Disclaimer: Me no own. You no sue. We happy.

As you folks can tell, the summer is waning down, and I am, sadly, still in school. Try to guess middle, high, or college! Don't please. I will try to write two more chapters after this, but I make no promises. I'll also be working on a one-shot side fic to this called 'One Week' on Naruto's week working on perfecting the Rasengan to show Tsunade. That Naruto might be OOC from the original slightly because I want it to be funny. I'm struggling to balance all my fics because I get attacked by good fanfic plots everyday.

Please, Kami, please just end my misery.

Just kidding. I love all my fans. Thanks for the support and I can't name you by pen name at this moment.

When you see a break of:

S = Shikamaru/Temari

N = Neji

K = Kiba/Kankuro

C = Choji

G = group (When one person leaves, the remaining are still group)

U = Naruto

R = Rock Lee/Gaara

Chapter Four

Naruto was jittery when they walked back into Konoha. He wanted to be dismissed soon, but he ended up being dragged to the hospital to see Kakashi and Sasuke, who were both in a battle with Itachi after he left and suffered from the Tsukuyomi. He nodded at Sakura, who was by Kakashi's side. They had spoken before on her crush on the Jonin. It was a bit better than her last one, who she still cared for like a brother instead. Naruto kept shifting his weight on his legs as he waited. Tsunade finally looked at him.

"You're dismissed, but I want you back in my office in three hours," Tsunade said. After ordering Minato, the blonde cat, to say put, Naruto practically ran out of the hospital. He sniffed the air once outside to see if he could catch her scent, but he couldn't. Pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, he began his search through the village for her. He had to say he was sorry. He just couldn't get over how he was too cold to her. His scarred eye stung a bit as it remained closed behind an eye patch Shizune gave to him.

"If I were Kurenai, where would I be?" Naruto wondered aloud. He looked up at the blue sky and smiled. It was so peaceful and cleared his mind. Without realizing where he was going, Naruto walked into a dark haired woman. He jumped back and stood stiff. "I'm sorry, ma'am." The woman was staring right at him with ruby red eyes that weren't Sharingan. His cigarette fell from his mouth as he grinned.

123

"Are you sure about this, Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked. The Fifth looked at her old teammate and then at the video screen. Her eyes darted to two opened profiles on her desk. They had the makings of someone beyond Jonin at this point. She couldn't hold hem back any longer. "Who will train them to be that rank?" Tsunade smirked.

"We will. We'll use their weakness against them until they're strong. Didn't you say about their friendship was a special bond? Like brothers?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya nodded and looked at the picture on the screen. He sighed. "They'll become something like brothers when we're through. Send notice out to the other one to meet me at my office in about three hours. They can't be late." Tsunade watched Jiraiya leave before sighing looking out the window. "I'm training children to kill. Lovely." She looked at the unsettling scene on the screen before shutting it off. "No, I'm teaching Shinobi to better themselves." That made it easier for her to sleep at night.

123

Naruto threw his arms around Kurenai in a giant un-Naruto-like hug. The Jonin was a bit taken back and soon returned the hug. She could see that the boy was grinning like an idiot. There was definitely something different about him. She didn't know whether it was the coldness of his eyes being gone or the slight different temperature of his body. It wasn't completely warm like before.

"I need to talk to you," Naruto said. His blue eye held all the innocence of a child while in the shadows of it was the poison of a Shinobi. Kurenai missed that innocent look, but now it felt strange as if painted there. Something was definitely off about him. "Wanna get some dango with me?" Kurenai bit her lip. What if this wasn't her Naruto?

"Sure," she said anyways. Naruto grinned and took her hand. She allowed herself to be dragged by this boy. He glanced back only once, and Kurenai could've sworn she saw hurt and pain in his eye. He was silent during their walk to the dango stand. After ordering, he sighed and looked at her.

"I want to apologize for what happened before I left. The Itachi thing is a bit messed up, huh?" Naruto said. He scratched the back of his head and looked at the counter. "Before the Third died, I was assigned a final mission from him. I was to gain Itachi's trust before moving on to gaining the rest of Akatsuki's. I was to destroy them from the inside out. So far, it's working. I'm not a traitor." Naruto couldn't look her in the eye. He didn't like seeing those red eyes look so hurt or angry.

"Why should I believe you?" Kurenai asked. Naruto sighed and looked over at her. She didn't look angry. Just hurt. He looked at his hands and clenched his fists. She was almost like the others. Thinking he was a liar. He knew she had reasons, but he felt so angry. A burning feeling settled in his stomach.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Naruto said. He looked her in the eye. "You just have to trust me on this one." The look in his eyes made her rethink the entire thing because it was so innocent and tired of something. She sighed and looked away. A blonde cat jumped onto Naruto's lap and meowed. "Minato! Why can't you follow orders?" Kurenai looked at the hilarious scene of Naruto yelling at the cat, who only reacted in batting his paw at Naruto's hair. It was as if the ice just melted from the boy. He sighed and patted the cat's head. "This is Minato, my ninja cat. I picked him up from some crazy old woman who beat the hell out of me. He was named after Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash." Kurenai noted that most people called Namikaze the Yondaime, but Naruto said his nickname instead.

