nine tailed fox! You are the monster that ravaged the village 13 years ago, and I'll be a hero for finishing what the fourth started!" As he finished he grabbed one of the shuriken on his back and threw it towards Naruto, who stood staring at him. Iruka could only watch in horror as the enormous blade sliced through the air and buried itself into the motionless blonde.

"Naruto!" he shouted "NOOOO!"

"You are mistaken, Mizuki-san." Both me were started at the words, spoken by the wounded blonde. "I've met the container of Poseidon; he's a nice man, once you get past his uncaring demeanor. He is a very good man, and I respect him. I contain Hades, Lord of the Dead."

"How!" screamed Mizuki, "How are you still alive!"

"My clan's bloodline," stated the blonde. "Our Bloodline allows three things: The Breakdown of matter into Biomass" As the boy spoke Mizuki noticed that the shuriken had begun to break down, as black and red tendrils surrounded it and pulled it into his chest. "The assimilation of Biomass into our bodies," The shuriken had disappeared into the boy's body, and he raised his hand "and the reformation of Biomass from our bodies into a known shape." From his raised hand a silver shuriken, an identical copy of the one he had just absorbed, emerged. As the Chunin stood transfixed, he threw the weapon at the silver haired Chunin, who was almost too surprised to dodge, almost. Ducking the shuriken he followed its path as it tore through the trees behind him, and when he turned back to the blond he realized that the boy was gone. He was about to comment felt another presence on the branch was standing on. Quickly turning he was surprised to see the blonde standing next to him, his hands shaped into wicked metallic claws, each about 13 inches long and mage out of a strange blackish silver metal. Startled by the boys sudden arrival he was unable to dodge as the boy stabbed the claws into his chest.

Naruto stabbed his claws into Mizuki, before closing his hands and ripping them sideways, tearing the silver-haired main apart, even as tendrils snaked down is arm and latched onto the pieces, breaking them down into Biomass. Jumping down from the tree, the tendrils consolidated into a large ropey mass that trailed behind as he landed, with the pieces still being absorbed. As he approached Iruka, he was hit with the familiar flashes of memory, which signified the end of the consumption, as the tendril drew back into him. "Let's go talk to the Hokage" said the blonde. Pulling out the kunai piercing the man he grabbed him and helped him as he limped to the Hokage's office.

Hokage's Office

Sarutobi cursed the council, after several hours, they had still been unable to come to a decision on the teams. In fact it had taken most of the session to get them to begin the team selections, because most of them wanted to pas various decrees and regulations against Naruto, because he had failed a third time, and was now officially a civilian. With the aide of some of the Shinobi clans he had been able to waylay any new decrees red tape, using several clauses in their laws to force them to wait a few days. Hopefully he would have a solution to the blonde's problem by then, if not… well he would think of something.

Upon entering is office, he had noticed something was off about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Scanning the office, he determined that there were no traps, and that he was the only one in the office, save for the ANBU, who had come in with him, so he dismissed it. Nearing his desk, he noticed that one of the stacks of paperwork had been knocked over, and he figured that it was what had set his senses off. It had probably been knocked over when he had left the room for the meeting, and it wouldn't be the first time it had happened. As he straitened out his papers he was surprised to hear some one knock on his door. 'Who could this be, so late' he thought, before bidding them to enter. He was surprised to see a wounded Iruka being assisted in by none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Quickly assessing the man's wounds he determined that they were all superficial, though there seemed to bee something odd about the scene. "What happened to you, Iruka?" asked the aged Hokage.

"Mizuki," said Iruka, "he turned traitor."

Hearing this, Hiruzen's demeanor changed to from curious old man to Hokage. "Report!" he said.

As he listened to the Chunin's story he kept his face emotionless, but his mind was whirling. When he heard that Mizuki had been sabotaging the blonde, he frowned and filed it away for later. As he listened to the description of the confrontation with Mizuki, he was both intrigued at the Uzumaki supposed bloodline and worried that Naruto had had to kill Mizuki. It was only after the description of the nuke-nin's that he realized what had been bothering him about the blonde, despite the rather bloody execution he had performed and carrying the bleeding Iruka across town, there wasn't a drop of blood on the boy. Deciding to ask about it later, after dismissing Iruka to be healed he decided to ask about Naruto's bloodline.

