Chapter One

Naruto Uzumaki the youngest ANBU since Itachi Uchiha strode purposefully towards the hokage's building in the center of the village. Men and women looked at him in equal amount's hatred and fear, they knew his nickname among the ANBU black ops "Wraith" Konoha's Wraith he was known as, for two very good reasons, first, when he fought those who saw didn't exactly remember where he was at any real point in time he flowed from one place to another with such grace, using natural movement as cover, the shadow of swaying trees, even tall grass was enough for him to vanish into without ever using chakra. Second, as an ANBU he wore an animal mask only this mask was unlike any other it was a fox and had a silvery sheen that seemed not reflect light but absorb it. It was both beautiful and deadly. Naruto reached the building and went up the stairs he brushed by the guards at the top of them and went through the door to the hokage's office.

Sarutobi looked up as Naruto came in the door, Naruto stood directly in front of the desk and saluted, "Mission successful sir!" he said. He stood as a soldier, his arms at his sides, his head held high and his heels together.

Sarutobi sighed "Naruto, can you just once be normal and talk to me as a friend like you used to?" looking at that mask was giving him a headache. Where he got the material from he didn't know but it was very intimidating.

Naruto shook his head "negative, I am an ANBU, the ANBU were created to protect the hokage I can not be efficiently ready if I am idly talking." He was proud of his station and wasn't about to lose it because he got lazy.

Sarutobi rolled his eyes 'this is getting out of hand' he thought. It had gone from bad to worse with Naruto since entering the ANBU he was becoming one with that mask of his, he never took it off anymore. With that thought in mind he decided that there was nothing for it, he was going to have to go with plan B, "alright, then as of now you are dismissed from the ANBU, you are demoted to jounin"

Naruto gaped at the old man from behind his mask and because of this Sarutobi could not see the horror and pain on his face. "W-w-w- what!" he yelled becoming for a moment the boy of twelve that he was, I worked hard for this w-why now? What have I done to deserve this!" Then, resuming his stoic expression he said "Demotion accepted apologies for my outburst it was unseemly, what would you have me do now."

Sarutobi knew what he had just done, he had just destroyed years and years of training for the black ops team he commanded. But damn it all he could not just sit and let the son he never had turn himself into an uncaring monster that could not feel pain, fear, love, nor any other emotion. He had seen it before in others of the black ops, they looked like the dead only killing, killing , killing, never stopping he would not let that happen to Naruto. He steeled himself and said with as much authority as he could muster: "Go to the ANBU barracks and hang up your mask say your goodbyes to your team if you must now dismissed!"

Naruto turned around and disappeared he did not use shunshin, he was just gone. Sarutobi sighed 'I'm sorry Naruto' he thought and went back to work.

(The ANBU barracks)

Naruto was cold, he felt… numb, as if he had just been given anesthetic his dream was crumbling around his ears. He strode past the other ANBU as if he were still their commander. He stepped into his team's room and they all turned to him: snake aka Anko Mitarashi, wolf aka Hatake Kakashi, and rat aka Sai. Sai was part of the ANBU root division but befriended Naruto after transferring to the ANBU black ops division on Danzou's orders. Kakashi was this same teams captain until he began to see that Naruto was surpassing him, because of that he submitted a request that he be given command. Anko was just along for the ride. As Naruto entered, so much killing intent filled the room that even Anko could barely breath, they had never, ever, felt this much ki from their leader and for the first time in their lives they felt that it was a mistake putting this child in the ANBU so young. They felt heavy with the killing intent as though they were being dragged down. Through the cold Naruto whispered: "I… have just been demoted… I am now a jounin I must hang up my mask and uniform, I am no longer your commander."

Kakashi couldn't believe his ears, Naruto was one of the best if not the best shinobi in the village why would the hokage suddenly want to let him go. He would have to investigate into this and find some answers.

Naruto looked at each of them in turn as if for the first time and then looked out of there window at the village "after four years we have become the strongest team in the village. I do not understand the reasons of this demotion but this will not stop me from becoming stronger then even the hokage" he said this with not a hint of anything in his voice it was dead. With that he turned to the door of the changing rooms and disappeared.

Anko looked around at the other two and said "well that was surprising what the hell do you think the old man is doing taking him from the black ops?" she was extremely puzzled she was slightly resentful of her captain at first since he became a captain faster then she became and ANBU but then had gotten used to it. Then after she had gotten used to it she saw him fight and was in awe of him, she began to believe right then and there that he might possibly be the one to help her get revenge on Orochimaru.

Sai stayed silent he had no idea why the hokage would take away his best ANBU, it didn't make sense. He knew that before Naruto was an ANBU captain he was much more jovial and now that he thought of it he had not seen his friend and captain smile in half-a-year ever since he became captain and began wearing a different mask to signify becoming captain. "I believe the hokage has an ulterior motive for demoting Naruto, have you noticed that he has become more abrupt in his speaking? He seems to be becoming more of a primal being with only instincts. We haven't noticed because we're around him so often. But now that I think about it have you noticed the way he looks when he kills?" they sat there trying to remember when the last time they saw Naruto kill someone was. And then it hit them, like a bolt of lightning they remembered something that they had passed off as their imagination as he assassinated a bandit warlord trying to build an army.

(flashback)

It was raining as the four figures raced through the trees they were in diamond formation with Naruto at the front, Anko to the right, Sai to the left and Kakashi taking rear guard. This was their most effective formation and it had gotten them out of extremely difficult places before. "Sai, Send scouts ahead." said Naruto.

