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Umino Iruka walked into his classroom with a sense of uneasiness about him. He arrived at his class roughly five minutes late because he had talked to the Sandaime about Naruto. The boy had interested him and he wanted to learn more about him. However, what he learned was not what he had expected.
He found out that Naruto is the son of Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin of Konoha. Or rather ex-Konoha ninja but that didn't really matter. The man could easily crush almost any ninja out there with little to no effort at all. And the fact that he had bore a child with his same talent level scared Iruka.
Of course the Sandaime assured Iruka that Naruto was nothing like his father and would never fall prey to the same influences as Orochimaru had. That still didn't stop Iruka from being wary of the child. He trusted the ex-Hokage. Not the son of one of the most dangerous men alive.
In fact the class must have felt the same thing. Because when Iruka snapped out of his thoughts to begin assigning teams he heard no noise. Iruka blinked at the sudden phenomenon. The whole class was never ever this silent. Even the Haruno and Yamanaka were dead silent.
As Iruka watched the class he noticed that their eyes seem to be stealing glances at the pale skinned Naruto. Not that the boy paid them any attention however. He stared straight at the board and waited for his team to be announced. A rather pleased smile on his pale face.
Iruka opened his mouth to begin speaking when Uchiha Sasuke opened up the door. He walked into the class with a slight hobble to his leg from the previous day's actives. His fan club immediately began an uproar upon seeing their beloved Sasuke hurt or injured in any way, shape or form.
"Oh poor Sasuke!" The pink haired Sakura called out. Only Kami knows how she got her voice to become so high and so annoying. Hearing the screeching voice of his loudest fan girl, Sasuke cringed. Coming up quickly behind her was the blonde haired Yamanaka heiress.
"Move forehead, Sasuke needs some one pretty to look at to feel better!" the Yamanaka shoved Haruno out-of-the-way and on to her backside. She stopped for a moment to hold a triumphant smirk over her rival before turning back to their mutual point of interest.
"Oh Sasuke! How on earth did you get hurt?" Yamanaka asked quietly, afraid her question might have offended him in some way. Sasuke just grunted and narrowed his eyes. The platinum blonde followed his eyes to see where they landed. She held back a gasp when he eyes landed on the newest kid in the room.
Naruto turned his head when he felt a strong glare attack him. Seeing that it was only Sasuke he met and matched his glare with one of his own. The whole room grew silent and watched the two boys stare each other down.
Iruka sat still, silently hopping that the two wouldn't break out into a fight again.
Sakura was contemplating weather or not to smash Naruto's face in for hurting her precious Sasuke.
Ino, the Yamanaka, stared with her mouth agape. This was the kid that had managed to best Sasuke?
Mizuki, Iruka's teaching helper, wore perhaps the best face of surprise. This boy looked exactly like his master. Even his glare looked just like Orochimaru's glare. Not that anyone knew who Mizuki associated with anyway. He was a rather shady person.
Eventually Sasuke grunted and hobbled up to his seat. By the time the fan club had recovered from their shock their idol had already taken his seat. The rest of the girls rushed over to get the one empty seat next to Sasuke.
Naruto watched on with mild amusement as the fan group migrated over to the only seat next to the Uchiha Heir. Naruto could care less about that though. He was more excited to see which team he would be put on and who would be his teammates.
Soon Iruka worked up that nerve to speak again, hoping that this time there would be no menacing show down between students. "Right. Anyway from this day forth you are all Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. I expect each and every one of you to remember what I have taught you and remember the 'Will of Fire'. Remember this and you will do fine in this life."
Iruka waited while the resounding roar of the crowd eventually died down. He could hear many cries of victory and promises to uphold the will of fire but these aren't what interested him. What interested him was Naruto. The boy had not joined in on any of the celebrations or anything. He just stared blankly at the wall, focused on getting his team.
"Quiet down now." Iruka held up a tanned hand to silence the children. It took them a few more moments and cold glares from the two teachers but they did settle down. "Now we will be assigning your teams to you as given to us by the Hokage. After that your Sensei will meet you here in about an hour so you have some time to get to know your new team."
A round of nods from the students, except a few kids, told Iruka it was time to get on with the show. Each kid wanted to see their team. Each wanted to know who they would be spending a great deal of time with. Their excitements began to fill the air and made it thick with anticipation.