"You say you have a bloodline, Naruto?" he asked, "Why have you never mentioned it?"

"The existence and abilities of the Uzumaki bloodline is clan secret. As I am a civilian member of the clan, there was no need to inform you. Had my admittance in to the ninja ranks not been prohibited by the instructors of the academy, you would have been informed during my registration process."

"Well can you tell me your part in today's events?"

"After I was once again barred from graduating," he began, "I was approached by Mizuki, who attempted to deceive me into stealing the Scroll of Seals. I allowed him to believe that I would follow his plan, and then went into the forest to read from my clans Codex, and contemplate having my clan withdraw from Konohagakure. After several hours Iruka interrupted my studies, and attempted to steal the Codex from me, while shouting about the Scroll of Seals. After I called into question the feasibility of his claims, he finally decided to stop making baseless accusations, and asked what the scroll I had was. I then informed him what it was and showed him the title, before returning the Codex to its pocket. Mizuki then showed up and attempted to kill Iruka, while ranting about the Demon, before attempting to demoralize me with an incorrect rendition of the day of my birth, before attacking me with a large shuriken. Utilizing one of my abilities I deconstructed the weapon before returning it to Mizuki in a violent manner. As he watched the path of his weapon I closed the distance and executed him via one of my combat techniques. After disposing of the corpse, I returned to Iruka, who had been pinned in Mizuki's original attack, and freed him, before bringing him here so he could deliver his report."

As he listened, Hiruzen filed away several things that he would have to ask the boy later, especially if he was serious about the Clan Secrets. Thinking through his list of questions he decided to ask the most important one, that didn't seem to be clan related. "You claimed that the fact of the Kyuubi being sealed into you was false? What did you mean by that? "

"The day of Poseidon's attack, the fourth did not seal the fox into me, it was sealed into one of the fourths allies. There were two beasts there that day, Hades and Poseidon. Poseidon attacked Konoha, and Hades joined in when it began to loose. As Hades began to attack, the weakened Poseidon. Because she was the greater threat the Yondaime chose her as the target for the seal, and managed to seal her in me before sucumbing to his wounds. The weakened Poseidon was sealed into a wandering Sage, who was on his way to deal with a clan issue."

"Interesting," said the third, thinking. He decided to see if the boy could help him with the team issue. "Naruto, I have a proposition for you." Hearing this, Naruto raised an eyebrow and motioned for motioned for him to continue. "You see with Mizuki's interference, we have an issue in regards to the graduating class. We have an uneven number of students and too many of the graduates are clan heirs, meaning that we can't just hold them back. Also, as you have been officially dropped from the academy by failing the third time, you are under the jurisdiction of the Civilian Council, who are currently trying to pass several edicts that would allow them to execute or imprison you, as well as confiscate any and all property you own. I would like to give you a field promotion for assisting in the defeat of a defecting ninja and aiding punishment of a criminal, this would give you protection from the civilian council, as a ninja, and would allow me to properly distribute the ninja teams."

Looking out the window, Naruto sighed, "I'll accept, old man, but only as a favor to you. I have no fear of the council, I am technically not a citizen of Konoha. I suppose you also want to know about my bloodline, to help facilitate my placement?"

"That would be helpful, but just an overview would be necessary."

"Nah, if I'm gonna tell you, I might as well tell it all, but first they," he said gesturing to the ANBU, "have to go. This is still considered a clan secret."

Considering for a moment, Hiruzen gestured for the ANBU to leave, before activating a privacy seal. Looking to Naruto, who nodded, had said "So tell me about your bloodline."

Sighing, Naruto began, "First it's technically not considered a bloodline," at the thirds questioning look he explained. "A bloodline is a genetic change within a family that causes a mutation of the natural state, granting those superior abilities or skills. The first requirement of a bloodline is that the host must be human, I, due to my mother's family, technically am not. My mother was what is known as a Hunter, an advanced race of beings that came into existence during the Black Era, and before you ask, that's all they knew about their origins. The hunters have several abilities that each member of the race has; The ability to consume, and the ability to manipulate Biomass. To understand these abilities, one must first understand Biomass. Biomass is an organic compound capable of imitating almost any known element. It also has the ability to breakdown almost any substance converting it into Biomass."

