Chapter 4

The paint faded after a week, much to the relief of team 8, 7 and Zabuza, who had to walk around for a week looking like clowns.

Haku was doing well. The doctors were confident that she would make a full recovery and would be allowed to leave in a few days. Much to the relief of Zabuza, who had not left Haku's side the entire time they had been in the village.

Also to the relief of Sasuke, not that he would tell anyone. He had been spending all his spare time with Haku, whenever he wasn't training he was with her and, because he never left, Zabuza.

Team 8 were currently at their training ground, working on teamwork. Kurenai had told them about the chunin exam the day before and they were all looking forward to proving themselves. They all signed the forms instantly and now had two months to prepare, and they weren't wasting a moment of it.

It was while they were training that something strange happened that, for once, had nothing to do with Naruto.

Out of nowhere a ball shot into the training ground and exploded. When the smoke cleared it revealed a large banner that was being held up by to kunai stuck into two separate trees. The banner read in large bold letters 'presenting the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko!'

They could all hear Kurenai grown in exasperation. Then a blur landed in front of the banner. Hinata's face turned a bright red and smoke could be seen coming out of her ears. Shino just stood there, not moving, but they could all see the blood stain that was growing on the front of his collar.

Naruto however just laughed at his teammates reactions. Standing before them was a beautiful woman; she looked to be in her early twenties or late teens, had purple hair and pupil less brown eyes. But the thing that drew the most attention was the way she was dressed. She was wearing a tight mesh body suit and a burn orange skirt that barely covered her womanhood and over it was a light tanned trench coat. All in all, she was hot and wasn't trying to hide it.

Smirking at the gennin she frowned when her eyes landed on Naruto. Walking up and getting right in his face her frown deepened and she turned to Kurenai.

"Hey nai-chan, your kid is broken."

Kurenai just rolled her eyes at her friend's antics.

"Did it ever occur to you that he just isn't a pervert?"

Anko gave her a blank look.

"No."

Turning back to the boy Anko walked in a circle around him, looking him all over. Naruto just stood there, giggling to himself. When she finished looking him over Anko walked back in front of him and put her face inches away from his own.

"You gay?"

"Nope, you?"

Anko just grinned.

"Don't get fresh with me brat, do you know who I am."

"From the sign I would guess Mitarashi Anko, snake mistress of Konoha. If you're going to ask that question you shouldn't make a big sign with your name on it."

They could all see the tick mark that appeared on Anko's forehead.

"What would you know? When you're someone as great and sexy as me you need to announce it to the world!"

"But if that was true then why would you need to point it out to people, they should already know."

The two stared at each other for a long minute. It was then that Anko took notice of the kunai in the blonde's hands. It was longer than the normal standard kunai, and was made of a lighter metal. Trying to think of where she had seen it before it hit her like a ton of bricks.

It was hers!

Grabbing the kunai out of his hands and cradling it like a newborn baby, Anko sent a suspicious look out of the corner of her eye.

"When the hell did you take my kunai! And for that matter why didn't I notice!"

The grin that came over the blondes face worried even Anko for a second, but it didn't last long.

"Did you know you forgot to put on a shirt today?"

All those in the training ground except Naruto and Anko face faulted.

Turning to her friend again Anko very loudly asked.

"Is he an idiot or something?"

"I really don't know, your guess is as good as anyone else."

Turning back to the blonde Anko gave him another suspicious look.

"What's your name brat?"

Again, Naruto just grinned and pointed to her sign, which now read 'The Sexy and Insane Uzumaki Naruto' with a drawing of a chibi Naruto grinning and giving a peace sign. They all looked from the sign to the blonde several times, wondering when he had changed the sign. Then, out of nowhere, Anko burst out laughing. She was soon joined in by Naruto. They stood there laughing for a good ten minutes, but what scared team 8 the most was the fact that Anko had a similar laugh to Naruto. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was enough for them to be worried.

Finally getting a hold of herself, Anko patted Naruto on the back.

"You're alright kid, hey nai-chan, why didn't you introduce us earlier?"

Shaking her head the red eyed jonin locked a blank look on her friend.

"The Hokage, council and all the jonin of the village agreed that it was safer for the village if you two never met."

