It's only been two weeks since I updated! But hey, I felt like writing more, so I did.

Now for my other stories.

The BleachXCodeGeass crossover will be the next one I'll be working on, so this story will be on a week or two hold. I think.

Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy. Oh, and I fixed some mistakes that you all pointed out in chapter 1.

Chapter 4

Quest 21: Meeting Danzo


The three of the genins stood up from their seats and slowly followed Kakashi to the rooftop where they were to be introduced to each other. 'Most likely introductions,' Sasuke thought as he followed the three ahead. He followed quietly, just like Naruto and Kakashi. Sakura was at his side, attempting many times to talk to him.

"Naruto."

The said blonde boy turned around and stared back at Sasuke, who had called him. "Yes, teme?"

"I'd like to talk to you after our talk with our jounin-teacher," Sasuke said after a brief pause.

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder with a half-lidded eye. 'I wonder what they're going to talk about,' he thought.

"Sure," Naruto said, but he didn't seem to interested in what Sasuke was going to say to him.

After that, it took them less than a minute to reach the rooftop.

Kakashi led them to the right side of the roof, where behind them were rows of trees and arches were, and around them was the view of Konoha. Unfortunately, the Academy was not a very tall building, so the said view was easily stopped at around less than half a kilometer away, and most of the view were filled with trees and makeshift wood plank bridges that connected many of the rooftop orchards.

Before anyone began talking, Naruto quickly used his [Observation] technique to take a peek at Kakashi's LVL.

Kakashi

[Copycat Kakashi, Kakashi of the Sharingan]

LVL: 38

"Alright, now that we're here, let's start with the introductions. Name and ambition are mandatory things to talk about yourself. That and habits," Kakashi said as he leaned on the rusted rails on the edge of the rooftop. He pulled out his left index finger and pointed at Sasuke. "You start."

Sasuke deliberated for a second before he began. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I am member of Team 7 as of today. I see myself in the future leading a resurrected Uchiha Clan."

"So, a lot of girls around you?" Kakashi asked with a hint of curiosity.

"... No. Not a lot," Sasuke replied, though somewhat sheepishly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the way Sasuke said it. 'There's a lot of change about the teme,' he thought.

Kakashi shrugged at this before he faced Sakura. "Your turn."

"U-Umm... I am Haruno Sakura. I come from a civilian family. I hope I can ... Well, you see I want to ..." Between every pause, she looked at Sasuke, who didn't pay her much attention.

'A girl who's more interested in love affair than ninjutsu,' the one-eyed cyclops thought with a sigh. He turned to face Naruto. "And finally, you."

Naruto shrugged. "Uzumaki Naruto. I have no goals because I haven't thought of one. I thought I wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha and the Land of Fire... but something happened along the way that made me lose respect for the job."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed imperceptibly at that statement.

"Why?" he asked.

"I did say that something happened," Naruto replied with a frown. "And I want to leave it at that."


Flashback

Naruto almost looked to the corner of the office where a strange man stood within the shadows. Using his [Observe], he identified the man in the corner as Shimura Danzo, a member of the Inner Council of Konoha. But what scared him was that his [Observation] ability was showing.

He looked at the Hokage's title and level above the old man's head.

Sarutobi Hiruzen

Hokage of Konoha

Head of Sarutobi Clan

[The Professor]

LVL: 51

Then he glimpsed at the title and level of the man hidden.

Shimura Danzo

Former ANBU Commander

[The Root of Konoha]

LVL: 53

Naruto gulped. A man who exceeded the Hokage in terms of level? He was no ordinary man, that's for sure. No, check that, he was a monster of his own right.

What was that kind of man doing in the office, "hiding" from both him and the Hokage?

He wanted to know.

So when he was excused...

The moment he stood up from his chair, he placed [Glass Cloak], a technique he learned from the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, and replaced himself with a Kage Bunshin. He had the clone leave the office and walk to his home.

And he sat there for a second, staring at the Hokage.

Without warning, Naruto saw Hokage's face harden before he called out to Danzo.

Flashback End


He heard everything the Hoakge said to Danzo, and he was ... frustrated to say the least.

Even by his surrogate grandfather, he was viewed as a weapon.

He let a sad grin get to his face, though he didn't feel it himself. He was too immersed in his own thoughts to have noticed it on his face. He shrugged again before his expression neutralized. "I have my reasons to have changed my mind," he said. Then he leaned in towards Kakashi. "Now that we've introduced ourselves, why don't you introduce yourself, sensei?" he asked.

Sasuke leaned in as well as did Sakura.

"...Well, before I tell you abut myself, you three have to pass a test."

