AN: Thanks to Hurricane Anna for being my beta. This is the hardest chapter because most of it is set up for things to come.
Chapter 3 - Mizuki
"Did you notice anything weird during our tests today?" Sasuke asked, as they walked out of the building.
"Besides the two extra supplementary tests and the genjutsu of the instructor hiding?" Naruto asked. He had noticed the unusual air of hostility coming from Mizuki, but thought nothing of it. The asshole hadn't liked him for years, he didn't expect him to start now. "No, not much."
Naruto knew they were in the final phase of the education plans the Hokage had implemented after the Hyuuga incident. He just thought it would be the class after them that the changes took effect. None of the others had mentioned their test being so many supplementary jutsu. Part of him didn't doubt that the Hokage had ordered their tests be different because of the status of their families. Because he was an Uzumaki and a Namikaze he was expected to hold up standards that very few in the ninja forces had to adhere to. Only Sasuke came close and that was only just so.
"Mizuki made a comment about how it must anger me that you're doing as well as I am," Sasuke said looking back at the school. "For some reason I got the impression he wanted to say more to me, but couldn't because the others were watching over him."
"I was going to offer you a chance for extra credit," the man said appearing behind both of them, "but seeing as you're both here I think I can offer it to the both of you."
Naruto motioned with his hands and Sasuke recognized the code language the four of them had developed for their own use. It was based off of Uzumaki battle language, but Kushina would not let them use it. It was a strange tradition that the Uzumaki held too, but until he was married and had a child everything Uzumaki would remain only in the clan.
"I think he is up to something, hear him out though." Naruto signed.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. It was no secret that Mizuki didn't like Naruto. No one, not even the other teachers, understood why. Kushina had at one parent-teacher conference left a heel print in his testicles the man had pissed her off. Why was he suddenly being nice now?
"What extra credit?" asked Sasuke. He motioned his acceptance and motioned that they should play along with it.
"There is a scroll, within the Hokage Tower, that has sealing information on a level we can't access in the library system. If you're able to make it there and take the scroll, you've earned the equivalent pay rate for a C-rank mission. If you're able to learn a technique from the scroll, you earn a B-rank."
Pride, Naruto's eyes narrowed.
Both families were prideful, and Mizuki was trying to exploit it now. It was no secret that members of their family had impressive mission records. In the Uchiha especially, there was pressure to outdo others for the standing of the family.
Sasuke looked at Naruto before a moment and seeing the shift in his eyes turned to Mizuki.
"How long do we have to complete the objectives?"
"Patrol shifts are at 10:15 and at 12:15 every night. If you're able to make the time at 10:15 you should have upwards of 5 hours to complete your task."
Naruto saw Sasuke's motions and nodded. "Will you be there to see us off at the start?"
Mizuki nodded. "Of course, I couldn't leave my students to attempt such a feat on their own."
"Where would you like to meet?"
"Konoha Central Park, across from the tower. There are a series of bushes near the south end of the park that face the main entrance of the tower. We can meet there."
Naruto and Sasuke nodded. "Thanks for the chance sensei!"
"You know he is lying, right?" Sasuke asked dryly.
"Even I am not that dense, I couldn't see deception," Naruto scoffed. His eyes narrowed and he watched the retreating teacher. "I think we need to kill him."
"They won't like that," Sasuke said, knowing that Naruto had a torture in mind for the teacher. He held a grudge since he had insulted Kushina. Whatever had been said between the two had left Mizuki with a crushed testicale and an unyielding hate of the Uzumaki clan.
"I don't care," Naruto growled, and Sasuke swore that he saw his eyes flash black.
"You should care," Sasuke said, his eyes narrowing. "If you push to hard, they will start asking questions, and probing into what is going on."
"Let's head home, mom is going to get mad if we are late," Naruto said, finally losing the dark look in his eyes. If there was one thing Sasuke had learned over the years, the Uzumaki carried grudges.
They hurried home, after all Kushina was cooking tonight and she made an amazing Teriyaki.
Yakumo watched her brother and his best friend silently as they praticed all after noon. They had just passed the test, you would think that they would be celebrating that moment. Instead they threw themselves into training, to the point that both of them were bleeding from their mouth. It was suprising that they still had any teeth with the way that they went at each other.
