Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, etc. etc. etc..

A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews; I will answer some of them here:

Avatarofrage: Eh? Dead Bone Puls, AND Byakugan? Hmm...seems a bit overpowered, although I suppose now he has the added handicap of trying to conceal his abilities. Also Akuma-Gaki Akki doesn't flow well, especially since -gaki is an honorific(albeit a derogative one), like -san, or -kun or whatever. It would sound better if people said either Akuma-Gaki, or just Akki, instead of both.
Just trying to be helpful,

Possessing a bloodline limit does not necessarily imply knowing how to use it. Without the years of training you get as part of the Hyuuga clan, and without the generations of technique development, the Byakugan is not hugely powerful as a combat tool. Naruto has not been trained by anyone else (yet), and does not have access to learning anything about Jyuuken as the Hyuuga clan keeps it secret. Of course, there is not much of a need for him to use classic Jyuuken in any case as, for most purposes, Shikotsumyaku is superior IMO (but of course, he hasn't been trained by anyone else in that EITHER, but apart from the Dance of the Seedling Fern, it seems self explanatory to me).

If you could find a different translation for "Demon-Kid" that you think would be better, please tell me. I am not bothered much, since Akki will be used most of the time.

ADD Kyuubi Naruto: exaclately what bloodlines does naruto have.

That would be telling. :P

ShrapnelMan: i like it so for thats a definite. i'm most interested to see the past and why naruto acts the way he does. also i'm wondering if the bones or whatever is a bloodline (shikotsumyaku) or just something random. i havn't really seen a naruto act this way in a fanfic before so kudos.

anyway, i can't wait for the next update.

peace,

Shrap.

Thanks. I will be revealing his past slowly (sorry) unless there is a change of plan. I am hoping to do it piece by piece as and when he remembers particular parts or others deduce them.

Yes, it is Shikotsumyaku.

For some time now it is likely that I will be writing alongside rereading the manga. It is possible that viewing pleasure would be improved by reading the manga parallel to this, since I am a lazy writer.

"Boo" speech

'Boo' thought

"Boo" Bijuu speech

'Boo' Bijuu thought

x

x

Naruto sat on his bed contemplating the day's events. 'So, what do I do now? What are the options? Do I get to Hinata before Kakashi, if he has not already? She almost certainly views me as a demon, making it difficult. To try to befriend her would be inconsistent with the image of me I have built, so possibly attracting more suspicion. It is difficult to build a relationship with someone and then just abandon it, which would be completely counterproductive; I cannot have anything hold me back. To stay here longer than absolutely necessary would be an insult to all their memories…' In his mind an image flashed of 3 men hanging by their necks from a high beam, kicking about after the stools had been removed from under their feet…

He shook his head to rid himself of the image, and stared out of his window. 'I wonder how many of the villages know anything about what happens outside the village walls in the name of the Daimyo, the one we all serve, preserving a system of government that is an anachronism to the rest of the world. Kakashi almost certainly knows, although since he was a jounin before reaching adulthood, he would never, likely, have been sent on a "peacekeeping" mission…

'Now, what other options are there? Could I carry on as I have done before? It would become painfully obvious that I am hiding something, and they would be able to see everything. Or… for the moment, I could train and use only my non-bloodline stuff, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. It would then seem more like I was hiding stuff for advantage during the Chuunin Exams etc.. I should probably limit even that… I can only do this temporarily, though, if I am not to lose some of my capabilities through under-use.'

His right hand wandered up to his neck and he fingered his hitai-ate. 'I wonder what the reaction would be if I walked the streets wearing this in front of lots of people… Regardless, I am in need of Ichiraku ramen.'

x

Hyuuga Hinata walked past the guards at the entrance to the Hyuuga compound, knowing that she had to report to her father as soon as she got home. Walking through the corridors of the Hyuuga estate, she eventually reached a plain wooden sliding door. She brought her right hand up, ready to knock, before she started trembling uncontrollably. 'What will he say, what will he say? He will tell me not to lose to the Uchiha, for the sake of the prestige of our clan, as the strongest remaining in Konoha… I can deal with that… But what will he say about the monster on my team, how will I be able to tell him? What will he do…?'

"Come in Hinata," Hiashi's voice could be heard through the door. She opened it and stepped in. Her father was kneeling on a mat before a low table, on the other side of which was her mat, the table seemingly being a physical barrier between them. She knelt down, and he said, "So… Hinata, who is your sensei?"

"Hatak-ke Ka-Kakashi, t-tou-san."

"Hatake Kakashi? Why have they put you onto a combat team, and with Kakashi, unless you have significantly improved of late…?" 'Kakashi is not just a regular jounin, he is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, general combat specialists still resident in Konohagakure no Sato, and the top technique specialist. Why would Hinata be placed on his team? It makes no sense whatsoever.'

"I-I don't kn-know, t-t-tou-san."

"Who else is on your team?"

"Ano… Uchiha Sasuke," 'That does make sense, but says nothing about why they would place them on the same team. He is the top rookie, so this is definitely a combat team.' "and… the Kyuubi-kid, our very own monster," she said, pre-emptively flinching at what she expected to be a bad answer.