Iruka went through the first six teams. Each time he called out a team the female member would let out a whine while the boys seemed unaffected but happy regardless. The biggest bomb when it came to the teams was team seven.
"Team Seven will be composed of Uchiha Sasuke." This caught the attention of everyone in the room, even Naruto looked to see who would be paired with the last Uchiha. "Haruno Sakura." A vicious screech of victory echoed throughout the room. "And Inuzuka Kiba. Your Jonin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."
Iruka moved over to the team eight slot and began writing. "Now for Team Eight." The room grew silent again. Only a few students remained to be put on teams and now that the Uchiha had been put on a team they wanted to see who the pale kid would go with. "First up is Aburame Shino."
The bug users simply nodded in acceptance of the situation. Most of the other students cringed at the name. Bugs alone were creepy enough. But bugs that crawled out of Human skin? Most certainly shudder worthy. "Hyuuga Hinata." The Hyuuga heir blushed when her name was called. Though on the inside she was a little sad. She had wished to be pair with Mino but his father, the Yondaime, personally oversaw his training.
The students held their breath again. The last member always seemed to be the most interesting as it completed the group. "And lastly, Naruto. Your Sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai" The room went dead silent but that was to be expected. No one knew Naruto. Hell, no one had even seen Naruto until now.
Naruto smirked to himself. He loved that no one knew anything about him. It made him an unpredictable ninja and that would save his life when he needed it. He knew about the Hyuuga from Hiruzen. Holders of the famous Byakugan and Gentle fist fighting style. Then the Aburame. Wielder of the chakra draining insects. Talented bunch they were.
He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard the other teams called nor did he see the other teams file out of the room to meet and greet each other. Naruto blinked and looked around to see his two teammates next to each other but not talking. He sighed to himself and walked over to them.
"Hello you two. My name is Naruto. It is nice to meet you." He gave them a slight bow. The Hyuuga blushed and the Aburame nodded. He took this as a good sign and sat down next to Hinata. Normally he would be okay with the silence but the Sandaime had urged him to build bonds with his teammates. Silently cursing the old man he sucked in a breath.
"Would you two like to go outside and talk? I brought snacks for all of us. This way we can get to know each other. What do you say?" He said with a slight smile. The duo looked at each other then back to the pale kid and nodded. Together the three of them left and walked outside.
Once outside the group found an empty table and sat down on it. Naruto distributed some rice balls among the group with a small, albeit forced, smile. He truly felt awkward in these types of situations because he had very little experience when it came to people who didn't hate him.
Soon the silence became far to awkward for Naruto to handle. He decided that he would go first. "Well I guess I can go first. My name is Naruto. I like Science and training. I dislike people who judge others without knowing them first. My dream is to make my grandfather happy by becoming a great ninja."
Naruto watched the two swallow the information he gave them. He really didn't have much to say about himself that he hadn't already. He had no history to go over. No parents to talk about. Only the Sandaime. The Hyuuga nodded and went to twiddling her fingers. Shino gave no apparent look, only a very slight nod in return.
"My name is Aburame Shino, as you have been informed. I am the Heir to the Aburame clan and wish to be a great leader for the clan. I...like different species of insects. I dislike those who kill bugs for no reason other than they are 'different looking.' or those that judge others without prior knowledge." Naruto smiled at the boy. He had strong convictions. Plus he disliked when people judged others.
"M-My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I am t-the Heiress to the Hyuuga C-Clan. I like Cinnamon buns and c-c-confidence. I dislike hate and separations. M-My dream is to b-be noticed by a c-certain someone." Naruto smirked to himself. She left out that she was painfully shy but she seemed nice enough. Again Shino only gave the briefest of nods towards the girl.
The kids were about to continue talking about each other when a swirl of leaves arrived. Out of the swirl a rather tall woman with long black hair and ruby red eyes appeared. Her white and red outfit caught Naruto's eye as it was not the normal attire for a Jonin to wear.
"Nice to see that my cute genin are getting to know each other already." The woman smiled. Hinata suspected that this may be Kurenai due to her timely appearance and suggestion that they were her 'cute little genin.'
"You must be Kurenai-sensei." The ever dull voice of Shino rang out. The woman turned to him and smiled softly at him.
"That's correct. I will tell you more but not here. Meet me at training ground Eight in ten minutes." Another swirl of leaves came by and once again the genin were all alone. Each of them shared a look before dashing off to go meet their Sensei.
