Chapter One: Wave Country
Chapter One: Wave Country
"Team 7 mission has been compromised, Hokage-sama."
The aging Sarutobi frowned at the mission report sent to him, his hand going so far as to take his pipe from his mouth. A routine escort mission to Wave Country turning into this kind of disaster is a bit too much to take in for even Kakashi's genin. "Is there any other news from Kakashi, Pakkun?" the Hokage asked.
The pug blew out a sigh, his sight dropping to the surface of the desk he was currently sitting in. "Kakashi's really tired right now," the nin dog explained. "He used up a lot of his chakra fighting Momochi Zabuza of the Mist. There was a Hunter from Kiri that came in a couple of minutes halfway into the fight, but he doesn't believe the man's legit."
"He's suspecting a possible extraction then?"
"Exactly, Hokage-sama."
To Sarutobi's right stood one of the more militant members of the ANBU elite, the leader of ROOT. Pakkun had come in contact with the man a couple of times back when his summoner was in the corps, but even then he could never shake the sense that the man was not to be trusted. Giving him his own unit of ANBU was a mistake, Kakashi once said. It's like leaving the fox to guard the henhouse. Or, in Danzou's case, leaving the Kyuubi no Kitsune to guard it.
Pakkun would, in the future, recognize how incredibly ironic those words would be.
"They are in need of reinforcements, Hokage," Danzou cut in. "An ANBU hunter team perhaps. With an Uchiha and an Inuzuka to lead the way. Perhaps a Branch House Hyuuga if Fugaku can't spare any from his clan." The leader of Konoha let out a long suffering sigh.
"You know as well as I do we can't spare much of our forces at this point Danzou-san."
"With all due respects, Hokage-sama, what do you propose we do?"
The man had a point, loath as Sarutobi was to admit it. Still, there was still the challenge of sending a small force of people to extract, possibly act as reinforcements to Team 7. One of Kakashi's genin is already suffering from poison damage, and if Pakkun's reports were to be believed, he would die within hours of the nin dog's arrival. No, not a medic nin then. That Yakushi boy would have been useful in this situation though…
"Hokage-sama," Danzou said, his voice cutting off the leader of Konoha's reverie. "We need a decision now."
"We shall extract Team 7 from their mission," Sarutobi began. "A single team will attract attention, especially if this Gatou is already aware of the presence of a Konoha cell in his territory. What we need is a single person who will be able to break in this territory with a lot of stealth and move around unnoticed." Danzou smiled, knowing in this remark he had the opening he wanted from the beginning.
"We could send the boy."
The Hokage's eyes narrowed. There was no need to even name the boy concerned. "He's just thirteen," Sarutobi reminded him. "Sending him alone on this kind of mission would be tantamount to us tempting the fates at this point."
"And yet he's a year younger than Uchiha Itachi when the boy first took on the mantle of an ANBU captain," came the counter. "He has gone on these kinds of missions before, and it will be a good chance to see if he has what it takes to make the rank."
"You know very well he's chuunin level at least."
"Yes, but do you not admit the council thinks otherwise?" Danzou said, coming in for the kill. "Even with the enormous success of the program they do not believe in the strength of his loyalty. There are still doubts whether we can fully trust such a weapon in these kinds of situations."
A weapon indeed, Sarutobi mused. Have we not learned from history at all?
"So you are implying the council believes he will be nothing more than a rabid dog ready to turn on his masters?"
"I'm not just implying it Sarutobi," Danzou said, his single arm resting on the desk as he leaned closer to the face of his Hokage. "I'm saying it directly."
Perhaps it was a mistake to keep him an unranked ninja for so long, the Hokage thought in retrospect. He had wanted to make sure Itachi had managed to train Naruto-kun into something more than just a weapon, but a well adjusted ninja too. The ANBU corps were not as prejudiced as the general public, this he knew because they too had a reputation of being no more than mindless killers. Head cases of the highest levels.
And so Uzumaki Naruto, in the hands of the most feared ninja in the village, found an accepting family who did not look at him and see the demon fox, but another one saddled with the heavy burdens of duty. Oddly enough, it was the Branch House Hyuuga that felt more emphatic towards him, but that was something to be contemplated another day.
With a word of command, a porcelain masked ninja appeared from the shadows of the Hokage's office. "Send for Uzumaki Naruto," Sarutobi barked. "Tell him he has a mission. Solo this time."
xxxxxxx
To: Konoha Operative "Source Able"
Re: Mission Parameters
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate and retrieve Team Hatake Kakashi from a misclassified A-Rank operation. Sources have reported that one of the members of Jounin Hatake's genin team had already been slain, causing their own effectiveness to the mission to drop by a factor of 60.