There was a brief silence before the only two genin-leveled fighters made a sound.

"Eh?"

Naruto sat back with a scoff as if he had expected this.

Kakashi looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "You look like you already knew about this."

Naruto stared back at Kakashi with bored, disinterested eyes.

"It was expected."

"Mind explaining?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged again -Kakashi noticed that the blonde boy did this a lot. "Life of a shinobi is extremely harsh. Even if you are a genin, you are expected to kill and fight for your life in many missions.

"While the Academy does teach you how to kill, such as where to stab for an instant kill, which blood vessels ensure a clean kill, and how to set up traps, there are no real life-or-death situations that give the genins a look into reality.

"I'm sure more than half of the students would forfeit being a ninja the moment someone is killed in front of them.

"I'm sure the Hokage knows this as well. I also believe that the Academy was deliberately set up this way to ensure that only those who can do the job of a ninja passes.

"The first test is the ninjutsu and theoretical knowledge. Both are very important in any ninja's career. Ninjutsu is used to overcome obstacles while theoretical knowledges exist to fill in gaps where experience will soon replace.

"And I am sure there is a second test. One that truly weeds out the incompetent from the fighters. Those who will remain genin for the rest of their life or drop out, or those who can protect the village from outside interferences. One that you will be soon administering to us."

Sasuke gave the blonde a look of respect, though carefully hidden behind that scowl. Sakura, ever being the most intelligent among the three genin, understood and became very pale at the prospect of seeing someone dying in front of her.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was wary of Naruto now.

'"He's not your regular genin" Hokage-sama told me,' he thought as he stared at Naruto with his lone exposed eye.

He just let out a chuckle.

Naruto frowned. "What's so funny?"

Kakashi looked at the genin and grinned, something that was not really visible through his mask. "I guess you are right abot the Academy; a prodigy like you can't be a dead last."

Naruto shrugged. "I am sure that the Academy tries its best to look out for those 'prodigies' as you put them. No, I am not a prodigy; I am just a very observant boy who has seen reality." 'Because his own ...grandfather called him a weapon behind his back,' he though darkly but left that part out; no one needed to know that his loyalties laid nowhere.

"Great, then. While I'd pass you simply because of such observant habit you have, I still have a test of mine to give out."

Naruto grunted, surprisng the two Uchiha and Uchiha-related ninjas around him with his Uchiha-like response.

'I wonder if I can become like you, Naruto,' Sasuke thought as he watched the blonde boy with a look of heightened respect and admiration.

Kakashi cleared his throat with a loud cough.

Then he began his introduction. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no goal that you need to know, and my hobbies are too old for you to-"

"He's a pervert."

Kakashi froze and looked at Sakura who blurted it out.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Sakura. She pointed out to Kakashi's side pouch, where a orange book stuck out a bit.

"That's what perverts read," she growled. "That trash!"

Kakashi shot up. "Icha Icha is no trash! Take that back!"

"Hell no!" she shouted back to the jounin with balls of -... Well, boobs of steel.

Scratch that. She's flat as a washboard.

The jounin -Hatake Kakashi- looked seriously irritated.

"...Anyway," he shot Sakura a mild glare. While glaring, he pulled out three slips of paper from within his vest and handed them to Naruto. "Pass it out. It's the information about what you have to do tomorrow." At this point, he turned and faced Naruto. "And yes, as you have said it, it is the second genin test; the test that truly weeds out those I seem to be unfit. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You might throw-up." With that, he shunshined from the spot.

Naruto stared irritably at where Kakashi had stood. "Damn that cyclops," he growled as he gave the other two copies of the paper he received. He gave the two a wave of hand before he performed a shunshin.

"Wait-!" Sasuke shouted, but it was too late. The last loyal Uchiha frowned. "Damn it."

"What were you calling him for, Saskue-kun?"

Sasuke sighed. "I just wanted to form plans with him for whatever comes tomorrow. But ... well, he's gone," he grumbled. "I guess I'll have to work with you right now and bring him into the plan tomorrow."

"Plan...?"


=AoL=


While Naruto and Konoha was minding their own business -this is not totally true as the ninja system itself has been built around checks-and-balances between the villages with each village spying the others- a student from Iwa was having a similar situation as Naruto. Unlike Naruto, she was being persecuted for her powers.

At least when she heads out of her home.

A little girl, barely over 10, sat in the corner of her one bedroom house, and silently wept. Her short brown hair clung tightly to her face from the cold bucket of water that had been poured on her only a ten minutes ago. She had brusies running all along her legs and arms, showing the extent of the beating she received.