"Akuma-Gaki Akki, ka?" 'That would explain it if we in the council wanted to watch him, but we made no such decision, but there is still something missing…' "Why do you call him a monster, Hinata?"

Hinata stared at him in disbelief. 'He is taking this calmly and, wait, why is he a monster?!' "A-Ano… why d-do I c-call him a m-monster? I do not understand, tou-san. Everyone say that he is the K-K-Kyuubi and—"

"Enough. I thought I had taught you to rely only on facts, as far as possible? There is no proof, or indication, that, just because a bijuu is contained inside someone, that someone becomes a demon. There have been many Jinchuuriki in the past and, while some of them did some monstrous things, there is no evidence whatsoever that they were human incarnations of demons. I will never hear you utter such absurdities in this house, is that understood?"

"H-Hai, tou-san."

"I am curious, however, how does Akki act?"

"He is silent, tou-san."

"Silent?"

"Hai."

"Nothing else?"

"As far as I can see, tou-san."

x

October 17th:

Naruto woke up and sat up, performing the ritual-like seals for the Gikochinai. He stood up, increasing the strength of the jutsu, feeling the creaking of his muscles. 'From now, I make it up as I go along and hope, I guess.' He walked over to his wardrobe and opened it, seeing in front of him ten scruffy black yukata, all patched up the night before. 'Hehe… at least one advantage of my changed training system, I won't have to patch them up so often.' He walked towards his door, then walked back to pick up his pack, then left.

He walked leisurely to the designated training ground, feeling his leg muscles straining against their restraint made of chakra. As he arrived at the ground, beads of sweat were over his face. Luckily, he was the first there, being ten minutes early. Reducing the strength of the gikochinai, he sat down on the crossroads, and waited for the others to arrive, and to see whether his sensei would be late again.

During the next five minute, his team-mates arrived, both staring at him a little coldly before sitting a little further off, from him and each other. Sasuke was sitting on a log, looking everything like the cool avenger that attracted so many of the girls to him. Hinata, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrified, her eyes moving about constantly, and sometimes even going in his direction. 'She is obviously not yet ready to be a ninja, but I will not let us fail just to make things better for her, besides, it would be against the duty I now have to my team, which I will have to take absolutely seriously from now on.'

A half an hour later, their sensei had still not yet arrived. 'Time for a meal,' thought Akki. He took off his pack and rummaged around, taking out a pair of tongs and a small grate with legs. He placed the grate on an area of bare earth on the road, attracting stares from his team-mates. Picking up the tongs, he pushed chakra into a seal on them three times, making three pork steaks poof into existence on the grate. 'Boar steaks,' he corrected himself. Sitting in front of the grate he put his fingers into the tiger seal, and blew a small amount of flame at the steaks once every few seconds, noting happily that he was upwind of his team-mates, who, if they had followed their sensei's instructions, would be very hungry right now. 'This could be interesting. Are they too afraid of throwing up to eat? I doubt it, now. Will they want to get a demon's food though? Haha…'

Some moments later, he was chewing on a steak that he held with chopsticks, the other two still sizzling on the grate ready to be eaten. Still they did not come. After finishing the first one, he picked up and chewed a second one. While chewing, he noticed a shadow come across the grate, and he looked up to see what was blocking the sunlight. Hinata stepped back a bit as his gaze hit her, but then stayed still, clutching her stomach. "A-Ano… Akki-san… May I have a steak?"

Keeping facing her, he placed his hand into his pack, finding his spare pair of chopsticks and took them out and handed them to her, and she took them. "Arigatou, Akki-san. Itadakimasu…" She sat down next to him; to him uncomfortably close, used to having at least a four seat distance between himself and anyone else, but he did not let it show on his face. While she ate, he got another three steaks from the tongs and cooked them the same way. Just as he was about to pick one up and chew it, she said, "N-Nee, Akki-san, why did you say that you have no name yesterday?"

He paused, the steak half-way to his mouth. "A human name implies recognition by many members of human society that you too are a human. I have none, Hyuuga-sama." 'Or at least not here.' He then chewed his steak.

"A-Ano… please call me Hinata, Akki-san."

"Hai, Hinata-sama."

"Ohayou!"

Hinata fell backwards while Akki turned his head to see that Kakashi had stuck his head between them and had been looking over their shoulders. 'I didn't even sense his presence. I wonder how long he was there.'

"You're late!" Sasuke shouted. 'Not that long after all,' thought Akki.

"Summimasen, there was this little girl and she wanted to race me to the cinema and back and so…"

"Liar!" shouted Sasuke. Hinata giggled a little while Akki remained silent. Kakashi stood up and walked towards three stumps, placing an alarm clock on the centre one.

"OK, it's set for noon." He turned to them, Hinata and Sasuke looking at the clock, while Akki stared straight at him. There was a jingling noise as he dug into his pocket, taking out two bells. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch; I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll eat right in front of you."

'So this is why he told us not to eat…' thought Sasuke while Hinata was, uncommonly for her, looking a little smug. Kakashi's gaze lingered on Akki a bit. 'He was cooking while I was away. He paid no attention when I said not to eat. He must have been confident that he had a strong stomach.'