This being said, Operative "Source Able" will be assigned to provide backup to finish the mission or to facilitate extraction, whichever appears to be the best course of action at the time.
Additional orders for Hatake Kakashi will also need to be delivered as a Class 2 Priority to mission success.
Good luck.
ANBU Command
Special Tactics Unit
xxxxxxx
Wave Country at its core was a quiet little fishing village. The rule of an oppressive corporation followed by its general look of shabbiness and deterioration would most fit a plotline to a schlock novel more than an actual existing community. The observer looked up from his mug of particularly weak tea. To his count there had been at least fifteen sightings of at least high-genin level ninja, possibly some low end chuunin. None of them seemed to be a threat, but their numbers do pose a quandary he'd rather not have to deal with.
The operative hadn't located the objectives yet, having only arrived in town during the morning. It was noon, and he was helping himself to a very simple fish dinner he had caught in the river and had someone cook for a small sum. Rice was not to be had; these villagers would not sell to a stranger when there was barely enough for all of them to feed themselves. While it was difficult at first to get information, he had narrowed down the locations of Team Hatake Kakashi to one of the houses outlying the municipal proper. The names Tazuna seemed to have been thrown around a lot, but the location wasn't being revealed by anyone, no matter how much he'd bribed them.
Thus the necessity of fishing for lunch. It was either the river catfish or travel rations, and those were worse than hospital food, the ninja reasoned.
"Damn that Gatou."
"He better have that money for us when he said he'd have it."
"Or so help me…"
The three tattooed samurai took a seat at a table right across the observer, seemingly intent on ignoring him completely. Each of them carried, based from the hilts, battered katanas, and they had the disheveled look of most of the mercenary figures the town had to offer. Possibly they were under the employ of the self-styled ruler of the island, this Gatou he kept hearing about. The news that Kakashi-san had managed to fight the Demon of the Mist Momochi Zabuza was not surprising, but the fact that he had managed to kill one of the Copy Ninja's genin was disheartening to say the least. Morale would be low for that squad to be sure, and he only had a maximum of 48 hours before the rest of the genin would collapse under the psychological stress of being so overmatched for what should have been a minor escort mission.
He dropped some coin on the table, making his way through the sparse crowds of the town before he decided on a whim to visit this bridge that the client was building. Tazuna was reported to be a drunkard of the worst sort, but his engineering skills were unmatched. Besides natural curiosity over what this bridge the Konoha squad was protecting would look like, it would give him a change to maybe catch a glimpse of one of the Konoha nin should they be guarding Tazuna from Gatou's mercenaries while at work.
He took some time to go the long way around to the bridge construction area, blending into the trees with a minor henge designed to bend the light around him just enough that he wasn't seen if no one was looking directly at his direction. After that it was strictly skill, dashing through the tree branches and leaping to the next handhold or foothold. The ninja took half an hour bobbing and weaving through the trees, taking special care not to be spotted by the dockworkers and the occasional ninja patrol. Gatou's forces seemed only to be formed out of either missing nin or samurai, neither of which had any qualms to kill for money despite their lack of refinement for their skills.
Finding a comfortable perch where he'd probably need to sit for hours, he settled in and reached for a pair of high power binoculars from a seal sown in the lining of his jacket. He was well within the central grove of trees, with just enough cover that he won't be seen but that he can see just fine. He'd need to spend some time here before he could even seek his comrades, and he'd best make the most of it.
xxxxxxx
The girl with shockingly pink hair turned her head, her gaze intent on a single spot amongst a grove of trees. "Sakura-san?" her guide asked, looking the same direction. "What is it?"
The kunoichi shook her head. "It's nothing," she said. "For a minute there I thought we were being watched." The guide seemed satisfied by that. Genin or no, the girl had been through training that sharpened her senses to perceive more than he could have. The death of one of the ninja had made them more alert as of late, and the kids had been taking turns watching either the bridge itself or Tazuna's household while their leader (sensei?) recovered from his battle with the Demon of the Mist. The simple fisherman, who was then working as a construction hand, thought it an amazing thing that the ninja, who could not have been older than he was, could fight to a standstill against Gatou's best and still have suffered nothing more than a case of fatigue. The guide was only glad it had been Sakura-san who was assigned to the bridge that day, not the surly-looking one who looked like he was out to prove something.