[With Kurenai at Training ground 8]
The ruby eyed Kurenai stood in the center of her training ground silently. She was thinking of the past week's events. As customary she and all the other Jonin had found out their teams and their roles at the same so that they all could prepare and teach these kids properly.
Kurenai could not be sure what to think of her team though. She had the Hyuuga Heiress. A girl she had longed to help out and be there for ever since she had found out about her situation. Her home life was less than savory and had caused her a great deal of pain and suffering. And it was all because she wasn't the daughter those damned council members had wanted.
Next up was the Aburame Heir, Shino. In truth she had no idea what to think of him and his family. She held zero ill will towards them of course. They were splendid ninja and very good tacticians when it came to fighting and usage of their bugs. She just did not know how to approach or deal with Shino. Though she imagined that he would be very easy and respectful to get along with and teach.
Her greatest challenge came in the form of her last student. Naruto. The son of the accursed Snake Sannin of Konoha. She actually knew less about Naruto than the Aburame boy. Not that much about him could be known. She had heard nothing about this boy until she was assigned him. It wasn't really fair to either of them.
What was worse was how Anko had felt about the situation. Seeing as how she became branded by the Snake Sannin when she was a kid. Anko had been one of the first to actually find out about Naruto when he was younger. She didn't know how to feel about him but she felt a special link to the boy. Both had been abandoned by Orochimaru.
Soon Kurenai heard the shuffle of rushing feet coming towards her. She opened her eyes to see her three genin keeled over and breathing harshly. Well Shino and Hinata were. Naruto was breathing heavy but he looked as though he could run some more if he needed to. At least now she knew which ones were in good shape and which weren't.
"Glad to see you all made it in time." She smiled again at the group who had mostly recovered. "Now you all may have passed the Genin Exam but that is more or less just a qualifying test for the real test. Since we will be a tracking team that is what our test will be over. You have exactly two hours to find my trail, follow it without me knowing, and 'catch' me. Good luck!" Again the blasted wind picked up and Kurenai was once again gone from all sight and sound.
Shino was the first to act and sent a bug over to where she was standing. The small shift in his posture let Hinata know that something was wrong. Silently the girl ran through a few signs and activated her eyes, She frowned when the world around her became much more visible.
"Kurenai-sensei has left no trail at all. At least none that my bugs can detect." Shino stated flatly. Though that was to be expected. She is a Jonin after all.
"I can't find her chakra source with my eyes anywhere near us." Hinata meekly threw out. Again to be expected. Naruto walked up to where she was standing and took a knee at the spot. The Sandaime had taught him how to hunt for people before. If only a little bit. And from her foot print he could honestly say.
"I have no clue where she went." Naruto admitted sheepishly. Hinata and Shino sweat dropped at the admission. He sighed and stood up and turned to his new team. "I suggest we search this area first. Maybe she made it easy on us?" He asked with a smile and shrug of his shoulders.
Wordlessly the group took off into the forest surrounding the clearing and began to search for any clue their Sensei might have left behind for them to find.
They hopped from tree to tree and branch to branch. Each of them looking around with their special abilities. Shino spread his bugs all throughout the forest and had them looking for anything that could relate to Kurenai's scent. Hinata used her eyes to ferret out any kind of lingering chakra that may have been left. Naruto used what tracking skills he had to find if anything looked out of place or broken that may have indicated that she had passed through here.
It actually took them several laps around the training ground before anything was found. Naruto broke formation and landed next to a twig that had been freshly broken by the looks of it. He picked up on end of the broken stick and held it in the light. The wood was a light brown, something more akin to a tan.
"She's been through here." Both Shino and Hinata shared a look when they stopped on the branch above him. Perhaps the boy had gone crazy from not finding anything and suffered from wishful thinking.
"How can you be certain?" Shino drawled out above Naruto. The boy turned around and looked at his teammate, his green silted eyes shining in the light that reflected from them. Hinata swallowed slightly at the strange eyes, not that she had any ground to stand on in that regard.
"This twig was just broken. The wood is not stained or darkened. It is compressed meaning that someone stepped on it to force it to break." Shino mulled that over in his head. It did make sense but why would she be all the way out here? And where did she teleport to? Naruto took off in the direction of the starting location with zeal. Shino and Hinata followed, interested in what he may be on to.
When Naruto arrived at the spot he frowned. They had missed something. There were footprints leading from the spot into the forest. "It figures we didn't see it. We were looking for chakra and not actual tracks." He followed the trail with his eyes.