"He's so cute!" Kurenai said. She took the cat from Naruto and began to pet it. Minato purred loudly at the attention he was getting. Naruto shot a look at him that Kurenai figured was jealousy. She mentally giggled and smiled on the outside. Naruto ate his dango and looked up at the sky. "You have someplace to be?"

"Yeah in about two hours. Probably another mission. Konoha has to keep image I guess," Naruto said. He was actually surprised to see Kurenai, a Jonin, in the village during a time like this. He looked at her holding Minato and sighed. What type of life was a ninja when love had to be quick and easy to break? He didn't know, but the ninja lifestyle was his only hope now. He sighed once more and closed his eyes. Everything stopped to him. All noise was brought to a low level and smell took over. He almost gagged when he got a whiff of wet dog. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Kurenai and her students.

"Naruto, when did you get out of the hospital? We thought you would be one of the ninja on missions!" Kiba said. Naruto looked confused before realizing what he meant. Team Seven specialized in assassins and S-ranked missions of all kind. He almost laughed at one of his memories of an assassin. Sakura and Sasuke had to pose a paired couple, but that wasn't as bad as Kakashi and Naruto's parts. Naruto was forced to act like a female using a Henge to be the girlfriend of Kakashi, who was acting like a rich man. "Naruto? Are you okay?"

"I was sent out on two missions so far. One was my specialty while the other one was to track Tsunade. I just got back, and I think I'm being dispatched again. Only got two more hours of rest. This reminds me of Team Seven missions. One hour rest," Naruto said. He closed his eyes again and felt Minato jump on him. He ignored the animal until it licked his cheek. "Damn cat too. Minato, go play dead and see if that mutt eats you." Naruto received a hit from the cat's little paw. Kiba laughed while Akamaru and Minato glared at each other.

"Naruto, you're only a Genin. What missions would they give you as a solo?" Shino asked. Naruto smirked and looked at the bug boy. They had something in common. That was they held something in their bodies that made people stay away. Naruto didn't talk to him much though. He just wasn't around other kids a lot.

"S-ranked and A-ranked. One time while the others were injured, I received an unmarked. Meaning suicide. Third didn't want to give it to me. He almost shit himself when I came back alive!" Naruto said. He found it funny, but the others found it creepy. Naruto was weird. "I'm just hoping to be promoted to Chunin soon. I can't stand being a Genin! I still had to do Genin missions too." Hinata looked at the boy she liked. He was weird and rivaled most Jonin.

"W-w-why a-a-aren't y-y-you b-b-becoming a J-j-j-jonin?" Hinata asked. Naruto looked at her and immediately looked away. Byakugan eyes weren't meant to look so nice to someone like him. He smiled and petted Minato. It was to distract his eyes, but he knew it was kind of rude. She asked him a good question too. ANBU were on his ass on joining their ranks. He sighed.

"The Third Hokage was my guardian. He wished for me to go through the ranks like a normal ninja. Now that he's dead, I can make my own decisions, but I respect him enough to continuing going through each rank," Naruto said. He began to tell them some minor details of some missions, but he never told them about the kills. They were secrets only to Flame, Flower, and Fox.

123

Naruto yawned as he walked into Tsunade's office. He was thirty minutes late, and Tsunade was looking very pissed off. The boy ignored it and looked at Shikamaru, who was also staring. Both of them were confused on why the other was there. A joint mission? Their skills were on different scales though. Tsunade motioned for them to sit, and they obeyed. She sighed and looked at them.

"Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto, you both are promoted to Chunin. That's not all. You two are the first shinobi to ever jump from Chunin to Hunter ninja on the same day. Your job as a hunter ninja is easy, but first, we'll have you trained by separate people. Most Hunters don't know who else is in the rank, but you two are going to be partners. Tomorrow, I'll have Shizune get your uniform, but I have your vests," Tsunade said. She gave them both the green vest, and Naruto was reluctant to put it on. "Once you reach the rank Jonin, you're able to take the vest off if you'd like. Tomorrow I want to see you two about eight. Don't disappoint me." Naruto was the first out of there. He couldn't wait to tell Sakura about his promotion. Shikamaru bowed and looked at the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, don't you think that Naruto and I are more compatible with people that compliment our abilities. I've never seen much of Naruto's, but he seems to be a fighter. I'm a thinker," Shikamaru said. Tsunade smirked and interlocked her fingers. She found this interesting that the genius had yet to catch on.