"What's going on?" Jiraya asked darkly as he walked into the field. "Dinner is almost ready, and Kushina isn't going to be happy if they are bleeding to death."
Yakumo only shrugged. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Naruto's aura change. It had been getting darker lately, it was as if the Beast's influence was greater.
"Brats," Jiraya roared. "Stop now and heal."
Naruto barely stopped his strike from connecting with Sasuke's nose. He growled as he looked at his godfather. "Why are you stopping us?"
Jiraya's eyes narrowed slightly. "What's a matter brat? You know how your mother is about dinner."
"Damnit," Naruto roared, slamming his fist into the ground. A spider web of cracks formed around him.
Jiraya watched as he got up and walked away with a dark aura hanging around him. "What is wrong with the brat?"
Sauske could only shrug. He didn't like the looks of this, but there was only so much he could do about it right now. "Jiraya-sama, you need to know something."
He looked at the last Uchiha and listened as he relayed what happened earlier. Damnit he didn't want to miss dinner with Kushina. Her cooking was awesome.
"So, we have a set up brewing," Hiruzen listened to his spymaster relay details from dinner with the boys. It was surprising that the boys did not blow their chance to hit the traitor then and there, but they had remained remarkably calm and got enough information to hang the bastard from the walls.
Jiraiya nodded. "I don't get it; Mizuki has not had contact with anyone in Orochimaru's command structure since the incident with his team. Why would he choose to make his move now?"
"It's a set up." Sarutobi looked at his last remaining student. "Orochimaru is planning something, and with the recent shift in Sand and Iwa ninja forces it seems highly suspicious, so he is exposing his pawns to draw our attention from their troop movements."
"His own village is troublesome as well," Danzo handed the Hokage a report he had been holding. "Root Agents have infiltrated the Village, but we have not been able to get high enough in the command structure to ascertain the reason that the Village has been growing. He is hiring mercenary forces at an alarming rate. Doesn't matter the skill level, if they can carry a weapon he wants them."
"He's moved his pawns into position, only at the wings so we don't look at his main forces. The mission is now simple, we need to make sure we pay more attention to his queen." Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Danzo. "Pull out your agents as soon as possible, we will need Root to reinforce Civilian Bunkers, slip them into their public personas, and make sure they know that they are to retreat if the worst case scenario is played out. They will be there in case the Elites get broken."
Danzo nodded. He had two hundred Root agents in total; they were the intelligence and spy operation of the Konoha, as well as their last line of defense. Their mission was always the protection of the village. The thought of being out of the fight did not sit well with him.
Danzo growled slightly. "So you know that this is a set up by Madara, right?"
"Remember Danzo, Orochimaru has spies in our village," Hiruzen said. He really was going to ride his ANBU commander after this. "As does Madara, keep things close to vest for now."
Danzo nodded. It was blatantly obvious that this was a set up to something larger, but there was so little that they could do without tipping their hands and Madara changing his plans before they were completely ready.
"Should we shift patrols?' Jiraya asked looking at the portrait of his son in all but blood. Minato's life had been a tragedy, and Naruto's would have been even more so had he not had his mother. Jiraya had been so caught up in tracking down the traitor that he had ignored everything for several years. It took Kushina and an introduction to her sword to make him see exactly what was going on.
"No, it's too easy," Hiruzen shook his head. "We don't want to tip our hand that we know what is going on too soon."
Both men nodded with their commander. "I am commissioning this as an actual B-class mission for the boys. Their job is to steal the scroll and prepare to take down the traitor."
"Will you let them take the real one?" Jiraiya looked surprised. A B-rank for the boys was essentially an order for the first kill. Traitors to the village were dealt with harshly, be they civilian or ninja.
Hiruzen nodded. "We want to make this as real as possible, so no one thinks that something is up."
"The brats will tear this guy apart, they're good at that," Jiraiya smiled. "Damn brats making me miss dinner and research with this."
Both men groaned as the man disappeared.
"You just had to keep the dead last, didn't you?" Danzo snapped.
"Oh, bite me," Hiruzen shot back at his one-time rival. Seriously was all he thought about his books and food?
He steadied himself as he walked into the main part of the Namikaze home. It had been a long day and he could feel his control slipping, it wasn't something that he liked. He would have to deal with it soon.
His mother had gone to the dojo after dinner, she said she needed to train.