Both raised an eye brow at that, and then grinned at each other. So people didn't want them to meet, this could be fun.

Getting a bad feeling Kurenai quickly changed the subject.

"So why are you here Anko, I thought you were working with Ibiki all day."

Facing her longtime friend Anko pouted.

"Old scar face said I needed a vacation, so I thought I would come and see you."

Walking up to her, Anko through her arm around Kurenai's neck.

"Tonight you, Hana, your three brats and I are hitting the town."

Anko was curious when she saw three of the four people stood around her pale.

"NO!"

Anko was a little taken aback when they shouted at the same time, casting scared looks towards the blonde, who just grinned back at them.

"Okay, that was weird."

XXX

They still ended up going out that night, even after they explained what had happened in wave. If anything it seemed to make Anko more eager to go. Hana couldn't make it so it was just the five of them.

Team eight kept giving Naruto worried looks throughout the night, counting how much he drank and ready to run the second he did something.

But nothing happened.

For the whole night Anko and Naruto could be seen laughing and talking. They had been thrown out of several bars for starting fights with other people, but nothing overly crazy happened.

The two talked and laughed long into the night, even after the others went home.

And the next morning the village awoke to the sight of the Hokage monument painted.

They had all been painted to look more real, but each had a little ...quirk.

The Shodaime had a picture of a naked woman next to his head and his eyes closed and a blush across his face. The Nidaime and Sandaime both had perverted looks on their faces and drool falling out of their mouths and the Yondaime was looking the opposite way at another picture of a naked man with a curious look on his face.

The villagers were outraged at the blatant disrespect shown towards the Hokage's and demanded that the ones responsible were punished. They all knew it was Naruto, and after Kurenai talked to the Hokage, Anko, but no one could find them. It also soon became clear that they had used the same paint Naruto had in wave. No matter how hard they tried it wouldn't come off.

Throughout the day several people were caught victim to traps set around the village, from pit falls to paint bombs. It took the ANBU most of the day to find and deactivate the traps.

However they didn't seem to mind it, when the Hokage asked them why an ANBU in a bear mask and a white hooded cloak answered.

"The fact that they got around us and set the traps shows we need to improve internal defenses. If they were an enemy they could have planted exploding tags instead of paint bombs."

Seeing his point Sarutobi agreed to let them rearrange the village defenses so they could avoid it happening again.

But they still couldn't find Naruto or Anko.

XXX

Nobody saw much of Naruto for the next few weeks. He would show up to team training but other than that he was hardly seen. Kurenai had gone to Higashi a few times only to be told that he had just left. She, Hinata and Shino had tried to follow him several times but he always gave them the slip.

They would have asked a villager if they knew where he was but the only answer they ever got was harsh glares and a few murmurs about stupid demon brats, so they stopped trying.

Team 8 were currently in the Hokage office, Sarutobi looking at them with a worried expression on his aged face. They had been called because of something that had happened during their mission to Wave that they didn't know about until now.

Apparently one of The Silent had witnessed the battle at the bridge when Naruto had massacred Gato and his men. The Silent were a neutral organization ran by people that worked for all the daimyos in the Elemental Nations as scouts for the bingo book. They would travel around the Nations observing ninja and whenever they found someone of note they would send their information to be printed in the monthly updates. The reason that they were called The Silent was because no one had ever actually seen one. Nobody knew what they looked like and nobody would know they were there until the bingo book came out. They were both feared and respected by all the Shinobi villages for their skills. As no one has ever found one, their base of operation had never been found and it had been that way for as long as the group had existed and that had been since before the first great shinobi war.

The problem was that The Silent that had witnessed the fight at the bridge had thought Naruto impressive enough to add him in the latest update. Shortly after they had arrived Sarutobi never said a word and had simply taken out the book turned to a specific page and handed to Kurenai to show them.

At seeing the entry in the book Naruto had just laughed with a grin that reached from ear to ear.