"You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump and… The person who doesn't take a bell fails, so at least one of you will be sent to the academy."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes a Kakashi, while Hinata's widened. Akki allowed surprise to show on his face for a moment before regaining control. 'Damn that man, what is he thinking? By doing this he ensures that he either gets an incomplete team or that the teams are reshuffled, both of which seem to me to be unlikely. Is he looking for only one to pass, so he would then have an apprentice instead of a team?'

"You can even use your shurikens. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

Akki could feel his heart racing. 'What is he on about? He is a jounin. What is the point of this? Does he just want to test our maximum strength? Our willingness to use force? Both? How is that connected to the bells?'

"Are you ready now? Start!"

They all scattered into different places around the clearing. 'Wait… We all automatically separated from each other. Is this what he is aiming for? Us all to work separately?' Realisation then dawned. 'So, he is lying again. He does want to test our strength, but the bells are a ruse allowing him to test our strengths as individuals rather than as a team. He would need to know that, obviously. Then he can gauge how strong we are at less risk to himself and then decide whether to train us based on that. However, if that is the case, he could have just asked us to attack him separately, so, does that mean that his criteria for passing or failing the team is based on something other than individual strength? Team strength maybe?'

Looking through the leaves at Kakashi, Akki checked his equipment. The sensei was a liar, so why not a thief. Everything seemed to be in the right place though.

"The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well," said the masked man, who then looked around himself. Finding that there was no one around him that he could see, he pulled out a little orange book and started to read it. 'Surely not even a jounin can be so confident that he can read a book even when attacked by three people? He does not expect us to team up on him at all. Does he design for us not to do that? He would beat us individually anyway, and likely would too if we were teaming up, so there is no contest, no competition, no test. However, he is designing that we do not team up at all, and that is the only thing we can do in spite of him. Wait… "I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training." That is what he said. He said he would be our opponent. Does that mean we win, just by teaming up? Is that the point of the test?'

During this time Kakashi had gone a few pages through his book and had turned his back to Sasuke's position.

Sasuke was watching Kakashi read his book. He then saw an opening, or so he thought, when Kakashi turned his back to him, giggling. His hands went to his shuriken holster, taking out four for each hand. He waited until Kakashi giggle again, hoping to use the sound to mask the sound of the shuriken in flight. Kakashi giggled just then, and eight shuriken were then sailing towards him. Just as they were about to hit their target, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of grey smoke. Not a tenth of a second later, Sasuke felt a small tugging sensation in his whole body, the one that is normally felt during kawarimi no jutsu when you cast it. 'Oh shit!' he thought, curling himself up to protect his vitals just before he was struck by his own shuriken: three on his arms, two on his right leg and three on his left leg.

He uncurled himself, pulling shuriken out of his body, and seeing Kakashi drop from the tree that he, Sasuke, had been in just a couple of seconds earlier. "Your instincts are good, Sasuke-kun, very good, but you will have to do better than that."

Sasuke grimaced as he stood up, blood flowing from fresh wounds. Panting, he watched as Kakashi turned yet another page of his book, and threw a couple of kunai at him, which the jounin elegantly sidestepped. As this happened, however, Sasuke was quickly making seals. Kakashi saw this and thought, 'Goukakyuu no jutsu? A genin shouldn't have enough chakra!' A stream of flame left Sasuke's lips, widening once it got near Kakashi's position to a great ball of fire two metres wide.

When he finished his technique, Sasuke's eyes widened. 'He's gone! Where is he? Left, right? Behind, above?' he thought, turning his head in those directions. "Below you!" he heard as he felt a hand around his ankle. A second later his head was the only body part of his above the ground as Kakashi squatted before him, before leaving. He glared at the world, before he heard someone drop lightly behind him.

"Uchiha-sama—"

"My name is Sasuke."

"Sasuke-sama, I have something to tell you that you might not like."

"Tch. What is it, Akki?"

"I suspect that the point of the test is unconnected to the bells."

"Nani?"

"I think that he had two bells here for one purpose only: He is trying to have us working against each other rather than cooperatively."

"So?"

'Dense.' "He said yesterday that this would be a test with him as the opponent. Being a test implies that there is a chance of success and, with all due respect, you do not stand a chance."

"How dare a de—" Akki covered his mouth before he could finish.

"Sumimmasen, Sasuke-sama, but you must listen to me. Our only chance of success is if we show ourselves to be working together as a team. Besides, if I am wrong, you can still attempt to take a bell for yourself." Sasuke made some muffled noises. Akki took his hand off his mouth and said, "Sumimmasen, Sasuke-sama."

"Just dig me out, baka!"

'Twat.'

Kakashi looked on from afar as they started digging Sasuke out. 'Has he worked out the purpose behind the test? How would he have got it so quickly? No matter, if the team passes I will have to stop this master servant relationship before it starts.'

He turned on the branch he was on and dropped in front of a hiding Hinata. "So… you prefer watching to fighting do you?" She jumped up and hastily brought her hands up to a basic Jyuuken defence. "Don't you want to pass, Hinata?" She stepped back a little, her eyes moving to be looking to her bottom right 'She is imagining future events?' and she gulped. 'What is she afraid of, me?' "What is it exactly that you are afraid of, Hinata? Not passing? Then come at me!"