Watching his mother was something akin to a revelation when it came to fighting. She was simply flawless in the way that she moved. Her strikes were perfectly leathal, every movement would have killed an opponet crazy enough to fight her. He knew that his father had a hard time keeping up with her when she was going full out, and only the Sannin and the Third had come out realtively unscathed. She was lethal with and without a blade.
He had been nervous about this all day, because honestly he didn't know if she would be overjoyed or pissed off at him. Naruto knew that she really didn't get along with Koyuki, though his mother tried for him. Naruto was pretty sure that it had something to do with her being seven years older than him. Because of the Beast and what it forced his body through Koyuki never seemed to mind that he was younger than her.
He also knew that his mother wand the rest of the village wanted him to take up the mantel of the Namikaze, the problem was that there was a very strict family code in place. Even in the case there was only one member left, they were not allowed to take complete command of the family resources unless certain conditions were met. The Fire Lord would enforce it, much to the joy of those jockeying for position in his court at the expense of his family. If he followed dictates there was a way and Naruto knew that they would need the resources that his family name brought him.
"Mom?" Naruto stepped into the dojo floor as his mother sheathed her blade. "I want to talk with you."
"What about, sweetie?" she asked, she nodded to his blade at the wall. "I could use a sparing partner."
Naruto groaned slightly. He should have expected this. He picked up his blade and unsheathed it, setting the saya against the wall. He gripped the tsuka in his right hand and moved into a fighting stance.
"Show me your will," his mother said with a slight smile.
He charged forward and was matched with her blade. She threw him off and quickly landed a jab to his stomach. He gasped for breath, his mother wasn't pulling any punches right now.
"What's a matter, honey," she asked, suddenly concerned. Usually he was able to keep up with her from the start.
"I...," he wheezed. "I was wondering if you would be willing to help me."
"With what," Kushina asked, trying to help him up.
"I want to get married," he said bluntly.
She looked back at him now, wide eyed hope plastered on her face. "Are you serious?"
He nodded. "Yes, and for more reasons than just I love her. I want control of the families, and the Namikaze rules will only let me access the funds that they have built up this way, but it requires your approval, and acceptance."
"Marriage…" Kushina breathed. "You're not even out of the Academy yet."
"And because of the presence of the Beast I am actually 18 years old phsyically, have been through puberty and have had to understand things well before my time, this would be nothing new to me," he said with a shrug. Because of the changes his body had undergone he looked eighteen, even though he was only twelve. It was a side effect of the weakened seal of the Beast and the presence of the Kyuubi. Between the two of them his body was forced to mature and age at an incredible rate. "We both know the Village is more than likely going to parade me out there to drum out business. Even if Iwa comes, I am more than ready for their elites."
Kushina looked at him darkly. "You know you are not. You can take me at just over gennin level. If I go full out, you know you wouldn't get ground in."
"Mom, I have powers that put me on par with you, if things get that hairy they are going to realize just what I am really capable of ," Naruto admitted. He, unlike his mother, knew that their powers weren't the result of the Beast.
"NARUTO! You know that our powers are not to be used! You know what might happen? Espeically in your case because of your father's and your sacrafice!" Kushina had thought he got the lesson. The powers of the Uzumaki were not to be used, unless life and death were waiting for you to make the choice. They had no idea if it was a genetic mutation brought about by its presence or if it was the Beast trying to force its way through the seal. Naruto was even more worrisome because of the powers that he also showed.
"Mom, it needs to be done," he said softly. "The Beast isn't where our powers come from, you know that. You lived with its presence for most of your life. Can you honestly tell me that you feel the same when you use your powers?"
She couldn't see clearly. She looked at him codly, her hand tighting around her tsuka. She wanted to do something, she wanted to lash out, she wanted to protect her son, but there was nothing that she could do. She let fly with her blade, only for Naruto to block it.
"I want your approval for this," he said darkly. He knew that this was coming, it had happened before when he mentioned his powers after all. "I want your help, I want to do what is right for myself and for our family, but if you oppose me I will go around you."
Kushina stopped herself. The look in his eyes and he stared at her, she drew a deep shuddering breath and wrapped her arms around her son. She felt him tense and then relax into her. This was his father, she thought. He was always so strong when he felt that he needed to be.