"Naruto thinks. You think. You both have qualities that help the other. You can keep the person still while Naruto makes the kill. It's perfect. Now scram!" Tsunade shouted. Shikamaru bowed before leaving. He didn't see his Hokage drinking, trying to forget she just assigned children to an adult job. When a child become a shinobi, they are adults, but most people liked to forget that.

123

Naruto got to the hospital and asked about Kakashi. The Jonin was discharged earlier that morning almost after Tsunade healed him. He got Sasuke's room number and figured Sakura would be trying to be the older sister and get her little brother moving towards recovery. Naruto walked in to find Sasuke yelling at her with a plate of sliced apples all over the ground. All eyes turned to him, but they soon shifted to his vest. Sasuke growled.

"Naruto, fight me," Sasuke said. Naruto's eyes saddened flicked to a dull blue at the boy's words. No one knew that Naruto always wanted to beat one of the Uchiha heirs. "The roof now!" Sasuke climbed out of bed and walked passed both his teammates. Naruto soon followed.

The fight started out as simple taijutsu, but Naruto kicked the Uchiha bastard into the air. Sasuke charged up a Chidori while Naruto did the same with a Rasengan before jumping at him. He held his arm stiffly out as he began to close in. Sakura shouted at them to stop and ran out to stop them. She got in between them when it was too late from them two stop. Kakashi just showed up in the nick of time. He threw them both at the water towers on the roof. Sasuke smirked proudly when he saw that Naruto's water tower only had a little hole. Both boys disappeared without a word after that.

"Don't worry, Sakura. Things will soon calm down," Kakashi said. He patted her head and was off as well. He was going to find Jiraiya and demand to know why Naruto was taught the Rasengan. The boy was too reckless with it. He first had to find Sasuke and speak to him about the Chidori he used on Naruto.

123

Naruto woke up the next morning angry over something unknown. He sighed and got out of bed. Tsunade had given both Shikamaru and Naruto the clothes to look like a uniformed Chunin, like Iruka. Shikamaru had said he would keep to his regular one, and Naruto got it in black. He put on the sweat pants and a short sleeved t-shirt before the vest. His hitai-ate laid on the nightstand like it was just waiting to be worn. He couldn't remember why he wanted to be a shinobi anymore. All the nameless faces all collected themselves with the memory of that metal plate. The leaf upon it bore so much. He tied it around his neck to hide his scar. Dawn was just touching the rooftops as Naruto walked out with Minato at his heals.

"Minato, I feel like something bad is going to happen," Naruto said. The cat meowed and hopped onto his head to avoid the few people that are up. It's mainly shop keeps and shinobi. Some watch Naruto while others just ignore him. He's just a boy.

Shikamaru and Naruto meet up outside the office at five til eight. Minato had gone off to find Kurenai when Naruto refused to give him any attention. The two Chunin walked into the office, and Tsunade looked up and smiled kind of darkly. The smile disappeared when she found Naruto yawning. Tiredness was etched upon his face like ink to canvas. Nightmares probably.

"Kid, you need some more sleep. I've got a mission for you two. Thing is, I need you to gather as many Genin as possible in a half an hour. Uchiha Sasuke has left Konoha on his own. Get him back as fast as possible. Anything else? Shikamaru, you're in charge. Naruto is secondary command. Get going now!" Tsunade shouted. Both boys went searching for all the Genin. Sakura and Rock Lee were out because of injuries.

Within the half hour, only Kiba, Choji, and Neji were available. Lee and Sakura were there to see them off. Naruto looked at his adoptive sister and couldn't must even a fake grin. She hugged him and gave him a giant smile. All the guys were watching to see what happened next.

"Sakura, I don't know if I can bring him back. I'll try, but I'm not doing this for Sasuke. I'm doing this to find Flame. Kurenai should have Minato. Can you tell her to hold onto him. I don't want him hurt," Naruto said. He smiled and turned away. Sakura felt like she would never see his face look like that again. His eye was what worried her the most. He kept it closed as he traveled farther away.

About a half an hour out, Naruto's nose caught an all too familiar smell. He shuddered from behind Shikamaru. Kiba picked it up as well, and Akamaru whined about it. Naruto yawned and just wanted to disappear. He wanted the good old days back where he was killing off faceless missing ninjas to become that assassination squad.

"Blood. Dead ahead. It follows through the forest along with the heavy scent of snake," Kiba said. Naruto sighed and looked at the back of Shikamaru's head. He knew how to kill a man in any position, and he noted on everyone's lack of a high guard. Maybe it was just the assassin in him kicking in, but they couldn't smell the amount of power the trail had to it. Naruto cringed and howled unintentionally. "Naruto, do you want us to get killed?" A fox suddenly leaped out of a bush at them. Naruto knelt down, and it came right to him.