She stepped back again. "I-I…" she looked at the ground, and then back Kakashi and seemed to freeze. 'What is wrong with this girl? The files did not mention this. What is going on?'

He turned his eyes up and to his left and saw Sasuke and Akki standing on a branch looking down on them. "Akki, I will handle Hinata. You know what to do." Akki nodded in response and jumped down towards Kakashi, who turned towards him and back stepped to avoid him. From the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke pick up Hinata and leave.

As Naruto landed his left foot on the ground he propelled himself forward, a kunai in each hand, held with the blades on the other side of his hands to his thumbs. His arms were down his sides until the elbow, and then coming up to being in front of his chest. Kakashi held a kunai in his non-book hand, waiting for Akki to get close to him. Just as Akki was getting into range, his hands moved position by about a centimetre each and formed the seal for the kage bunshin, and Kakashi was then surrounded by ten Akki's running in towards him. 'He knows kage bunshin?!' He dodged the first kunai strike and quickly despatched that attacking clone. Dodging further strikes he quickly placed his book back into his kunai pouch lest it get damaged, picking up another kunai and using it to parry another strike and then kill the clone.

In a matter of seconds he then killed every other clone and sent a kunai slicing towards Akki's throat. Akki's eye's widened as he started to lean backwards, but he realised it would be too slow. He decreased the strength of gikochinai no jutsu, so allowing him to jump out of the way and into a tree in time to escape the attack.

'Where did he get his sudden speed increase? I should have killed him right there.'

"Put me down, please, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke placed her down on a tree branch and looked at her.

"Arigatou… sumimmasen…"

"Hai, hai. Akki is fighting Kakashi-sensei as we speak. We are going to help him to take the bells."

"We are?"

"Yes."

"But there are only two…"

"There is no time to explain. Just follow me," he said, looking at his watch and seeing that it was just a couple of minutes until the alarm went off, if his watch and the clock had the same time. "Come on! We must hurry! I will tell you more as we move."

Akki blocked another of Kakashi's kunai strikes before being kicked towards the river, picking himself up again while on its bank. Kakashi rushed towards him, noticing that on either sides of him Hinata and Sasuke were rushing towards his position. A metre away from Akki he brought his right leg around and kicked towards the boy's head that was only to his waist height. The boy brought his arms up to protect his face and jumped up a little to lessen the damage the kick would cause his arms, at the expense of being kicked flying into the lake.

Before he could see what happened to Akki he turned around to deal with the fact he was being attacked by Sasuke and Hinata, Byakugan blazing. He caught a punch of Sasuke's and then a kick, but then felt a piercing pain in his side from a Jyuuken strike from Hinata, causing him to momentarily let go of Sasuke who, with Hinata, jumped away and into the forest and ran off. Before he could recover his sense of events, he heard a whistling sound behind and looked behind him to see Akki finish some seals while standing on the water. He quickly ducked his head and covered his eyes as a great gust of wind picked up water from the river and smashed it into him, gouging out some of the earth and sending him tumbling through mud.

Once he came to rest in a large puddle he got up into a kneeling position, facing away from the river, and saw the bells still in the air, with Sasuke jumping to reach them. 'It is futile gaki, your time has run out.' As he thought that, there was a great clattering of bells sound signalling that noon had arrived, startling Sasuke who then missed the target, allowing the bells to fall into the mud.

Kakashi stood up and looked behind him to see Akki walking towards him across the water in what now was, if only temporarily, a part of the river, a gouge from the land. 'Fuuton Daitoppa, ka? I must talk to him about the fact he did not announce it. Still, how he used it was impressive, as well as the fact that he knows it and knows how to walk on water.' "You failed to get the bells within the time, despite using teamwork to achieve your goal," he said, glaring at them once they had assembled in front of him, standing in, or in Akki's case on, the mud. His eye then turned into an upside down u-shape as he smiled beneath his mask, "You all pass, congratulations and welcome to team 7!

"Remember this though, despite the fact you passed this: Those who disobey the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are still lower."

'Let's see… how can I annoy him as much as possible?' thought Akki, wanting to let off a bit of steam from being pummelled. 'Hehe…' "Is that an order, Hatake-sensei?"

Kakashi's visible eye twitched as he looked at his seemingly emotionless subordinate. "Hai, and you will address me as Kakashi-sensei from now on, there is no need for formality."

"Hai."

"Oh, an Akki, you must remember to announce your attacks in future, when in that situation."

"Why? No one gives an explanation for announcing, so I don't, since it tells the enemy what you are doing."

Kakashi sighed. "Usually there is no point, true, if you are going solo. However, when you are in a team your team is top priority, so you must announce your attacks so they know what you are doing, and so can dodge in time and in the right way. What would have happened earlier if your team-mates had not known you were going to case Fuuton: Daitoppa and you had not told them at the time? They could die, especially when you use more dangerous techniques."

"Hai. Moushiwake arimasen, Kakashi-sensei." 'At last, a teacher who gives explanations!'

"Anyway, we will be training here every day before we go to get our missions. We are to meet at the bridge over the river to the north. Oh, and, there will be a party for all new and old Konoha genin starting at 18:00. Will any of you be going? Sasuke?"