"I already have a boat load of enemies because I hold the Uzumaki name, I might as well add more and take control of the Namikaze side as well," Naruto said with a shrug. He really didn't care about his enemies, they would be dealt with one way or another. He was afraid that he and his mother would have had another fight.
Not all of his enemies in this case were Ninja. Because of the resources he wielded several of the merchant families in the Fire Lord's court were after him as well. There had been at least one assassination attempted brought from the Court because of his connection with Koyuki and his family.
She shook her head. "I don't like it, I was hoping that you would live a little more before you decided to settle down. But, I will support you."
"We're Ninja mom," he said with a sad smile. "We live hard, we die hard, we should enjoy everything in between."
"Spoken like an Uzumaki," she said with a smile.
He smiled and hugged her. "Thank you."
She returned the hug and smiled. "This means I get to beat the crap out of you more."
Naruto paled. He forgot about that, his mom promised to step up his training when he agreed to take control of the families. "You're going to hurt me aren't you?"
She smiled a sadistic smile that reminded him of the Snake Mistress he had met when Kakashi had given him the tour of the ANBU. "Especially after that crack this morning about me being old."
She bopped him upside the head, and hugged him again. "You'll be ready."
"Mom, this is nothing big," he said.
Kushina chuckled and held him close. What Naruto and Sasuke had told her at dinner left her worried. Both boys were determined to go after the traitor. She didn't like it, but if they didn't help there was likely a chance that they would never find who had implemented the plan to begin with.
"Everything is set," Jiraiya said from the living room. "We have Anbu in position if things get out of hand."
"We won't need it," Naruto said, letting go of his mother.
"Don't get cocky brat! I would say you have mid-guard skills right now, but it still only takes one lucky shot for the bastards to win."
Naruto nodded, and looked over at Sasuke. "Ready to play with the traitor?"
Sauske nodded and they got up to leave. Kushina wanted to say something, but she knew that it would do them no good. The boys were dead set on their plans, and it would not change.
"Don't worry Kushina, they will survive."
She nodded, but couldn't escape the feeling of dread in her stomach.
Mizuki was there just as the expected, holding what looked like a mission scroll. After talking with Jiraiya, they now had a link to explore. Mission scrolls were supposed to be the Hokage's exclusive control in the village.
"I am glad to see the two of you came," Mizuki said with a false smile.
"We don't back down from challenges," Sasuke said darkly. He hated this guy, and to have to put on a nice front went against everything he had learned from Kushina since he started living with them.
"Good to hear," Mizuki chuckled. "Here is your mission objective and location for the drop off."
They both nodded, and then turned away.
"Good luck, gentleman." Mizuki faded from view at that point.
"Does he ever get over himself?" Sasuke asked as they looked over the embankment of bushes to see the Anbu patrol.
"After this, probably not." Naruto shrugged. "He thinks he is going to win."
He shook his head after looking towards the tower entrance. "They still have not changed patrol patterns, even after all these years."
"Who knew pranking could come in handy," Sasuke snorted. The one time Naruto had tried something against the tower he had made it almost to the Inner Sanctum before Anbu patrols finally caught up with him.
"People need laughter, you know that as well as anyone." Naruto looked above them. "On three, cloak and then we move."
He saw the opening too, the patrols were a standard triangle formation that was supposed to cover all vantage points. It didn't work when you all faced the same direction though. He nodded and did the mental countdown in his head before activating the seal on his arm.
The wind bent around the both of them and they faded from view. As they passed the ANBU would more than likely think that it was a gust of wind, rather than two gennin sneaking into the most secure compound in the village.
"Did they really just do that?" Homura asked, looking up from the globe. "That shouldn't be possible for Academy students. Our ANBU are supposed to be better than that!"
"Not their fault the last Captain-General was an incompetent idiot." Jiraiya explained. "Most of his mistakes were covered by Itachi and Kakashi."
Hiruzen snorted, incompetent was being nice about the situation. It had denigrated so badly that a false peace envoy had managed to break into the Hyuuga compound and kidnap one of the girls, under their noses. It was only now getting back up, but they were still falling for the same tricks. Hell training for the entire lot ran through everyone's mind. He would unleash Naruto on them full bore, no restrictions at all on who he pranked and when.