"That would make sense." Shino added in and followed Naruto as he walked into the forest.
"I'm s-sorry." Hinata looked down ashamed. She should have been able to see those she thought. Her father would be very upset with her if he found out that they had missed such an obvious clue. Naruto looked back with a small smile, barely noticeable by anyone without perfect eyes.
"Don't beat yourself up over it Hinata." Was all he said before facing front. Hinata blinked at him. It wasn't a compliment but more of a command. His voice wasn't it's usual bored tone but had the slightest hint of emotion to it.
Naruto smirked to himself. Maybe this making bonds thing would be easier than he thought it would. All it would take is a smile and not yell at them when they made a mistake. Kinda like the Old Man did with him. He took off into the forest and followed the tracks with haste.
Soon the three of them were baring down upon her. The tracks became fresher and fresher the faster they went. It wasn't long until the two others called out their respective traits and found her.
"Found her! Dead ahead!" Hinata called out, the veins on the side of her head pushed to their limit with the influx of chakra.
"Her scent is near." Shino stated just loud enough to be heard by his teammates. Naruto nodded and began looking around. For a while the tracks ran dead and he could see nothing that may point him in the right direction.
The three of the stopped moving on a branch. Each of them had a frown on their faces. They had indeed found her. All three of her in fact.
"It's not a genjutsu. Those are three real copies of her." Shino frowned deeper. He had heard of something like this but hadn't expected it to be used on him.
"Shino is right." Hinata added. Her eyes could see their chakra network, if only barely, and each of them had the same chakra and the same amount. If it was a clone she would have seen through that and could have pointed out the real one.
Three looked to each other. "We can't split up." Naruto said, earning incredulous looks in return. He sighed pinching his nose bridge in response. "Think about it. We are genin. We would a slim to none chance of fighting her as a three on one. In what universe could we hold our own on a one on one?" he finished gruffly.
Shino and Hinata could see the logic in that. Even if the copies were only a third of her power it would still be more than enough to take all of them out without a second glance. Shino moved closer so as to speak quieter.
"So then what do we do?" Hinata nodded in agreement and moved closer, despite her awkwardness. Naruto lowered his head in thought. He had a good brain when it came to these kinds of things, figuring out how to do things that is. It took him a few moments but he had come up with a simple solution.
Naruto knelt and motioned for the others to do the same. "Shino. I need your bugs to silently latch onto all three of them and begin to drain their chakra. If they are clones then eventually they will disperse." Shino nodded and sent the command to his bugs. "Hinata in the mean time I need you to watch with your Byakugan to see which chakra network is least affected by the bugs. That will be our Kurenai-sensei." Hinata did as she was told.
Naruto, Hinata, and Shino all stood and waited for the work to be done. It was hard enough to coordinate with the bugs while they were away from the body but getting them all in place and in action took some time and concentration on Shino's part.
Eventually though the bugs did move into position and began their task. Hinata watched careful at the systems of each of the copies. Her eyes glared harshly at each body, waiting for it to waver in any way. It took a second or so but soon she saw Kurenai.
"Over there." She whispered and pointed toward the Kurenai furthest from them. The group wordlessly took off and began their hunt of their Sensei.
Kurenai knew that her game had been played and that they were now on her trail. She turned to run but was surprised when a large wall of earth rose up in front of her. Soon Naruto landed atop the wall with a victorious smirk.
"Why are you so happy? A little wall can't stop me." Kurenai added. Naruto's smirk only grew wider.
"True but what of the bugs? You may be able to out run all of us but in the end we would find you."
"What if I just crushed them?" Shino frowned at his Sensei's words. He decided to step up and make his presence known.
"That would be your only option Kurenai-sensei. Only issue is that they are on your skin on your torso and legs. You would have to remove your clothes. Of course this would happen after you got away. You could go to your house and change in peace but now I have your scent. My insects could track you all over Konoha. Add to that Hinata and her eyes." Shino finished and pushed his glasses back up to his face.
Kurenai resisted the urge to smirk in pride of her students. They had thought some of this throw and landed and a very viable path that she would take. She would most certainly not be stripping in public so her home would have to do. They could follow her in the mean time and catch her again. Then there was Hinata. Any genjutsu she used would be seen through.
Not to mention Naruto. Despite his appearance the boy knew a thing or two about avoiding or finding people and predicting the paths of people. A series of beatings had taught him that. She had little doubt he would not rest until he caught her.