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Age: 12

Alias: Horror of the Bloody Leaf, True Horror of Konohagakure

Village: Konohagakure

Rank: Genin

Status: Active

Skill Level: High B

Taijutsu: Unknown

Ninjutsu: Unknown

Genjutsu: Unknown

Kenjutsu: Unknown

Sealing: Unknown

Description: Uzumaki-san showed great power and skill with an unknown Jutsu and is believed to be able to use a, until now, thought to be impossible ability to physically transform his body. It is unknown if this is by the use of a new bloodline or jutsu. He is also able to perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu to a degree far beyond what was believed to be possible.

During observation he was seen making a thousand Shadow Clones and transforming them into an army of 'demons', which he named as the "Parade of a Thousand Demons". The result of this was the complete slaughter of 984 bandits that were in the employ of one Gato, from Gato shipping company and the man himself. At one point just before the battle he was also seen stopping a Chidori from the famed Hatake Kakashi with his bare hands and suffering no ill effects.

After the incident he was seen removing the heads of all the bandits and put them on pikes surrounding the village and claimed it as under his protection.

It is believed that due to his actions observed during and after the incident that his mental state should be in question as he appeared to be enjoying himself while he killed. This was deduced from the laughter that was heard.

In conclusion, Uzumaki Naruto has proven himself dangerous and is believed to have no regard for human life. It is advised for anyone under Jonin level not to engage until more information has been gained or he is approach in a group of 9 chunin. Any less in rank or number should run instead of engaging.

At the top of the page was a picture of Naruto, which looked like it had been taken just after the battle when he had changed back to normal. It showed him covered from head to toe in blood, surrounded by what was left of Gatos thugs and a dark, insane grin on his face with his hair covering the top of his eyes. In his hand they could see the decapitated head of Gato still dripping blood on the ground. It seemed to fit the blonde perfectly, the way it caught his grin and the look in his eyes, the fact that he was surrounded by the dead.

It just fit.

It also showed a picture of Naruto's mark, the demonized smiley face.

After reading the entry Kurenai had taken to having the same worried look on her face as the Hokage. It was rare for a genin to be added to the bingo book and most chunin didn't get as high a skill level as Naruto now had, the fact that he had been given a do not engage was also rare.

The problem with this was that it would generate a lot of attention, the fact that it said not to engage if below jonin would mean nothing to most. They would come looking to challenge Naruto to prove themselves. The only good that would come of this would be that the village would get a lot of publicity. The other thing that worried Sarutobi was the names they had given him. 'The True Horror of Konoha' and the 'Horror of the Bloody Leaf' hit a bit too close to home for the aged Hokage.

It was just before he was about to send them out that Naruto spoke.

"Oh, old man before I forget, how soon can you arrange a meeting for the shinobi council?"

Looking at the blonde curiously the old man checked a few papers on his desk before turning back to him.

"If its important then I can arrange it for this evening, but if not it might be hard to get them to come."

Naruto just grinned.

"Tell them the Faceless Blacksmith has made the clans a present."

This made all those in the room grin along with the blonde.

XXX

It was easier than Sarutobi thought to get the clans to meet. The second he had mentioned the Faceless Blacksmith they had been all to ready to agree. Tsume had arrived at the training ground Naruto had asked them to meet two hours ago.

By the time Sarutobi got there himself he was the last to arrive, even Shikaku had come early.

"Right, well you all know why we are her-"

It was here that Tsume finally lost her temper.

"For the love of Kami get to the point Hiruzen!"

Nodding his head at the dog like woman Sarutobi turned towards the trees at the edge of the training ground.

"You better come out before Miss Inuzuka breaks something."

"Spoil sport."

From behind a large oak tree came Naruto, a large scroll in his hands.

Without saying a word the young blonde walked over to the group and looked at the shocked faces of the Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clan heads.

The first to get over her shock was Tsume.

"You, you're the Faceless Blacksmith?"

"Yep"

"You mean that it was you the whole time?"

"Yep"

"And you're only telling us now!"

"If I throw you a stick will you shut the hell up?"

"What the hell did you just say!"

"I said if I throw you a stick will you shut the hell up, why the hell do people always ask me to repeat myself?"

Before Tsume could leap at Naruto and try to strangle him, Sarutobi decided that it was time for him to intervene.

"Enough Tsume, Naruto asked you all here for a reason, or at least I hope he did."

The last part was more for himself then the others.