From the perspective of many outside of the village, she would have been a normal girl. She looked normal with her brown hair and black eyes. She acted normal; she cried when they struck her, and cried when she was alone at her dinner table.

So why was she persecuted?

It was a question that she asked herself on many occasion.

"...Why do you cry?"

She shot up from where she had been crouching. She was still sniffling, but had been too stunned to sob.

Someone was in her home.

She shakily took out a rusted kunai from her pouch and held it in front of her. Her entire body shook in fear as she slowly made her way towards the door of her room.

"I asked: why do you cry, Blessed of Nature?"

Her sniffles grew louder and her posture grew even shakier. She stood somewhere in the middle of the room.

"... Did someone hurt you?"

Although she knew better than to interact with a stranger, she nodded. A small hope sprung in her heart, a hope that wanted this stranger to be the one who will either help or end her. Help her from this miserable existence or just end her life.

"Why did they hurt you?"

"B-Bec-cause I-I'm d-d-diff-e-erent-"

"Aren't all ninjas different from people?"

"T-They c-c-a-all m-me a f-reak." From this point, she began to sob, unable to keep it inside of her. She dropped to her knees, letting go of her kunai, and began to sob uncontrollably. "I-I-I d-did'nt do anyt-thing...! T-they h-hurt me, and k-kick me! I-I t-try t-to run, b-b-b-"

A hand slid around her waist and another hand slid over her eyes. Stunned by the sudden appearance of two appendages, the girl struggled to remove them from herself.

"Sheee..." the man who had been hiding whispered into her ear as he keeled back and allowed her to land on his lap. "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

The girl's struggle lessened before she began to cry loudly.

The man held her while the little girl cried.

And then it was over in an hour.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Akuma. Everyone calls me Akuma."

"Ain't that harsh, calling a little girl a 'Demon,'" the man muttered. He sighed. "Akuma-. No. I won't call you Akuma."

She looked at him over her shoulder.

"I'll give you a new name, if it's alright with you."

She nodded hesitantly.

He smiled, but she didn't know where he did or not in her dimly lit room. "Shinhana."

"Shin...hana?"

He nodded, or she felt his body move as if he did. "It means 'new flower.' But I must get to my business of coming to Iwa, Shinhana," he said as he gently moved her off his lap.

She quickly latched unto him. "D-don't leave me!" she whimpered.

He chuckled as he gently undid her fist in his robes.

"I'm not here to leave you. Rather, I came here to take you."

She looked at him, confused.

"I came here to recruit you, Shinhana, to the organization of Hanzo."

"Hanzo?"

He nodded. "A organization that aims to gather all of the Blessed of Nature so that we may change the world for the better."

"H-How...?" she asked, hope in her eyes.

He smiled sadly at her.

"War."


=AoL=


"[Warlord's Aura]!" Naruto shouted once he reached his secret training ground. Once the command was given, his body was surrounded in yellow aura. "[Aegis Shield]!" he commanded as he pulled out a kunai. '[Aegis Shield] form {Nodachi},' he mentally thought out the secondary command. Purple hexagon pieces began to form around the kunai, and began to slowly increase in number. They interlocked with each other and began to form a long nodachi.

Naruto swung the nodachi around, which only weighed as much as the kunai itself. His wrists flipped and twisted, swinging the nodachi in circles to his right then his left. He eyed a tree in front of him for a second. Then without warning, he threw the nodachi-kunai straight at the tree.

The kunai flew as if it was only a kunai, ignoring all sorts of basic physics regarding air resistance and friction that should have applied to [Aegis Shield] {Nodachi}, and pierced straight through the tree's trunk.

"Huh," he said as he dispelled the [Aegis Shield] with a single thought. "So I can activate this with or without a verbal command. Just a recognition of what I want brings about the effect," Naruto commented to himself as he looked at the kunai. "[Aegis Shield] also ignores gravity and air," he commented objectively. "I'll have to test that further. Perhaps when I go somewhere with a large body of water." He shrugged before stuffing the kunai back into its holster. He turned on the tree and frowned. While the nodachi-kunai had struck clear through the tree trunk, the edges of the cut themselves were very clean as if someone had sanded the damn tree or something.

At least he knew that [Aegis Shield] will remain his main technique. There was simply so much he could do with a infinite stack of though-moulded hexagon plates. Shields, domes, katanas, individual shrapnels...

He could get used to this.

After training for quite some time, Naruto sat down in the middle of the clearing that he made and began to think about more applications of the shielding technique. So far, he had used them as frag grenades, swords, round shields, walls, scythes, and fishing net-apparently if he doesn't want something to be able to touch his shielding, then his hexagon plates just passed through them. While he was thinking this and acting upon his ideas about his new techniques and powers, someone was watching him.