Kurenai did the only thing she could at this time, with all of her exits cut off. She relaxed and began clapping. "Very good all three of you. I am glad that you managed to keep faith and find me. I am a little disappointed that you all could not see through the illusion in the beginning but that is expected."
"Shino, I am very pleased with your use of your companions. Due to your efforts you managed to keep a constant sensor in this area and were ready for anything that may move through here. If it weren't for you then they may not have found out which was the real me." Shino nodded at his Sensei's words, a slight pleased buzzing coming from his body. Kurenai turned to Hinata.
"Hinata, I am proud of the way you handled yourself during this session. You followed your teammates and helped when you could. You helped point them in the right direction every time they needed it. On top of it all it was thanks to you that the others knew which was me and could take action before I vanished again." Hinata's face reddened to something similar to a tomato. Kurenai turned to Naruto, who had just descended his wall of earth to land in between in his teammates.
"And last but not least Naruto. Good job on not being overly reliant on any special traits. You were able to point out a physical trail when no other trails were visible due to my concealment technique. Thanks to your simple tracking methods you were able to give hope and chance to the group and keep them going. Also your planing with your teammates is a wonderful trait to have and you managed to cut off my escape route with your jutsu." Kurenai finished with a smile. Naruto beamed with pride at being praised. He rarely got praised and enjoyed every second of it when it happened.
"Of course I could have just taken you all down anyway." Kurenai mused to herself, causing the three to frown and pale. "But that wasn't the point. Go home and rest. Tomorrow we start training as Team Eight." She smiled softly and, once again, vanished away in a swirl of leaves. Naruto silently made a promise to himself to learn that jutsu and use it all the time.
"Good teamwork. I will see you both tomorrow." Shino said as he turned and left the clearing.
"Same." Naruto said lazily making his way back to village then his home. Hinata simply blushed at the compliment from her teammate and hastily made her way home to her dad to share the news.
[In the Trees above Team Eight]
Kurenai appeared on a tree branch right next to another body. Her and the person next to her watched as the three genin left the woods. Kurenai looked over to see a tan face stuck in a frowning position. This slightly worried Kurenai.
"What's wrong?" The ruby eye genjutsu mistress asked her companion.
"Nothing. That's the problem. He is exactly like his father. Smart, cunning, a leader..." The person trailed off.
"Anko." Kurenai said softly. Anko tore her vision off of the retreating form of Naruto to look at her friend. "He isn't Orochimaru. He isn't anything like his father in terms of personality." Anko frowned, some of her purple hair falling over her face and chocolate colored eyes.
"Yet you mean. Remember Orochimaru was one of us for the longest time. Just wait." Anko spoke darkly. Kurenai frowned deeply at her. Couldn't she see past that? He is the son and not the man himself. Orochimaru deserved the hate. Not this innocent little boy who has to pay for the sins of his father
"Anko don't be like that. You two are connected." Anko looked up in confusion at her friend. Kurenai smiled softly in return. "Think about it Anko. Both of you were abandoned by Orochimaru and are forced to bear his sins. You and that little boy both."
Anko frowned the more she thought about it. Kurenai was right. She was always right after all. Her and Naruto suffered from a similar past involving the same man. That much was certain. Anko just could not shake the hate she had for the boy at the moment. He looked way to much like his father for her to get along with him now.
Wordlessly Anko hopped down from the tree branch and vanished away from sight. Kurenai watched her friend run away with a sigh. Anko always had a hard time dealing with her emotions and it looks like this event brought up some very unwanted ones. Either way Kurenai had to get back to her house. She had a training regime to plan.
[With Naruto]
If there was one thing that Naruto couldn't stand it would be walking down the street and getting glared at. Especially when he had no clue what he had done to earn such hate from everyone. Even the little kids glared at him! The Sandaime told him not to worry about it but this was quickly becoming to much for him to handle.
He had to figure out the reason today. Even if he didn't like the answer. He had to do it.
Setting his face in a fixture of renewed vigor Naruto took off down the streets that lead to his house. As he went by he couldn't help but frown at the condition of the houses. Every few blocks the housing conditions dropped. Pretty soon Naruto entered the worst part of Konoha and his home: The Slums.
Now it wasn't anything like one may think. These houses still existed in Konoha and as such had to be upheld to a certain degree. At least on the outside. From the outside all the houses looked good enough to be able to support a person to two. Seemingly a good place to live.