The guide only hoped Inari-chan would make him a bit more remorseful, he chuckled to himself.
Meanwhile Haruno Sakura had been scanning the area looking for potential threats. The death of the third member of Team 7, Rokubungi Gendo had dealt a hard lesson to the formerly vain and sometime ditzy kunoichi. No longer the fangirl who chased after her beloved Sasuke-kun, she was as focused as her many doubts would allow her in performing her duty. The Demon Brothers had killed the bespectacled genin, slashing him in the arm with poisoned claws before Kakashi-sensei had intervened, and when their own jounin-sensei was incapacitated by the battle with Zabuza, she had dearly thanked whatever kami was watching over them that the Mist hunter had managed to take the swordsman out with those senbon of his(/hers?).
"Remember Sakura," Kakashi-sensei had said. "Even if Momochi Zabuza had indeed been taken out, you still need to watch out for the rest of Gatou's squads. I won't be able to fight for at least one more day and you and Sasuke need to keep an eye on things while I can't."
So there Sakura was, keeping her eyes peeled for any and all threats, her right hand always straying by her equipment pouch when her conscious mind stops paying attention to the movement. She could see the looks in the workers' faces, almost perceptively hear their questioning thoughts at how in the world a skinny little girl was going to protect them. She knew because she had those thoughts herself.
"I wish Sasuke-kun were here with me," she whispered out loud.
"Where the hell is that bastard Tazuna?!"
Shaken from her reverie, the kunoichi looked to see three burly looking samurai stepping into the bridge construction area. The smallest one of them was at least head and shoulders taller than she was, and each thug was carrying dai-katana easily half her height. Sakura gulped, and tried to do some breathing exercises to calm down.
One of the samurai noticed her and turned a scarred face in her direction. "Hey lookie here," he said, chuckling as he walked. "A Konoha ninja. And a girl too." His two companions followed his gaze and leered in her direction as well, showing gaps in teeth that didn't look like they were brushed for a good long while.
"Wonder what she'll taste like," Scarface said, drawing his sword and licking along the edge, breaking the first layer of skin to give his mouth the taste of his blood. "I heard kunoichi got special seduction training before they become ninja. Hey girl, you wanna see if you got what it takes to please a man?"
Sakura drew a kunai once the other two started laughing. "You three don't want to come closer," she threatened, praying the tremor in her voice wasn't heard. "Even if you outnumber me two to one you won't defeat a Konoha ninja."
"You really think you can take us on?" Nose Ring snorted. "Ha! Don't make us laugh."
"You'll take us all on all right."
"Flat on your back like a good woman should."
"Think she'll taste like strawberries bro?"
"I don't care what she tastes like as long as she screams loud enough."
Sakura inched backwards with the kunai held in front of her, cursing inwardly at not practicing more taijutsu back at the Academy.
xxxxxxx
"Oh shit," the watcher said, sealing the high powered binoculars away and pulling up a mask that covered the lower half of his face. "Looks like it's time to go to work."
A cross-shaped seal and a burst of chakra was the only afterimage as he Shunshin-ed out with a flurry of leaves exploding behind him.
In the blink of an eye, blue eyes turned red….
xxxxxxx
The next thing Sakura knew, she was watching a battle unfold in front of her from one of the bridge's larger support structures. She blinked, remembering only that she came at the biggest one in the group with nothing more than blind faith and a newly-purchased kunai. A masked ninja stood perched right beside her, looking intently at the three samurai facing off against three other people who looked exactly like he did, half masks with green camouflage patterns and red-hooded jackets alike. Each one of the four identical ninja had a chokuto strapped to their backs, the hilt just peaking out from inside a hole cut in the coats behind spiked blond hair. The stranger grinned at her and flashed a peace sign with a black-gloved right hand. A Konoha swirl adorned a plate on his right shoulder right where Sakura's line of sight was.
"Sorry about that Haruno Sakura-san," the shinobi said, his voice oddly chipper despite his feral red eyes. "I have a message for Hatake Kakashi, your jounin commander. Would you be so kind as to lead me to him?"
"But the samurai…"
"Them?" the ninja asked, glancing back at the three swordsmen facing off against his doppelgangers. "My clones will suffice."
"Clones? What—"
Before the twelve-year-old managed to finish her sentence, the three apparent clones burst into action, clashing swords with the samurai with lightning speed. Sparks flew from the blades as they fought, each ninja clone matching the samurai he was paired with move for move. It took five solid minutes of exchanging blows without landing a hit before the six leapt back and surveyed their opponents again.