"This is not good if they are able to get through our defenses so easily," Jiraya looked up darkly as he stared at his sensei. "I want the Cohort reports."
"Why, Jiraiya?" Hiruzen was surprised at this.
"I can either seal it and send it to the Toad Clan, which we can access easily enough since I am here, it's getting out from this tower until security issues are fixed," Jiraya said darkly. He remembered from the Third Secret War when their cohort reports had fallen into the hands of Iwa. It lead to the death of Tsunade's brother because they learned how to exploit the teams.
All three advisors looked at the Hokage and nodded. It would be safer if it was out of the village at this point and time.
He nodded. "I will have them ready by tomorrow morning. Until security leaks are taken care of there will be no updates, commanders will be ordered to keep no records from this point forward."
"Agreed," Jiraiya nodded. "Here comes their first test."
The ANBU patrols in the building were led by one of their best. Yuugao Uzuki was as good a leader as Kakashi was, and did not fall into the bad habit of patterns like the rest of her comrades. "Uzuki's patrol, one of them might get by, but one of them is going to get hurt."
Hiruzen nodded, this should be interesting to watch.
The ANBU patrols in the building were even worse than the ones outside. They didn't stagger their patrol lanes and they would often cover the same area as a group instead of having teams spread throughout the building. Naruto looked over to Sasuke, who he could still see since the seals connected them. He motioned in their battle language and nodded. If he wanted a distraction he would get it.
He dropped the cloak and whistled for the ANBU team. He was the sacrifice so that Sasuke could complete the mission.
"What are you doing here, Uzumaki?" the cat-masked ANBU snapped. She lashed out, catching him by the neck.
"Wanted to see you, sweetheart," he gave her a cheeky grin and kicked her arm. He flipped over and ran towards the other three members of his team. Two hands out; two sleep seals on the still stunned guards.
The third one managed to draw his sword, slashing at the air where Naruto was. He breathed a sigh of relief as the slash only touched the edge of his shirt. His mom was going to be pissed about that later, she bought it for him.
"You're going to jail for this!" the man growled. "Even if you are the Fourth's son, you will face time for doing something this stupid."
"Ya, ya, ya." Naruto dropped then slid into a battle stance. "Come, show me your will."
The man charged, only to be slammed back into a wall hard. Naruto's eyes were glowing white. He turned and stared at the cat-masked ANBU. "And then there was one."
"What are you?"
"You mean you weren't briefed on Uzumaki powers?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. It was kind of freaky with his eyes a blazing white at the moment. "Each of us has our unique power set. Won't tell you how, it's none of your business. But, you're about to see some of it firsthand. I recommend going all out from here on, lady."
"I intend to!" Neko growled. The purple haired ANBU charged at him, and Naruto flipped through the air. Summoning his blade from the seal, he brought it up to match the woman.
"Now, now, it's not nice to swing pointy objects like that," Naruto taunted, leaping back.
"You're going to be in so much trouble when this is over!" she growled, trying to force him down. How did he have the strength to match her? He was just fresh from the Academy. She pushed forward, twisted his blade to the side and punched him hard in the face. He flew into the wall face first, and impacted hard. She grabbed his sword arm, twisted it, forcing him to drop his blade. She shifted her hips, flipping him over, hard onto the ground. His eyes lost their strange colouring as he landed against the ground, stunned.
"You suck," she ground out, bringing her forearm across his throat.
"I know," Naruto grunted, getting his vision back slowly. He rolled his eyes at the thought of the talking too he was going to get from his mother and his godfather for putting some Anbu on the ground, even if it was a mission. "So I cheat!"
His sword leapt into his free hand, she gasped as he brought it towards her head. She leapt back and came into a guard stance. Before Naruto could get up she shot forward, grabbed him by the ankle and twisted hard.
"Give up yet?" she asked. She slammed her elbow into his chest, knocking the air from him. He wheezed and looked up at her.
"Not a chance!" Naruto bit back. He was hurting. Was this really the gap? He snapped his fingers and felt the energy flow towards his hand. He reached up and touched her shoulder. "Restrict."
The seal blossom spread quickly, forced on by the desperation of the moment. He knew the she was holding back, she had seen her spar with his mother once before, and knew the woman was good. He was lucky she was holding back, had he been anyone else the killing blow would have come automatically.
"Damn you!" she snarled.