"He witnessed the fight and followed them. Several wires, invisible like a spider's web set out. He alerted me first because of my scent. Shoo before he wants to speak with you," Naruto said. He didn't like talking to foxes because it made him feel awkward. His teammates just stared as the fox disappeared. "They're resting not that far away. Follow the fox's scent." Kiba just scratched his head. "What?"

"Naruto, his scent leads to you and back to Konoha. You've been all through these woods, so I can tell your scent from his. Let's just follow the blood and split up into three groups. Neji and Shikamaru. Me and Choji. Naruto can hold his own against someone of this power," Kiba said. Shikamaru nodded and signaled for them to split up. Neji and him found their enemies quickly, but they stayed up in the tree tops. Something alerted them. It was Naruto walking straight into the clearing. He looked like a child once more.

"Hello," Naruto said, smiling. The four ninja were waiting on some form of attack. "Don't worry about me. I'm not the one who you should worry about. Besides, I'm here for my teammate." His eyes were closed, and it looked like he was making academy mistakes. "If I don't, I'll make sure you're all dead." The first shinobi, a boy with six arms, attacked using a bunch of spider threads. The whole clearing burst into flames of green. "While you weren't looking, I set up a new trap. As soon as unrecognizable chakra goes off, my flames pop up everywhere. Soon, you'll become goo!" Neji and Shikamaru couldn't believe that Naruto seemed to look like he was enjoying this. It was all a genjutsu though as the Sound Four watched their bodies melt. Naruto retrieved the giant pot rather easily.

"Naruto, watch out!" Shikamaru shouted, realizing the trap. Naruto thought he played the genjutsu card, but it was played right back at him. Naruto's world disappeared and turned into a nightmare of a battlefield so unrecognizable. Instead of screaming, Naruto began laughing. Shikamaru and Neji came out of hiding to help him. He began to attack them with clouded eyes. "Neji, we need to hit him hard enough to knock him out. I can't break the jutsu!" Neji nodded and signaled to Kiba and Choji. They came out to attack the crazed boy, but he stopped them.

"Tsukiko, say hi to the devil for me," Naruto said. Kiba snuck up behind him and bashed his head with a rock. Naruto fell to the ground as the Sound Four appeared from the trees. The fat one quickly captured them in a rock dome. Neji was checking on Naruto, and Kiba was ready in case the boy decided to wake up and attack them again. Naruto groaned and opened his single eye. His head was pounding, and he concluded it was from the wound on the side. "Damn it. Should've been more aware. Sorry Shikamaru. So close too." Naruto sat up and looked around. He was left alone for about a few minutes. The others had to think of a way out.

"Any ideas?" Shikamaru asked. He wanted to see Naruto's thinking in action. Naruto shifted through all his memories for something at would be able to break stone. He finally stopped at one memory and smiled. He stood up and gathered everyone together. "What?" Naruto was smirking, which probably meant something painful.

"Do you know what Hokage-sama's special ability besides medical jutsu is? It's super strength. We need something incredible strong to hit the weakest point of this dome. Right now, I feel my chakra being eaten. I'm sure you're all feeling the same. Neji, can you and Kiba work on finding the weakest point. Choji, when they do, you need to use your expanding jutsu and roll us out!" Naruto ordered. Shikamaru couldn't believe it. Naruto thought the same as him when it came to the people. Naruto was talking to Choji on the different advantages the baika no jutsu (the art of expansion).

"Naruto, are sure about this?" Choji asked. There was no time to answer for Neji and Kiba found the weak point. Choji used the baika no jutsu to break through the dome, and Naruto's plan was over and successful. "Now what?" Everyone was looking at Shikamaru and Naruto. Naruto grinned and walked out with a kunai in his hand.

"We fight," Naruto said. Choji stepped in front of them. His eyes looked serious, so Naruto didn't protest to being blocked. He watched along with the others as the fat man stepped towards them. "You're going to fight him?" Choji nodded, not ever looking back. He tossed a tied up bag over his shoulder, and Naruto caught it.

"Military pellets. Take them and go. I'll catch up," Choji said. Shikamaru led the team out as Choji pulled out a container that had three different colored pellets in it. He took the green one as the fat Sound ninja charged. "Here goes nothing." Choji blocked the man's hit.

GGG

Naruto never looked behind him as he chased the smell of snake with the others. He heard some of the fight, but as they traveled, it disappeared. Shikamaru kept stopping and leaving arrows everywhere for Choji. Everyone agreed upon it. Naruto faintly smelled a power he was afraid would probably be able to kill him if he wasn't ready.

"Let's go get Flame!" Naruto shouted, jumping to the next branch. The others followed, already knowing Naruto's state of mind.

TBC

That's where I'll leave off. Only compliment and critique. See ya!