"No." 'All those annoying girls will be there.'

"Hinata?"

"No." 'The other girls will rip me apart!'

"Akki-kun?"

"No." 'What would be the point of me ruining everyone else's fun to no enjoyment of myself?'

"Right." 'What a sociable team I have…' "Well, off you go, except you Hinata, I need to have a word with you."

x

Hinata walked out of the training field, her head filled with confusion and doubt. She had, in the space of 24 hours, been first told that containing a demon does not make you one, not knowing before that Akki was containing one (just having been told by her peers that he was a demon), and now being asked to spy on him, effectively, apparently to make sure that the seal stayed intact, and had been told that was the primary reason she was on the team. She was supposed to spy—observe him daily, she was told, using her Byakugan, and inform Kakashi of anything at all suspicious. She had been told to concentrate on when he was training since that, supposedly, would be when there was greatest risk. The strangest thing of all, though, was that she had been asked to observe him covertly, as if it would somehow be suspicious if his seal weakened.

It was too late now, of course, to find him if he was outside of his house, but she had been asked to start immediately, so she was jumping from roof to roof towards the address she had been told was his. She arrived only to see that the place was empty, though, and left, a little dejected, for home.

x

"… and S-rank are missions that are the hardest or most important to fulfil, essential to the village, and are normally carried out by some of the village's most skilled ninja," said the Hokage. "You will be paid a salary plus a commission for every mission, with pay increasing based on the mission difficulty. As rookie genin, you will almost exclusively be getting D-rank missions. Now, for your first mission… Yamamoto Aiko needs her garden weeded in time for a dinner party in the evening."

Akki formed a kage bunshin seal in full view of the room, causing people to look at him oddly until another team 7 appeared to his right, its Kakashi taking the scroll from the old man's outstretched hand before they ran off.

Kakashi looked at with his one visible eye. "Why did you do that, Akki-kun?"

"To increase our training time, Kakashi-sensei. Or, if you prefer, I could have my clones take more missions, then we would have more money?"

The old man in front of them chuckled loudly before saying, "I am afraid one of your students, at least, will be cutting into your reading time, Kakashi, hmmm?"

"Hai, hai. Well guys, since Akki-kun seems to desire it, you will perform two laps of Konoha before meeting me back on the bridge."

x

March 20th:

Kakashi sat on a tree branch in the training ground while Akki and Sasuke sparred against each other using the standard academy taijutsu style. Hinata was practising her Jyuuken by striking a log in the grounds. He had arranged the day before with the Hokage that his team would soon be given a C-rank mission, as even Akki seemed to be tiring of the D-ranks, and Sasuke especially so, since Kakashi had not allowed Akki's clones to take every mission. The extra money coming in had, however, allowed him to buy a first edition of Icha Icha Paradise, Vol. 3.

He glanced at his watch to see that it was somewhat past noon, and then dropped down to the ground, gaining the attention of his team immediately. "Right, good work guys. You are free again until tomorrow." They went their separate ways, with Kakashi walking down the main street of the village, musing over the last five months. 'Hinata is progressing slowly, too slowly, and her confidence is as low as ever. The mission might improve it somewhat, or absolutely destroy it, but it is a risk I feel I must take. She we will never survive as a ninja at this rate.'

His thoughts turned to another student, 'She tells me Akki's seal is unchanging, and she has not mentioned anything besides that, though her attitude has morphed from despising to pitying him, if only a little. As far as I can see, his abilities are just a little worse than Sasuke's, with the exception of being able to walk on water already. She would surely have told me if there was anything amiss, and the times when I accompany her everything is as it should be: he is stronger than he apparently was in academy, which is not uncommon for those who think ahead. It has also had the benefit of improving Sasuke's work ethic as he strives to keep ahead of him.'

He turned into a restaurant building, the Korean Barbeque place, and noticed Sarutobi Asuma's team there. 'I need a good chat, my team does not suffice.' "Yo, Asuma."

"Kakashi! How is your team?"

Sitting down next to Ino, Kakashi said, "Fine. Sasuke in particular is doing well—"

"You are Sasuke-kun's sensei?! Has he been asking for me?"

"No. Who are you?" Ino's face reddened.

"Why you—"

"You are troublesome Ino…"

"munch"

"So how is your team doing, Asuma?"

"Well… I have a glutton, a loudmouth and a boy with no ambition, so progress is slow." The table was silenced.

"I see. Well, do you know, is Kurenai well…?"

x

Naruto pulled the covers over himself on the bed and then drank a large cup full of water, placing the container on the bedside table. He started to take deep breaths, preparing to have his mind bombarded by the memories of his clones. Memories of boring missions, memories of training, memories of thoughts and memories of memories, from a thousand clones, every day. It had been his scheme to avoid being spied on by his team: he would have clones do missions, many missions in one day, and they would produce more clones that would go off to train in the forest, in caves and in rivers. He had started doing this after he started to get annoyed by getting mission memories and getting some habits from missions he had only done as a clone. The first time he had really done a lawn mowing mission, he found he already knew how to operate the mower. Using the clones for training immediately followed. He just hoped it would last as long as possible.