It's when someone looked underneath the underneath that all sorts of problems arose. This area just so happened to house most of the social outcasts and less desirable of society. Many disgraced Shinobi and alcoholics live here. Then there was Naruto.
He lived all the way in the back, at the very edge of Konoha. Completely isolated from human contact and any signs of life. In fact, if someone were trying to find him and were not told of where he lived they would never find him. Naruto hated living out here but it worked for now so he would accept it.
When Naruto got into his home he was a touch surprised. Sitting in his living room was the Sandaime. While him being in Naruto's house wasn't all that strange it was the timing that surprised him a bit. Normally the old man would stop at least once a week and since he had just seen him not two days ago it was odd. But Naruto didn't mind. He had a few questions that he wanted answers to and he knew that Hiruzen knew the answers.
"Hello Naruto. How did your day go?" The elderly man asked with a smile. Naruto frowned slightly before letting a short sigh leave his lips. No use in blowing his question off.
"It went good. I met my team and we passed our test." Naruto said, a slight tinge of excitement and joy in his voice. "Tomorrow we start training as a team." Sarutobi smiled. He remembered his own days with training as a team and all the joyful experiences it brought. He hoped it would affect Naruto the same way.
"Do you like your team?" Hiruzen asked plainly. Naruto put a finger to his chin in mock thought before answering.
"Well Shino is kinda quiet but extremely useful with his insect things. Hinata is really shy but her eyes can see almost anything and everything. Kinda wish I had something like that." Naruto sheepishly admitted. Sarutobi smiled but had other thoughts behind the smile.
To the ex-Hokage it seemed Naruto saw people as things to be used. A side effect of his childhood for sure. That and he hadn't had a lot of human contact before in his life. Team Eight would be just what was needed for him to grow.
"Well sounds like you have a good team. What of your Sensei?"
"Kurenai-sensei? She's okay I guess. Really smart and kind. She had red eyes kinda like the Uchiha do but without those little black dots. And she is really good at hiding!" He added emphasis to the last part. She had impressed him with how she had been able to hide that whole time and never even make a sound.
"Well she is a Jonin for a reason Naruto." The old man laughed and Naruto chuckled along with him before his face took a more serious look upon it.
"Old Man. Why do the people look at me with hate?" The boy asked in complete seriousness with a face so cold it could freeze the whole house if he wanted it to. Hiruzen opened his mouth to protest but found that he lacked the will to deny the boy.
"Naruto know that I can't outright tell you the truth. The Hokage had made it a law that I couldn't tell you but I can make you a deal." Naruto's eyes were the picture of concentration as the Sandaime spoke. "The law states I can't tell you until you become a Chunin. But I will let you know if you make it to the second round of the exams." Naruto frowned.
"The exams are still several months away. You are really going to force me to wait that long?" He waited a few moments and nothing but silence followed after showing that the Sandaime would not spill a single word. "Can you at least tell me something about them? My family I mean."
Hiruzen thought about. No harm could come from giving Naruto some peace of mind about his family. "Naruto, your father was a wonderful Shinobi. A genius of intellect and a prodigy with Ninjutsu." Naruto frowned after hearing that.
"Was? Does that mean he is dead?" The pale, green silted eyed boy asked. Hiruzen stood up and made his way to the door before turning around with a smile.
"I never said that. Maybe you will meet him one day." Hiruzen said before shutting the door. Naruto couldn't fight off the huge grin that threatened to split his face at those words. His Father had set an example of excellence for him to compete against and Naruto would be damned to lose. He would make his Shinobi Father proud and nothing, and he meant nothing, would be getting in his way.
'Though I hope you never do.' Hiruzen thought sadly as he walked away. If those two ever did meet then Sarutobi ran the risk of Naruto falling down the same path. Orochimaru could be one very persuasive person when he wanted to be. And Naruto was still a very impressionable child who needed a parent figure in his life.
'And God knows that this world could not handle another Orochimaru. Not to mention a younger, more intelligent one. Please God. Never let them meet for I fear it would spell destruction for many lives.
AN: And that's a wrap people! Once again thank you all for reading my story and letting me know how you feel about it. You are all beautiful people because of it. Anywho, the next chapter will be coming at ya'll next Friday so I will see you all then. Hope you enjoyed it and have a good day/night!