"Huh," Scarface said. "You ninja ain't half bad. Guess you guys do know about the honor of wielding a sword in single combat after all. And here we were thinking you people wouldn't amount to much with proper blades in your hands." The other two stepped behind him warily, their own katana held in defensive stances all around.
Sakura's companion let out a guffaw. She glanced at the other Leaf ninja form a ram seal as he muttered some words. "Idiot," he said. "We're ninja.
"Honor in combat falls in defeat to the cunning of cheating.
The clones eyes seemed to grin in anticipation as they rushed the swordsmen, raising their chokuto up over their heads as they ran. The samurai also held their swords in an attack position, wanting to end the conflict with one massive blow to their enemy.
"Ninpo: Bunshin Bakuha!" (Ninja Art: Exploding Clone!)
Three simultaneous explosions shook the bridge, sending three scorched bodies up in the air. The workers at the bridge winced as the three landed in an undignified heap straight into the flowing river underneath them. With any luck the current should take them straight out into sea. Sakura's rescuer stood up from his perch and looked at the girl. "So," he said. "Would you take me to Kakashi-san now?"
xxxxxxx
Hatake Kakashi,
The bearer of these mission orders is Uzumaki Naruto, unranked ninja of Uchiha Itachi's Squad 15. He will be assigned to your squad as soon as he gets back home to Konoha with you and your students so he can be given his genin team assignment allowing him to test for chuunin rank. Should you lose one of your squad members he will be standing in as a replacement when your team takes the exam as well as assisting you in accomplishing the orders enclosed here. Please take him in as one of your subordinates while he hasn't made chuunin yet.
Signed,
Capt. Uzuki Yuugao
Squad 22, ANBU Special Tactics
P.S.
Refer to him only as Shinobi-san (or –kun) until his official induction into your team. He'll not have a name you can disclose to anyone under jounin rank until his genin equivalency. Sorry, just standard procedure for ninja who don't officially exist. Get the picture?
xxxxxx
The letter was also signed with the Hokage's personal chop, undersigned with Uchiha Itachi's.
Kakashi let out a long-suffering sigh and wished he could just sleep in today. Squad 15 had always been one of his bigger headaches back when he was ANBU, but even then he had no doubt of the skills of any and all who passed through Itachi's hands. Sakura and the Uzumaki boy had walked in with these new mission orders from home and the Copy Ninja had known from the start that the boy meant trouble. At least, trouble in the form of more work.
"So, Shinobi-kun," Kakashi said smoothly. "Guess you just got yourself drafted for the mission." The boy scratched his head behind his head, his slitted red eyes grinning over the half mask he insisted on still wearing.
"Yes sir."
The commander of Team 7 scorched the letter between his fingers with an underpowered Raiton jutsu and let the ashes crumble in between his gloved hand. "Sakura," Kakashi said, getting up from the bed with a wince. "Assist Shinobi-kun with his things. He's backup sent directly from Konoha."
"Hai Kakashi-sensei!"
The pair made it to the dining area of the house where the Uchiha boy was wrapping some bandages around his left arm. Sasuke turned his head up and asked "who are you?" The masked ninja grinned with his eyes.
"I'm a Konoha ninja."
The Uchiha snorted. "I can see that, moron," he said. "I was asking for your name."
"And that's a valid question, un."
Coal black eyes stared into blue, narrowing ever so slightly. "Hn," Sasuke finally said, a tone of disapproval lacing that one syllable as he continued wrapping the bandage around his arm. "Just be sure to stay out of my way, weirdo."
At Sasuke stalking off, the hooded ninja turned to Sakura and said "Was it something I said?" Sakura shook her head, hiding the smile that formed on her face.
"Why do you three even try?"
Sakura turned to see Inari, the bridge builder's grandchild standing in the doorway leading from the kitchens. His tiny fists were clenched and there was solid hate in his eyes…or was that disgust? "Gatou is too strong," the boy said. "He'll just send more and more of his forces and then you three will just die!"
The boy gave them a glare and stomped off, much in the manner of a child denied some sweets. Sakura broke the silence first. "I'm sorry," she said. "Tsunami-san said he lost his father some time ago. He seems to be a good boy otherwise."
"I can see that," the nameless ninja said. "Still, my purpose is to assist. If Kakashi-san's decision is to evacuate all of us here then I help you three out. If he chooses to complete the mission then we do." He nodded at his own words before continuing.