He looked at his digital alarm clock; it was at 21:23:47. 'Now.' He felt a huge pain in his head as the connections between the neurons in his brain were forcibly made by the returning chakra. Unfortunately this had a very bad signal to noise ratio, very very little of the information was of any use, and most of it which was was made redundant by having hundreds of copies of it, but every once in a while there was something with only once copy.

He saw his team and his body from his point of view being created in the Hokage's office in front of the real him, and saw from the other three points of view as well. They had gone down to someone's garden yet again, passing through alleys where more clones were created and henged, and scattered, going under the ground sometimes, going to different training places. He saw bones coming out of his skin, and sparring with another person fighting with katars. He saw chakra forming metal in his hands to form kunai and katars and more complex shapes, the latter usually misshapen, when nature manipulation was applied. Flying sand, warping trees, cut bark, exploding clones, blood flying, chakra strings extending from each tenketsu to a distance a metre from his body, flying shuriken, more explosions, fireballs, red eyes, frozen clones, mist and lightning.

He saw also the memories of every clone. He saw a six-year-old self thrown out onto the street in a city street hundreds of times, he saw three men hanging hundreds of times, saw himself wake up in his flat to see two dead men on the floor, again hundreds of times. He saw three boys whose ages were obviously in their single figures, he saw one them give him a bottle cap, he saw them and him sleep under a bridge, he saw their bodies in the mud and he saw his arm with a bone spike in his palm stab a bloody but still living body in the neck and saw himself run yet again, with a great pain in his watering eyes. He saw himself fall in the mud and walk through the forest, he saw himself picked up by a turtle masked ANBU and taken away. He saw himself reading in the library as well, and himself practising throwing shuriken in the academy grounds.

At 21:23:49 he lost consciousness.

x

March 21st:

The Daimyo's wife stood hugging her cat, Tora, to death after she, the cat, has escaped yet again. Akki, confident enough that no one could see his face as his team assembled, permitted himself to glare at her with contempt and loathing.

The team stood behind Kakashi in the Hokage's office, Kakashi with a little smirk beneath his mask. The Hokage said, "Well, team 7, Kakashi tells me that you have been making good progress, and so I have made the decision to give you a simple C-rank escort mission." Akki and Sasuke looked up at this, with the latter visibly relaxing, and Hinata just smiled a worried smile, hoping that she would not hold back the team. "Come in please, Tazuna-san." In stepped an old man clinging onto a bottle and drinking out of it.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats, especially the short one. Is he really a ninja?!"

Akki's face twitched, a rare occurrence that Kakashi only observed in situations where you would expect him to be furious. Akki thought, 'Wizened bastard, I will show him.' He turned to the old man and said, "If I took that rope around your head and garrotted you with it, would that convince you that I am a ninja?"

"Haha… You're threatening me gaki? Classic!"

The entire room then felt the sensation that a strange chakra was being moulded, and it seemed to be coming from Akki. Tazuna looked into his eyes to see them change from icy blue to blood red and slit. He stepped back and started to move backwards towards the door, unnerved by all this. Sasuke stared at Akki, particularly at his eyes, as did Hinata, whose hand came to her mouth. Kakashi walked up behind him and said, "Calm down Akki. We are supposed to protect him, not kill him." The sensation of strange chakra stopped and the boy's eyes returned to their original appearance.

"Ano… anyway. I am the expert bridge builder Tazuna. I am paying for you to protect me from bandits and so on until I get back to Wave country and complete my bridge."

"Now go and prepare for a six week trip and meet at the village gate," said Kakashi.

Akki arrived at the village gate where the others were waiting. Unlike his normal dress, he was wearing a pair of loose trousers, a t-shirt and a jacket, as he had read that the Wave country had a cooler climate than at Konoha. In addition to his shuriken holster, he wore two sheaths, one of each thigh, with a katar handle coming out of each of them. He used these as they were used similarly to how he used bone spikes from his palms. In addition, of course, he wore his pack. His clothes were again in black because that was the cloth he had, having learnt how to cut his own clothes.

Sasuke and Hinata stared quizzically at the odd weapons he was wearing. Kakashi merely said, "Interesting choice, Akki-kun."

"Hai."

"Eh? Demon? Why are you calling him that?" asked Tazuna, still a little nervy about the boy.

Akki turned towards him and said, "That is my identifier, Akuma-Gaki Akki. A nine-tailed fox demon attacked this village on October 10th, my birthday, 13 years ago. I am 12 years old. I am the demon in its sealed state, or so I think, since I have found no record of having any parents. I therefore concluded that my body was created during the sealing process, rather than me being an existing newborn. Have confidence, you are being protected by a demon, right?"

Kakashi heard this with some dismay, and hastened to correct him. "Akki, you are incorrect. You were born some hours before the sealing process. I know, since I was there."

"Nani?"

"I said that I was there, Akki-kun."

"Does that mean that you know who my parents are?"

Kakashi looked at the boy. He could not sense any great interest, it had been asked in a very matter of fact way. "No, I am afraid not."

"I see."

Tazuna looked intently at the boy. Even in the Wave they had heard about the Kyuubi attack, but it was not well known how it was stopped. He noticed how the boy was always apart from his team-mates and started to feel a mite sympathetic through his drunken haze.