Pouting like a child the brash Inuzuka stepped back, mumbling under her breath.

Putting the scroll on the ground in front of him Naruto opened it out for all to see the storage seals inside.

"Let's see, which to show you first..."

Running a finger over the many seals on the scroll he came to a stop at one in the middle.

"Here we go."

Quickly applying chakra to the seal they all waited for the smoke to clear, and when it did all their jaws dropped.

In the blonde's hands was the most beautifully carved bow they had ever seen. It was five foot in length and like all of Naruto's weapons had a maze of complicated seals carved into it. The wood was stained a dark, almost black brown and the ends had small, one sided kunai like blades and were made out of a silver metal that caught the light of the afternoon sun. The middle of the bow was wrapped in a silver colored leather and printed on it was the symbol of the Yamanaka clan.

Walking up to his fellow blonde Naruto adapted his serious face and handed him the bow.

Inoichi marveled at the bow in his hands but that soon turned to confusion. Seeing the look on the older man's face Naruto explained.

"Let me guess, you're wondering why there are no arrows?"

At his nod Naruto grinned and went on.

"You don't need them."

Taking the bow back from Inoichi Naruto pulled back the string and took aim at a log in the middle of the training ground about twenty feet from where they were all standing.

They all gasped as a glowing blue arrow made from what looked like pure chakra appeared in Naruto's hand. Letting the arrow go they all watched as it flew towards the log, only for it to disappear midflight. Suddenly a small, deep hole appeared in the wood. Lowering the bow Naruto turned back to the shocked face of Inoichi.

"By channeling your chakra through the seals on the bow it automatically shapes it into an arrow, as soon as you let it go it fades from the view of the naked eye, although a Hyuga would be able to see it and someone with sensor ability could probably feel it coming. Also, I made it work in conjunction with your family Jutsu, by adding chakra into your clan seal it has the same effect as hitting someone with your Mind Derangement Technique or Mind Body Change Technique, and will increase the distance your Jutsu can travel. You will need to verbalize the Jutsu though."

His eyes widening at what he was being told the older blonde took the offered bow.

Turning back to his scroll Naruto again trailed his figure along the seals until he came to the one he was looking for.

When the smoke cleared this time it was to reveal a long metal chain with a head sized steel ball at one end and a hoop at the other. What surprised them was that the chain itself also had seals carved into each link that made it up and at the center of the ball was the clan symbol of the Akimichi.

Stepping towards Naruto, Chouza took the ball in one hand and the chain in the other to examine it.

"Impressive, but the ball on the end is a bit small don't you think?"

Grinning Naruto told the large man to channel his chakra through the chain and into the ball. Doing as he was told he was surprised when the ball tripled in size, yet didn't seem to gain any weight.

"I took the basic idea of your clans Expansion Jutsu and applied it to the ball and chain, it only seems like it hasn't gained weight because it's your chakra that's making it grow, and if you dropped it on the floor it would more than likely leave a good sized dent. I don't actually know the limit on how big it can get but if you go full sized it should change with you."

Without giving Chouza a chance to respond Naruto turned back to his scroll and released another seal.

Walking up to Tsume Naruto presented her with a pair of gauntlets. They were made of a strange black metal and had been molded into the shape of wolf heads with their mouths open and fangs barred, the detail was so good they almost looked alive. The seals that covered them were just as intricate as the others and the Inuzuka clan symbol was etched into the eyes of the wolf.

She took the gloves from the blonde and without a second thought slipped them on her hands and channeled her chakra through the seals. As soon as she did this the mouths of the wolves closed shut with a loud snap.

"As you can see, the idea is that you can use them to grab your opponent. They close with enough force to snap bones in one go. Also, you can slip them back up your wrist so you can use your hands for your clan Jutsu."

This time, before he could turn back to the scroll he was grabbed in a bear hug by Tsume, who then proceeded to give the blonde a deep kiss on the lips.

The eyes of all those watching widened and they suppressed there laughs that threatened to erupt from their throats at the shocked look on Narutos face. As soon as she let him go he backed off so he was out of reaching distance and mumbled under his breath just loud enough for them to hear.

"If she hears about this she'll cut my nuts off, again!"