"So," he started. "Where would we find Sasuke-san at this hour?"
It took a five minute search before they found Sasuke training in the grove of trees not a hundred yards from the Tazuna household. Team 7 had been using this specific clearing to work on their tree walking exercise, and to work on the foundation for water walking. To Sasuke's chagrin, Sakura had managed to master an approximation of the tree walking skill and was about to move on to water walking once Kakashi had managed to raise her chakra levels high enough. The Uchiha had been doing well despite this small setback though: he had already reached two thirds of the tallest tree in the area.
The nameless ninja and the kunoichi of Team 7 waited until the raven-haired genin dropped to the ground from his latest attempt, kunai hanging loosely in his hands. "What do you two want?" Sasuke's words were short and to the point.
"Uchiha Sasuke-san?"
"That's me."
"I heard there was a third member of the team," masked ninja said. "Can either of you tell me where I can find him?" Sakura shifted her feet uneasily, but Sasuke was not so subtle.
"Rokubungi Gendo was useless and weak," Sasuke said, spitting into the ground before him. "It was a dumb move he pulled and he deserved to die for it. We don't need him to complete this mission."
"Sasuke-kun…"
"No Sakura," the Uchiha snarled. "You never should have coddled him. He was dead last in our class for a reason and we saw that reason in the field of battle not two days ago. If he had been more careful we wouldn't have lost him, the moron." Sasuke turned his coal black eyes at the hooded Leaf nin and said these words "we will accomplish this mission without him or die trying. Neither you nor the Hokage's orders will change my mind on this."
"I never said I was going to act as your retrieval unit," the other countered. "Whatever made you even think that?" Sasuke looked away.
"I thought oniisan sent you…"
Sakura blinked. It was an old story with Sasuke, even back when he got in the academy. Uchiha Itachi was his idol, literally a god who walks in his point of view. The perfect shinobi, the peerless ninja. And ever so protective of his little otouto. Whereas his own father didn't know what to do with him, Itachi was always there. Even if it was just to help him work out the math on shuriken trajectories.
(It was a ninja school, but a school nonetheless.)
The blond ninja only nodded in response. "Well, it can't be helped then," he said. "But the decision truly lies with Kakashi-san. He'll have to decide to see this mission through, and if you two are willing, back you up." The two genin of Team 7 looked at him shock.
And that was the moment Team 7 met their unlikely third member. Though it would be a long time before they would ever find out that the mysterious red-eyed blond was the same person as one Uzumaki Naruto.
The genin had retired for the night after Sasuke went in, and the cryptic blond loosed his grip on his demon's youki and turned slitted red eyes into blue again. He sighed. These genin were such children at times. Shaking his head, he leapt for the trees and stared out into the skies.
It was a full moon that night.
Naruto was perched on a tree just above the Tazuna household, his calculating blue eyes staring into the distance. He didn't bother turning to his right when the Copy Ninja materialized beside him. "Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, his voice barely a whisper. The blond replied with the concise hand-talk of ANBU veterans.
"That name is a secret, taicho."
"So it seems," Kakashi replied with the same barely hidden hand signals. "I would wonder why you were chosen out of all the people in squad fifteen to assist us in this mission."
"I could ask the same question, Kakashi-san," the younger ninja countered. "Have you recovered from your chakra exhaustion yet?"
"Yes. There is little we can accomplish in this nation now besides possibly attempting an assassination on Gatou himself should we wish to continue," Kakashi paused, thinking his words through. "Wave country is lost without the shadow of a doubt. If this bridge does not get completed within the month the entire country's hopes will die long before its people will."
"Do we truly have a right to interfere? The mission was over when you took Tazuna the bridge builder back to Wave. There is no more reason to stay here if that is truly the case."
Naruto paused at his last tirade and managed to glance at the other man, saying "it was Sasuke-san wasn't it?" Kakashi had to nod. "I think he feels he's responsible for the death of that Rokubungi kid," the jounin admitted. "It's not going to be easy to convince him that there's no shame in not completing this mission."
"Especially when he believes his honor is on the line."
"Damn Fugaku-san and his demented visions of greatness for the clan," Naruto cursed out loud, forgetting in his lapse to use the silent hand-talk. He recovered almost immediately, saying "Sorry, I didn't know what came over me—"
"It's alright," Kakashi replied. "I never liked the stuffy bastard either. As a matter of fact, there are only three Uchiha who ever lived that I'd been able to tolerate, and one of them isn't even living anymore."