Kakashi walked to the front of the group. "Right, let's go."

Later on, they were walking down a road through the forest. Kakashi were talking quietly, while Sasuke and Hinata made talk of their own. Akki walked at the back of the group, listening in. They went past a lone puddle at the left side of the road that Kakashi glanced at. Akki looked at it. It hadn't rained for days and had been sunny, and the ground all around the puddle was very dry. Someone was using a Suiton jutsu to hide themselves, badly. He looked at Kakashi in wonderment. 'He has certainly noticed it, yet he does nothing?' He decided to follow Kakashi's lead, for now.

A moment after he had passed the puddle, he felt a presence behind him. Before he could react, a figure was flying above him with some kind of thick razor wire which surrounded Kakashi and ripped him to shreds. 'Oh, shit,' he thought as he saw two men with a razor chain between them run towards him with the obvious intent of doing to him what they had done with Kakashi. As they ran towards him he weakened his gikochinai to non-existence just slowly enough not to give an easily noticeable chakra release. As they neared him, he could see Sasuke jumping towards him. 'You had better kill rather than capture or I will do it.'

Just as the first man got into his range, Akki, within a blink of an eye, pulled out his katars and let them get positioned in his hand, and then brought his hands and katars up to his chest and stabbed the man 21 times in quick succession is his abdomen, neck and through his ribs to his heart, killing him and covering Akki's front side with blood as he leapt up to dodge the chain.

Sasuke threw a shuriken at the haywire chain, attaching it to a tree as well as to a dead body. The living assailant separated himself from his bond and charge at Akki again to avenge his partner, Akki readying his bloody katars again. However, Sasuke came for him again and kicked the man in the face before attempting to stab him in the neck with a kunai. The man brought up his clawed gauntlet to block the strike and then used it to strike towards Sasuke's face. Sasuke leant back while kneeing the man in the stomach, causing him to double over, before Sasuke knocked him out and let him fall to the ground.

Akki ran towards their position and, when he was nearly there, started to thrust his right katar towards the man's neck, only to be stopped be a gloved hand that hurled him around and onto the ground. Akki picked himself up and glared at Kakashi, standing over the unconscious body, before finally wiping his katars on some still clean patches of his clothing before sheathing them.

Kakashi took in his appearance for a few moments before saying, "There is a stream some distance behind me. Go and get yourself cleaned up so tat you do not unnecessarily unnerve anyone we come across, Akki-kun. We will be waiting for you."

Akki nodded and left. As he did so, Hinata went over what had happened again. She had been appalled by how the ninja's entire torso had seemed to explode with blood for those few seconds, and impressed by how many strikes Akki had managed to put in during that time. Sure, she had seen him to it in training, but she had never seen it used in reality. Sasuke was also amazing, and she said as much, "That was very impressive, Sasuke-kun." He grunted in response. She looked at the corpse and began to feel ill. She ran to the edge of the road where Tazuna was, and vomited as he was doing.

Sighing, Kakashi picked up the unconscious ninja and tied him to a tree. When Akki returned, clean, he told him to bury the corpse, and asked him why he had tried to kill the other. The boy answered, "He tried to kill me. Fair is fair."

"Don't you think that might be a little childish, Akki-kun?"

"Possibly, but it does not bother me, and is not my problem, Kakashi-sensei."

"Taku," Kakashi said as he knelt down to wake the prisoner for questioning.

"How did you read our movements?" asked the survivor.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's not going to be a puddle" said Kakashi.

"If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?" asked Tazuna.

"If I had wanted to I could have killed him and his partner instantly but there was something I needed to find out: who they were after."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Meaning, were they after you or one of us? We haven't heard that there are shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or gangs. This has now become at least a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge. If it was known that ninja were after you, this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-rank. I'm sure you had a reason, but it caused problem when you lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"Ano… Kakashi-sensei, will we be ok-kay, do you think, if we continue?"

"Hmm… Sasuke and Akki can probably handle it, based on their performances today. Can you handle it, Hinata?"

Hinata imagined her father's face if she returned from her first C-rank with failure. "Hai."

"Hmmm…"

"Sensei, I have to talk to you," said Tazuna. "It's about this mission. You're right, this job is most likely outside your duties. It turns out that a super dangerous man is after my life."

"Super dangerous man? Who?"

"You've probably at least heard his name before. The wealthy shipping magnate, a man called Gatou."

"Huh?!! Gatou, from that Gatou Company? He's said to be one of the world's few extremely wealthy people."

"Yes. Officially he runs a large shipping company, but secretly he sells drugs and other illegal items, using ninja and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He is a very nasty man. It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on the Wave country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the country's shipping industry. Gatou now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge."

Akki stiffened when he heard this, as it was fundamentally the same as what he had seen six years ago. He glared at the surviving enemy.

Hinata said, "You are very brave, Tazuna-san, to go against such a man."

Sasuke said, "So, those ninja were hired by Gatou?"

Kakashi said, "But what I don't understand is… If you knew ninja could be after you, why did you hide that fact when you hired us?"