"It seems that you are well acquaninted with your powers, genin of Konoha."

Naruto whirled around. He had been too focused on delving into learning more about his technique that he was not careful. He quickly activated [Observation] and narrowed his eyes at the being that stood on top of a rather thick branch.

He categorized the being as a being because [Observation] categorized it as a demon.

Naruto pulled out two kunais and mentally activated [Aegis Shield] to form two nodachis.

"And a very deadly skill set you have there as well," the being said.

"Who are you?"

"..." The demon jumped down from where it was. It looked like a human, but there were few clear distinctions, such as its featureless face and extremely long hair. "I represent Hanzo."

"Hanzo?" 'Why does it remind me of that war hawk Danzo?'

"We gather people for our organization."

"Purpose of your organization?" Naruto asked in turn.

The demon's face suddenly sprouted a grin. "We seek to bring peace to this world."

"How?" Naruto asked, still suspicious of them.

"By war," it stated with the grin still plastered on its face.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I highly doubt peace comes after war," he replied. "But you mentioned war, and my village does not take kindly to outsiders." With that he launched himself towards the demon.

The demon ducked and then rolled away as Naruto's nodachi-kunai sliced the ground where he had been standing and then crouching. Its arms quickly turned into a set of very large blades. "A fight it is then!" it shouted as it charged at Naruto.

Naruto ducked the first thrust from the demon's left and then jumped as high as possible to avoid the demon's right. While in air, he pulled his nodachi-kunais above his head and truck down. The demon sidestepped and struck Naruto on the ribs with his left bladed-limb. Naruto got pinned by it and rolled away.

"That hurts!" Naruto growled as he clutched at his side.

"Ping."

Naruto snapped his head to his left again, and this time he saw the damnable messages...

[Physical Durability] Skill's LVL has increased by one {LVL: 2}

Passive Activation: No ENERGY required

Passive: Damage received is reduced by 3.5%

The demon didn't know why Naruto was not looking at it, and instead, the boy was growling at something that it couldn't see. "I'm guessing that you don't have much experience in sword fighting, huh?" the demon asked as it brought the tip of its blade and licked off the blood. "That and a bit of a ADHD if you can't your focus on me," it added queitly to itself.

Though it wanted to push Naruto for entertainment, it had orders. And those orders were to bring this Blessed of Nature back to the base at all cost.

Naruto growled, but he knew that this ... thing was right about his swordsmanship. He had only minimal experience with any sort of blades. "Then let's do this my way!" he shouted as he crossed his fingers. "[Shadow Clone] technique!" he shouted.

The demon didn't recognize the name of the technique, if cocking its head to the side was to say. But when the entire forest lit up with white-pink smoke, it seemed to falter. Falter as it saw hundreds of pairs of eyes land on him.

"Get him!"

"Che!" the demon growled as he began to rip through the clones even as they fired numerous techniques that even Naruto himself didn't recognize at the demon. But even as the demon got hit, he constantly took down a clone with each second he was standing.

Naruto himself growled as he placed his kunais away. '[Aegis Shield] form {Human Skin}!' he thought, hoping that the mental command was going to work.

And it did. He saw [Aegis Shield]'s purple transparent hexagon pieces form all around him and slowly stick themselves unto him like a second shield. And like before, there was no gravity interfering. 'I can do this!' he thought to himself.

The some of the clones that weren't involved in close combat saw what Naruto did, and they quickly adopted their boss's use of [Aegis Shield]. Once they were satisfied, they charged from where they were straight to the demon.

"You punk!" the demon growled as it sliced through another clone. Its feral grimace died, however, when it realized that the clone was still standing with some sort of weird shielding around it.

And it wasn't the only one.

"Fuck," the demon muttered before more blades shot out of its limbs. "You're making this -!"

"You talk too much."

The demon whirled around and its lips sagged on the corners as it saw the original Naruto behind him with blade with the same color and transparent element as the shielding that protected the clones from his attack.

"Well, fu-"

The blade pierced his back and sprouted from his left chest. It froze for a second before trembling as blood began to leak from the wound and its mouth. "K-K-kaaahh..." he moaned as it tried to place its hand on the blade sticking out of his chest. "D-D-Damn bastard.. you actually got m-me," the demon hissed.

"Of course I did," Naruto replied as he made another one of the nodachi-kunais. Then without as much as a glimpse of hesitation, he pushed the demon off his blade and unto the ground, and ran both of them through its shoulder blade.