"The first ability is basically the ability to convert our prey into Biomass and absorb it into ourselves. It is also how we obtained the name Hunter. We hunt and consume many creatures, to include humans, though we usually don't hunt sentient beings without reason, because of the side effects."

"Side effects?" asked the old man, rather curious.

"When we consume a sentient creature, we gain their memories, which may trigger a breakdown in our psyche as the minds war with each other for dominance. It is… unpleasant. Any way, the second ability is the manipulation of Biomass. This allows us to do many things, such as regenerate our bodies, and change our shape," to demonstrate he shifted into Mizuki, startling the wizened Hokage. "We can take the shape of any humanoid that we have recently consumed, and switch between it and our 'Base'." Shifting back, he stood up and moved to the middle of the floor, before shifting to his claws, and then to his blade, before finally returning to his base. "As a hunter I am adept at infiltration, and assassination, as well as group extermination. Also each hunter has a few minor abilities that vary from Hunter to Hunter, like my ability to hide and my heightened senses. Now if that is all, its about time for me to go to sleep."

"Sure, your dismissed," said Sarutobi, releasing the seal, "come by tomorrow, to pick up your headband and turn in you registration before you head to the academy for team placements.

"Sure thing old man," said Naruto, before opening the window and jumping out. 'Strange' though Sarutobi, 'I thought that was locked.' Before he could ponder it further he was interrupted by a knock at his door. Bidding them to enter he was surprised for a second time that night, as a cloaked man entered, carrying a large scroll and several heads.

"Greetings Hokage-san," said the man, "Lord Ares, sends his regards and, wished me to return these to you. This," he said holding out the scroll, "is the Scroll of Seals, that is supposed to be stored here, and these, "he said holding out the heads, "are the thieves who stole it."

Examining the scroll, Hiruzen realized that it was indeed the Scroll of Seals. Examining the heads, he noted each one wore a blank white ANBU mask with the symbol Ne on the forehead. "When they were captured by the local Guild, and interrogated, they claimed to have stolen it on the orders of a Danzo Shimura."

"Who is Ares?" demanded the Hokage.

"Ares is the head of the Blacklight District, and was very displeased that a non-sanctioned outsider decided to pull a job, especially so close to his headquarters. He decided to make an example out of these three, as a warning to any other who wish to act outside the Sanction."

"Thank you for the information," said the Hokage, "and please send Ares, my thanks."

"Of course Hokage-san," said the figure before exiting the office.

As soon as the man left, Hiruzen immediately moved to the shelf and opened the hidden vault. Looking inside he verified that the Scroll of seals had been removed. Silently cursing, he replaced the Scroll and brought out several sealing tags, he would have to take time later to add a more permanent fix, but these would do for now. 'Dammit Danzo,' he thought, 'I really don't need you making trouble with the Districts, especially not now.'

The Districts were the third of three governing bodies of the great countries, each of the five lands had their own District. The first government was the Daimyo and their Samurai. They were the legitimate civilian government, and the technical rulers of the countries. The regulated all legal civilian matters, and had control over the economy. The second body was the Ninja Village, the official military of the country. They controlled the military aspects of the country and performed services for the civilians, and governments of the minor countries. They followed the daimyo's in peacetime, but during wartime they controlled the country. The third and final body was the District. They controlled the black markets and any illegal activities. The Daimyos and Kages realized that they could not totally get rid of crime in their countries, so they decided to control it, and the Districts provided that control. It was the job of the districts to regulate criminal activity, and to control the wanton crimes. The guilds of the Districts quickly took control of all criminal activities and imposed the regulations on the members of their guild. If it was against the law, it was probably a guild in the district, and anyone found to be working outside of the Guilds were severely punished. Even the ninja villages required a Sanction to perform the, less than savory jobs, however because of the compact they usually got it but they still had to pay a tax any job requiring such a Sanction. He would have to see about reining Danzo in, he couldn't afford to lose the Sanction of the various Districts, or even worse, lose their protection. As he mulled things over, he mentally cursed himself for once again taking up the hat, he was way too old for this shit.

AN:I've decided to swap Poseidon and Hades around, because when you think about it, Hades would make a better Shinigami, and Poseidon was known as Earthshaker for making tidalwaves and earthquakes, much like the Kyubi.

(1) Kokuhyouhan( Damnation Seal)

I think i also fixed most of the mistakes