Realizing he said that out loud, Naruto quickly moved back to the scroll and released the next seal. What surprised them was that when the smoke cleared there wasn't a weapon but clothes.

There was a long sleeved shirt, ninja pants; socks, sandals, gloves and what appeared to be a mask without eye holes. They were made of a thin, black material so dark that it seemed to draw in the light around it like a black hole. The only color other than black was the seals, which had been sown on in a deep blood red, and on the back of the shirt was the symbol of the Nara clan.

Shikaku looked over the clothes with a critical eye before letting out a sigh.

"I give, what are they for?"

"Put them on."

Shrugging his shoulders the scared Nara took off his jonin jacket and sandals and walked over to the pile of clothing. After he had put everything on, including the mask that he was surprised to find didn't affect his vision. When the suit was on the seals all connected and the separate pieces of clothing seemed to meld into one.

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Naruto released another seal on the scroll picked up a smaller scroll and handed it to Shikaku. If they could have seen his face they would have seen his eyes go wide at what was on the scroll, but they could still hear the gasp that escaped his mouth.

Turning to face Naruto he spoke in barely a whisper.

"Do you know what you have done?"

The blonde just grinned at him, not saying a word.

Worried about his friend Chouza walked over to him.

"What is it Shikaku?"

He didn't get an answer; Shikaku just kept staring at Naruto for a long minute, then walked over to a tree and stood in its shadow, then made a single hand seal.

"Shadow Step Jutsu!"

What happened next was both shocking and amazing, taking a step back Shikaku actually melded with the shadow of the tree, only to emerge slowly from the shadow of Chouza. Shikaku rose from the shadow they could all see black wisps of smoke like tendrils clinging to his body like he was coming out of the darkest place in the world.

Seeing the shocked faces of the people in the clearing made Naruto laugh.

"Your faces are priceless... ha!"

Taking off the mask Shikaku took deep breaths, his face was red and his eyes were wide, he looked like he had just run around the village five times.

"That... was... incredible! It was... like I just... stepped through water... and then I was there."

Getting serious again Naruto walked over to Shikaku and handed him a soldier pill, which he took with a nod of his head.

"The more you use it the less chakra it will take, after a while it shouldn't take any more than your clans Shadow Possession Jutsu."

Stepping forward and clearing his throat, Sarutobi addressed the two.

"Would you be so kind as to explain what just happened."

Turning to look at them all Naruto let a smug look cross his face.

"The Nara rely on their superior mental condition to think up complex strategies in order to trap their opponents. Because of this, I had a hard time making a weapon that would fit their style. The suit allows them to slip through the space between spaces. All shadows are connected; you just need to be able to open the door. With the Nara bloodline to control shadows this door was always open to them, but they couldn't survive the trip through the shadows, could you Nara-san?"

They all turned to see Shikaku, his face looking better now that the soldier pill was taking effect.

"He's right, we have known about the shadow space for years, but until now it was unsafe to travel. The last Nara to try came out frozen to death, the time before that the pressure was too much and crushed them, eventually we stopped trying. But how did you know about it?"

"Hm... oh I broke into your clan vault and read all your scrolls, don't worry I didn't take anything, just read enough to understand the mechanics of your jutsu. I couldn't really design a weapon that would be beneficial if I didn't know how everything works."

"I know that I should be angry, but all things considered I don't have it in me, it would be too troublesome."

Shaking his head Sarutobi let out a deep breath.

"So let me get this straight, with the suit Naruto has made for you, you are now able to travel through shadows?"

"Pretty much, but only for short distances, the longer the space between shadows the more strain it would put on the body. Stick with a few feet at a time until you can build up a resistance to the shadows."

Shikaku just nodded his head, understanding what Naruto meant.

Letting out a deep breath the aged Hokage turned back to the grinning blonde.

"I give up; I don't know if you're a genius or just fucking insane. I'm getting to old for this shit."

The clan heads nodded in agreement with their Hokage's statement before thanked Naruto for his contribution to the village and walked away, Tsume was the most adamant in her thanks and even hugged the blond again much to the shock of the other people preset. Naruto was the last to leave the training field and after everyone was gone he disappeared to go train.