"The wave country is poor, even the feudal lord has no money. Of course, we don't have much money either, not enough for an expensive B-rank mission. Well, if you quit the mission now, I will definitely get killed."

"But—"

"Don't worry about it! If I die my cute grandson will just cry for a few days!! Oh, yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Leaf Village ninja forever, but it won't be your fault. Not at all!"

"Well, I—"

"Whatever," said Akki as he started to carry on down the road, "Let's just go and kill them all, Gatou and his ninja."

"This is a protection mission, not an assassination mission, Akki!"

"Gatou is the source of Tazuna-sama's troubles and danger, so it would still be legal, Kakashi-sensei."

"Taku." Kakashi turned to Tazuna, "We will protect you at least until you get back to your country."

'I win, though that monster boy is starting to frighten me. Wait, Tazuna-sama?!'

As they passed through the mist on the little boat, Kakashi looked at Akki. The boy's demeanour had subtly changed since they had left Konoha. He seemed more relaxed, somehow, and happier, as well as oddly eager to kill Gatou, a man he had never met. 'Has his heart been touched in sympathy, or is this to do with his missing period?'

"We should see the bridge soon," said the helmsman. "The Wave country is at the base of the bridge."

Kakashi looked through the mist. After a while, the outline of a bridge came into view, and one of impressive size. 'A wonder of a project for such a poor country, even if half-finished.'

"We'll be there soon," said the helmsman as the base of the bridge came into view. "Tazuna, it looks like we've avoided detection so far but, just in case, we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make it harder to spot us."

"Arigatou."

They passed under one of a multitude of arches of another smaller bridge connecting two islands within Wave country. On the other side was a channel of sea between two large flat islands with mangrove trees in it, and on the coast were pontoons and platforms with ramshackle looking buildings. As they got off onto a platform that looked like it wouldn't survive a light breeze, the helmsman said to Tazuna, "This is it for me, good bye and good luck."

"Hai, arigatou," he turned to Kakashi, "OK! Get me home safely."

"Hai, hai." 'If we get attacked again it will surely not be chuunin, but jounin level,' he thought. 'Sigh. Hinata will be sensible and protect Tazuna as best she can. Sasuke will most likely, well, he'll most likely be fine. Akki however… His face since my talk with Tazuna has been the same as when he tried to kill the other ninja, and it worries me. Thankfully, however, I think he can be trusted to follow my order to the letter, though that is not necessarily for the best, since sometimes he disregards them in favour of what he says are my "higher orders".'

They were walking along a dirt road close to the sea. Kakashi thought he sensed movement to his left, but when he looked there was nothing there. Then he heard a footstep on a branch. "Everyone, get down!" he shouted as hew threw himself to the floor, imitated by his charge and subordinates, as a sword longer than a man flew spinning overhead. The sword embedded itself halfway through a tree before stopping, with a masked man dropping down to stand on its handle.

Kakashi picked himself up and said, "Well, well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's Missing-Nin Momochi Zabuza-kun. Everybody get back, this one's on a whole other level. Against him, it will be a little bit tough, unless I do this." As he said that, he clutched the part of his hitai-ate that was over his left eye. Sasuke and Akki looked intently at it while Hinata stepped in front of Tazuna.

"You appear to be Sharingan no Kakashi," said Zabuza. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san, use the swastika formation. Do not enter the fight, that's the teamwork here. Zabuza first," he said, revealing his sharingan, "fight me."

"Ah, I already get to see the famous sharingan. I am honoured." There was silence for a few seconds. "Now, I have to get that old man." At this, the three genin stood around Tazuna, Hinata at the front, Sasuke on the left and Akki on the right. "But Kakashi! It seems I have to beat you first." Zabuza kicked off from the tree, dragging his huge lump of sharpened metal with him, and landed on the sea. The water started to swirl around him.

'He's releasing a high amount of chakra,' thought Kakashi.

"Ninpou: Kirigakure no jutsu," said Zabuza. The area where he had been filled with a thick fog, removing him from view.

"He'll come after me first. Momochi Zabuza, as a member of the Hidden Mist, he was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you are already dead. It's not like I can use the sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful."

x

x

A/N: "Only" 8-9 thousand words this time. This is because I was getting a little jaded towards the end and need a break without the guilt of making people wait too long, and because I do not think it is very good ATM so I was getting a little depressed. Any reviews and suggestion appreciated to make it better, even if not used.

Jutsu list:

Kuchiyose no jutsu: Summoning technique

Kage bunshin no jutsu: Shadow Clone/Replication technique

Kawarimi no jutsu: Replacement technique

Gikochinai no jutsu: Stiffness technique

Hebi-hyouhi no jutsu: Snake skin technique

Sen'eijashu: Hidden shadow snake hands

Bunshin no jutsu: Clone/Replication technique

Jutsu shou: Technique neutralisation (Sarutobi used this in his fight against Orochimaru, against the third Edo Tensei)

Bunshin daibakuha no jutsu: Clone great explosion technique

Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu: Fire style: Great Fireball technique

Ninpou: Kirigakure no jutsu: Ninja art: Hidden in the mist technique

Fuuton: Daitoppa: Wind style: Great breakthrough

Note: Moushiwake arimasen is a very formal way of apologising.