"GGG—GGGAAHHH!"

"Don't tell me a demon like yourself can't take some pain," Naruto growled as he pulled out the blade from the demon's right shoulder blade before stabbing its liver. Or what he thought was its liver.

The demon jerked a bit before its stretched lips relaxed and its head fell to the ground.

It laid completely still.

Naruto dispelled the clones and then deactivated the shielding on his kunais. "I guess demons aren't that different from humans," he said to himself as he placed his still clean kunais back into their holster before grabbing the dead demon by its ankle. "I guess I'm going to have another talk with jiji." Then he froze. "But I just met him earlier in the day!" he wailed in frustration.

Just as he began to walk towards the Hokage Tower, several shadows jumped across the tree canopies above Naruto.

"Fuck, more of them?!" Naruto growled as he quickly reactivated [Aegis Shield] on himself. Just as he pulled out a kunai, someone appeared in front of him.

"...Shimura-san?"

"GGG—GGGAAHHH!"

Kakashi jerked from where he head been sleeping on one of many branches of the trees standing in Training Ground 7. "That doesn't sound like someone is getting a blowjob," he thought outloud. He quietly jumped down before stealthily heading towards the source of the scream.

He only had to jump across ten or so kilometers before he came to the other side of Training Ground 7, where his student-to-be blond genin stood over a still body. 'Did Naruto just commit murder?' he thought warily. However, somethings didn't match what his eyes were seeing. Several wounds on the back of the dead man was big enough to be classified as a wound from Claymores or broadswords-thick useless and yet very powerful and durable weaponry used in the land to the west of Elemental Nation(he had been there once or twice before),- and he didn't see any of such weaponry on Naruto. Also, the boy himself was bleeding as well from his side. But his wounds seems to have been treated already by a medic-nin, seeing as how quickly it had healed.

Unfortuantely, he saw Naruto grab the man's ankle and start to drag away before muttering something and wailing another thing.

Did Naruto really kill him? And if the genin did, how did he give the older man such grievous wounds?

Then he saw several ninjas jump across the clearing's tree canopy level, and Naruto quickly activate something about him. And just as Naruto reached for a kunai, Danzo appeared in front of Naruto.

This was bad.

"It seems that the Academy has once again missed out on something valuable," Danzo spoke to Naruto.

Naruto simply shrugged off the compliment. "I know you're not here to chat, and I know that you don't waste time with regular people, so just spit it out already," he growled as he pulled out a kunai.

"You do realize that holding a weapon and using it in threatening manner to a member of the council can be considered as act of disloyalty? And you need to work on your manners, boy."

"What do you want?!" Naruto growled out, obviously frustrated.

"... I want to train you."

Naruto and Kakashi both blinked. "Come again?" Naruto asked out loud, and Kakashi quietly under his breath.

"I have already talked to Hiruzen about you, and he has told me what he knows. While I am not against anything Hiruzen is trying at the moment to help you foster your growth -by placing jounini Hatake as your teacher- I am also not in agreement."

"What do you know, then? Huh?" Naruto growled, remembering the talk that was supposed to be "classified" and "private" between jiji and Danzo.

"Silence, boy!" Danzo growled out, letting loose a very potent wave of killing intent.

Naruto took it fully, and backpeddled for a moment before steeling himself and putting up his guard again.

Danzo smirked. "Good. At least you can take a bit of my killing intent," he complimented.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

The bandaged man composed himself again before speaking in his monotone voice once more. "I want to train you so that you will best serve Konoha with your abilities. I hope you realize that doing missions with a genin team won't be helping you. And from what I know about Kakashi, he won't be helping you much because of his lazy attitude."

Kakashi frowned from where he was in the trees. 'No doubt the old bat knows that I am here,' he thought.

"I do what is best for Konoha, genin Uzumaki," Danzo continued.

"And how do you protect Konoha? I've never heard of you in any history text I've read so far!" Naruto blurted out.

"..." Danzo wa silent for a second. "You do not hear of me, genin, because I am the root that supports the Great Tree that is Konoha."

Naruto's frowning face relaxed a bit at that.

"My training methods aren't as soft as those of jounin-teachers. I push you to your limit when I feel that you are ready, which is always. I intend to make you into a death incarnate on battlefields, and masked death that all of our enemies fear when you are not on the battlefield."

"... You want me to become strong?"

Danzo nodded. "Once you have come to a decision, come to Training Ground 44. One of my personal ANBU will be there to greet you. However, my offer only stands for a week."

With that, Danzo disappeared, leaving both both Kakashi and Naruto to their thoughts.