Quickly Sai unrolled his scroll and sent his spies of ink in front of them. Fifteen minutes later they were heading towards the bandit camp. When they got there Naruto went over the plan of attack: "Sai, you will create a distraction with your beasts in the front" Sai nodded his agreement, " Anko, you will circle around and do the same at the back, their main forces will then be split. Kakashi your with me got it?" everyone nodded "good let's go"

The battle plan was perfectly executed the bandits were completely decimated and when Anko and Sai came to the middle tent they found the warlord trying to buy Naruto off, offering him wealth, woman and everything else under the sun. It didn't work. Naruto took two steps forward and decapitated him. Through the spray of blood you could here barely audible soft laughter.

(end flashback)

They now understood Sarutobi's plans they had to get Naruto off the field before he became his nickname… a wraith something between dead and alive, something without emotions of any kind. Naruto came out of the changing room just at that moment and looked at their shocked expressions, "I will leave you now, good fortune favor you on your missions to come." He said as he walked over to some hangers on the wall and hung up his uniform. About to hang up his mask as well he stopped, he looked at it and muttered to himself in a far off voice "this will remind me of my days here and the days training from dawn till dusk to get to this point, it will remind me of my failure as ANBU and to train to overcome that obstacle." With that he slipped the mask back on and disappeared through the door without saying goodbye.

(Two weeks later)

Many things had happened in the two weeks following the dismissal of one known as the Wraith from the ANBU black ops. First of all Kakashi, Anko, and Sai had resigned after working as a team for four years. Adapting to a new teammate was extremely stressing. Finally after arguing for the tenth time on which way to go they had enough and resigned to the post of jounin hoping to see Naruto again. Unfortunately for them Naruto had requested a long term mission that would last a couple of weeks the day after being demoted. Now they found themselves inside the hokage's office along with Kurenai, and Asuma, the reason for being there were the two academy student that lay within the crystal orb on the desk in front of the hokage.

"Tomorrow as you know is the genin exam and in it will be the Huuga heiress and the last Uchiha. Hiashi has requested for them to be put together as they work better with each other then anyone else. The problem lies in the fact that we have never put the two best students on the same team since it over-balances them." Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement the old man continued "I have decided that this will be an experiment to see if this arrangement will work. Can anyone think of a third member? He or she needs to have a calm head since the Uchiha, is hotheaded and the Huuga is very critical of everything involving authority."

Kurenai stood up "I vote it be Talim, she is calm at all times, curious and above all deadly with those blades of hers. We should be grateful her family moved here before she was eight so she could enroll in our academy. I don't know if it is a family bloodline or her training but she is as fast as a chunin with those blades." she stated this calmly and, sure of herself, sat back down.

"Thank you Kurenai, does anyone have an objection?" no one answered "Talim it shall be then." Now as to who will be the team leader I believe Kakashi should be the one to take this team as it will have the Uchiha and ultimately the sharingan. However I have a very experimental issue that I would like to put forth." Everyone in the room suddenly sat up and took interest, Kakashi set his book down, Asuma stopped smoking, Anko stopped thinking on whether or not it would be worth it to have a snake eat Kakashi's little orange book. When the renowned Professor said he was going to experiment, then it would have to be something big. When Sarutobi had everyone's attention he said: "Yes I am going to experiment with making two jounins leaders of the same team."

As the words left his mouth there was absolute silence. Finally after several minutes Sai spoke up: "Who will be the two jounins?" he asked.

The old man started to sweat 'and here is the hard part' he thought to himself as he said "Kakashi will be one, the other will be… Naruto." Again there was silence except for a choking sound coming from Asuma who had just swallowed a piece of his cigarette that he bit off in his surprise.

Then something happened none of them expected. Naruto himself stepped out of the shadows and went to stand in front of the hokage saying as he did so: "I accept this mission hokage-sama when shall I be ready?"

Kakashi for a moment had trouble deciding which to do first laugh hysterically or grimace in fear of what was to come. He knew that if Naruto was given fresh genins he Kakashi would have his hands full just trying to keep them alive. Not from any evil intent from Naruto but Naruto's nature told him to train, train, and train some more until he dropped which was usually about five hours after he started at a non-stop pace as he was directed to do from a very young age. He finally decided to compromise and split the two into a nervous laugh which ended in silence a few seconds later.

Sarutobi was surprised. Here he had thought he would have to coax Naruto into accepting the mission. Now Naruto was awaiting instructions, with that thrice-damned mask on that hid everythi… then something clicked inside his head, the mask! Quickly he stood up and with his deepest "hokage voice" said: "Naruto you have been demoted to jounin remove the mask!"

Everyone looked at him in surprise especially Naruto, who could not for the life of him figure out why the old man was acting like this. However even though he was disobeying a command from his hokage he kept the mask on. He felt deeply attached to his mask. He had found it on one of the ANBU assassinations of a corrupt and powerful merchant. It was in a box in the corner of a warehouse hidden behind two great statues from across the sea. "I do not understand Hokage-sama, does Kakashi-san who is also a jounin not wear a mask?"

Sarutobi grimaced, he had forgotten about that, Kakashi had had that mask on so long that it had become part of him, something like a nose, you never saw one without the other. It was time to draw from his bullcrap files "Naruto, Kakashi is a special case that I allow because it is necessary there are secrets that should not come out even in one's own village" he was sweating as he said this hoping the sharp boy would accept this tale. Apparently he did.

Naruto slowly reached up and just as slowly slid off the mask. Everyone took a step back. Naruto's eyes were not the cerulean blue they had been two weeks ago. They were silver, but not nice shiny silver. They were dead, emotionless… cold as ice.