"What about Uchiha Mikoto?"
"She wasn't born an Uchiha. If she was, Sasuke and Itachi would have been born one-eyed quintapeds."
Both of them shuddered.
"So," Naruto said, shaking the image from his mind. "What's the plan then?"
Kakashi paused to think. "Zabuza will most likely come after us again," he said. "He'll probably get a dressing down for losing two of his own chuunin before he decides to come after me himself. Sasuke and Sakura he won't touch because he feels them beneath their attention, but he will come after Tazuna in an attempt to get me."
"Entrapment then?"
"Exactly."
Until morning, the two ninja hammered out their strategy underneath the pale moonlight. There would only be one shot, and they had to make it count.
xxxxxxx
Meanwhile…
Gatou Corp Headquarters, Wave Country
In a padded couch in an office reception area, the Demon of the Mist reclined with his massive sword resting on an upholstered leather ottoman. His ward was standing to his right, effeminate features framing a gaze as cold as his master's.
Gatou stared at his two best "employees," freelance in every sense of the word. The trouble with ninja was that they were too confident of their power, that they think just because they mastered the arcane arts that there was no other way to have them put down. If the ruthless businessman hadn't wanted to keep his face impassive for this occasion he would have snorted in amusement.
"What have you to say for yourself now, Demon of the Mist?" the businessman lit up a cigar from Tea Country, relishing the blue smoke that wafted through the room. "For all that trouble your pathetic team managed to kill a twelve year old. A pathetically weak twelve year old at that. And after all that you hadn't even managed to wound that Hatake Kakashi." Zabuza's brows furrowed, though he kept his eyes closed.
"The bastard got his chakra drained because of me."
"And he'll be back on his feet in a few days with you two chuunin down," Gatou countered. "Why didn't you take that time to do something useful? Like kill that annoying pest Tazuna instead?"
Haku tenses for half a second before his iron resolve calms the anger in his stance. The former Mist ninja still hadn't let go of the deadly senbon needles in his sleeves though…
Zabuza himself was not feeling any different. Gatou was generous with his money, even if he was mostly an idiot with everything else. He'll milk this whining little pig for every single Ryou he has before he finally kills him. Until then, the rat bastard would have to continue living, he supposed.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you," Gatou snarled, reaching out a hand to touch the Demon of the Mist when suddenly he was face down on the floor with a massive stretch of pain arcing down his arm. "You will not touch Zabuza-sama with your dirty hands!" Haku seethed, twisting the said appendage and hearing the satisfying crack of a dislocated shoulder.
"Haku, that's enough."
As quickly as it had come the fierce expression left the effeminate nin's face as he walked away from the prone smuggler on the floor. "You are fortunate Zabuza-sama still allows you to live," Haku said, stopping at the door to glance at their employer. "Attempt to touch him again and even his words will not stay my hand, dog."
A small contingent of samurai rushed in through a back door upon the exit of the Mist ninja, two of them helping their master to his feet. Gatou winced at the pain of his dislocated shoulder, muttering oaths under his breath.
"When Tazuna's dead," he gasped. "The Demon and his boy die too."
xxxxxxx
Author's note:
Wow. Two thousand hits the first week. I'd have to say I never expected this much of a response from this fic when I decided I'd be rewriting it. Makes me almost regret the fact that I junked the original. Or not.(",)
In any case there's at least three more chapters done by the time this hits the ff dot net page, and hopefully by then I'd have written something resembling the arcs I'd been working on in the original CBM series.
This time though I decided to forgo a cold, emotionless Naruto for one who's a bit more world weary but not losing his sense of fun. It's a gamble, I know, since a lot of the original readers of Cold Blue Metal actually liked cold, emotionless Naruto. Still, I hope this version doesn't disappoint.
Oh yes. If any of you had been paying attention to my author's page, you'd notice that I'm looking for a beta. Yes! It's true! I actually want my chapters to make more sense to people other than me. Send me an email if you're interested, and if possible can anyone point out how to use the fanfiction dot net beta system to me? It wasn't there the last time I'd posted a chapter (which just goes to show how long I'd been on hiatus, doesn't it?).
Anyway, I have three people looking to nab the job of beta. Thanks to Riyoku-kun, matt-ness the manly and Chinese donut for their interest. I'll be sending you chapters right after I finish the one I'm working on now. Yes, this one is not beta'd, so don't blame me for any mistakes, mmkay?
Usual drill, read and review please!