"I know I'm lucky, kitty-chan," Naruto whispered. "You really think I am that stupid? I am sorry about this."
He touched her again, right on the upper part of her arm. The heat of her skin, as the sleep seal spread over the restrict seal, increased. She fell to the floor, and the restrict seal faded. "Sleep well, kitty-chan."
He twisted again and faded from view. Since he was caught in the wind, no one saw him pass out near the edge of the tower.
They couldn't help it, they just laughed at the sight before them. It was rather amusing how Naruto dealt with opponents.
"He's going to be sore in the morning," Jiraiya commented. "Her physical attacks were chakra augmented, and even his powers can be overpowered at this point. Though Kushina will be happy to have a gauge of where he is at."
"I have rarely seen Neko lose her cool like that,"Hiruzen admitted.
"It happens," Jiraiya shrugged. "She's been on the receiving end of Naruto's pranks more than once, and the fact she can't learn the fighting style he has pisses her off. She wants the perfect sword style, kind of like Orochimaru wanted all the jutsu in the world. She just hides her disappointment better."
"This doesn't speak well of our Anbu though," Danzo shook his head. "We need more information on Uzumaki powers too."
"This is pathetic," Hiruzen growled. He knew peace had made his forces lax, but he did not believe that it would get this bad. "All of the teams need a shake down, I thought about Hell Training, but I am considering giving them over to Gai."
Jiraiya laughed. "If that doesn't people to shape up, nothing will."
"Agreed," Hiruzen nodded. The Green Beast, while eccentric to a fault, was a monster when it came to training. He made the best drill instructors he had cry trying to keep up with him. "You need to keep watch over him, I know getting information from Kushina won't be easy, and I want to know more about these powers."
"You know after Kushina gets through with him for using that his powers again, she is going to drill Uzumaki Kenjutsu into his head. Your ANBU won't be able to keep up with him after a year or so, and she is going to be upset that Kushina still won't teach her," Jiraya tried to change the subject. Uzumaki powers were on area that he did not want to go into. He wouldn't subject his grandson to such scrutiny.
"Why?" Hiruzen seemed surprised. Kushina demanded her son practice regularly, but from the sound in Jiraiya's voice it was going to be a lot more brutal than before.
"He wants control of the Namikaze as well," Jiraiya said with a smile, "turns out he has a fiancé already and told no one."
"This is the problem with twelve year old aging too fast." Homura laughed. "Who is it?"
"Who else?" Jiraiya smiled. "You think the Princess would let anyone else near him?"
Danzo smiled. "I guess this means we will be stepping up our orders in the snow region?"
Hiruzen shrugged. "We need time to prepare, we can't let it go ahead without being sure we can neutralize the armor. That means find me a copy, or get your agents seal trained."
"The boys aren't ready anyways, I am pretty sure their entire cohort will help them, with how the feel about the two." Danzo nodded.
Hiruzen nodded. It was no secret that this Cohort was the most dedicated of the group. If for no other reason that Sasuke let it be known strength attracted him. He still wanted to know how Naruto got him to admit that one.
"Should we hold off putting them on teams?" Koharu asked.
Jiraiya shook his head. "Remember how Uzumaki are? Kushina learned the same way while still serving in the Ninja forces, she expects Naruto to do the same, even if Whirlpool's forces were not a mission oriented force like Konoha."
Hiruzen nodded and turned back to the globe. Things just got a lot more interesting.
It was absolute black. What happened with the mission? Where was Sasuke? What happened with Mizuki? What is going on? There was nothing around him but the black. He opened his eyes, trying to find something, anything, but he couldn't. He could not see his hands, he could only feel. He felt his panic rise, and he began to flail about wildly. He wanted to find something, anything. He turned, and screamed, but nothing could be heard. He felt his throat strain, he felt his vocal chords vibrate but there was nothing around him.
He felt his heartbeat rise. It was thumping all the way to the base of his throat.
He couldn't even hear his breath!
He spun around, and stopped. Staring at him were two fields of red.
He screamed, but nothing came out.
Nothing can save you Uzumaki, nothing at all…
Naruto awoke with a start someone tapping him on the shoulder hard.
"Come on dope, let's go," he said holding up the scroll. "Stage one is complete."
Naruto nodded, trying to shake off the feeling of unease.