I own not a right to either Warhammer or Naruto, this story is meant for entertainment purposes, so please do not sue me. Or maim. Or anything in between. And in this case I would like to say the same in regards to Starcraft in general, a Blizzard Company game.

To E E Merica: Technically did you not just give me a review?

Couldn't resist, easy target right there in my view. Hit me with your best shot! (Hides behind a steel wall) Go on! I say!

Assassin

Chapter 4: New sensei, new team, new threat?

Konoha Shinobi academy, an hour after the announcements

Iruka leaned back into his chair and let loose a weary sigh. Save for the rookie Jonin, Kurenai Yuhi, standing out of the door giving her students instructions onto where to meet her at a later time on the grounds that she had to meet the Hokage, the classroom was as silent as it was empty. Part of Iruka felt like he was drowning with his limbs as useful as lead weights when this happened. It was just eerie to see a empty classroom without expectation of a familiar set of faces to outright destroy the peace and quiet. Yes there was a new class to be held with him once again as the teacher but these periods were always disconcerting; this is the only real downside to the job for a real teacher. His gaze wandered up to where Naruto Uzumaki usually used as his seat should there be nothing preventing its use...

Kurenai bid her students farewell and turned to bid Iruka farewell when she noticed the solemn look on his face. She gazed up to where she assumed he was staring up, a empty desk along the top tier. She frowned in confusion and turned to Iruka. "A penny for your thoughts Mr. Umino?" She asked him softly as to not upset him greatly. Iruka shot up straight in his seat and looked at Kurenai's direction before settling on the new jonin herself in startled confusion. "What?" He asked, making it obvious he wasn't entirely thinking straight.

Kurenai offered a placating smile as she gave voice to her opinion, "I was just wondering what you were thinking of Mr. Umino."

Iruka smiled a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his head in the same fashion. "Ah, sorry. I was just..." He became more grave as he looked up at his former student's seat. "How much do you know of the incident last night?"

Kurenai tilted her head in confusion and looked back to where Iruka was staring at. It took a moment but she connected the dots. "You're wondering what was going through his head when Mizuki died, aren't you?" She deduced, if not asked. Iruka let silence be his answer to her own question.

Kurenai took and exhaled a small breath, went to a wall, leaned on it, and took what she believed to be the path to quell the teacher's thoughts on the matter. "I will admit that at most I know him as a acquaintance introduced to me by Anko. All I know of him is that he is a quiet young man with a certain look in his eye that doesn't belong to someone his age..." Iruka winced a little. It was a unsaid subject amongst the academy staff if they noticed his eyes. Though the students never quite understood it thanks to their naivety, the teachers who been to battle long enough knew that look in his eyes. It was staring into the eyes of a trained guard dog; serious, loyal to anyone he trusts, and didn't mess around... at least while on duty if the manga books were any indication. Kurenai continued without head of Iruka's momentary distress. "The best I can do is say what I believe Anko would say about this, 'he sought an end to a problem.'"

Iruka just stared at her. "But..." Was all he could get out when Kurenai raised a hand to stop him. She closed her eyes as if to remember something and crossed her arms under her bosom. "I don't know the details of how they met or how they became good friends," She said. "But every now and then she would give me details about Mr. Uzumaki . 'He takes his weird training seriously,' 'he could sneak up on her in his sleep,' 'he could snipe the wings off a fly with a spit shooter,' 'he could give Might Guy and his student a small run for their money if he could stand against their... 'unique nature.'" She smirked, she met at least Guy, not his student however...

"Weird training?" Iruka asked. Granted he knew Naruto didn't train solely at the academy...

Kurenai cocked an eyebrow, even opened an eye to look at him before returning to their closed and cool features. "As I understand it, Mr. Uzumaki relies more on physical training rather than other types such as ninjustu heavy training. Weights, jogging, stealth, even weapon use. I admit, it seems odd that he never trained much in the use of justus but I suppose there is a reason he focuses more on training that affects the body more than his chakra..." She frowned a little. She didn't object to his methods but he is a shinobi... it was just odd to hear a shinobi that didn't use any form of justus when they were perfectly able to, just unwilling to.

Iruka frowned as well but nodded, not that Kurenai could see that and waited for her to continue. She didn't disappoint.

"If I can accurately guess, he probably thought Mizuki would be more of a problem alive rather than as a cadaver. Let's consider the facts: he tricked a genin-hopeful into helping him by telling him stealing the Forbidden Scroll was a secret test to pass genin who didn't graduate by normal means. When confronted by you and Naruto, he chose to attack rather than surrender. He deliberately broke a S-Rank law that would have deemed him fit for termination regardless of being slain or not. From what the Yamanaka could uncovered from his deceased mind, he was planning on killing the genin if he didn't convince the child to join him once the Scroll was in his possession. Then there is the tattoo indicating he has, or rather had, a strong connection with Orochimaru..."

She didn't continue, she didn't have to in that subject. She only had to finish it. "Considering Naruto's aliment in terms of personality, he deemed Mizuki a threat that would cause a problem later on if given the chance. He deliberately broke and was planning to break several laws for his own benefit."

Iruka hung his head in shame and released a weary sigh. "Is it wrong to wish for people to live?" He asked solemnly. The young Jonin could only offer a sympathetic smile. "No... But we don't live in a perfect world."

XVX

Ichiraku Ramen, Konoha

After a brief introduction to their sensei, and a discussion to where and when to meet due to a prior engagement he had to uphold, Team Seven departed to indulge their own interests. In Naruto's case it was not a huge surprise in where he was found a good twenty minutes later...

Naruto sedately ate his seventh bowl of miso ramen while listening to a fairly chatty, though not overly so, Hinata Hyuga. An admitted oddity should one consider her past where she, to a degree, stalked him wherever he went. Or rather tried to when it came to the outside the academy walls.

It took time and effort over the years before she was comfortable enough around him to not feint in his mere presence. It was during this time he managed to talk to her, ultimately present her with a bit of a cold hard fact aimed to protect her from danger one way or another.

(Flashback!)

Two years ago

Hinata was pressing her fingers against each other nervously as she tried to look Naruto in the eye. She wasn't sure which she felt more, shy or giddy, for Naruto had asked to speak with her! They were near the woods at the academy and said building was in plain view, nothing to hinder her ability to run should she choose to.

Naruto was observing her in a distant fashion with his arms crossed. He was eying her, obviously trying to find the proper wording to whatever it is he wanted to talk about, but Hinata didn't care. Her imagination was starting to soar into wild fantasy regarding what the bandana covered blond wanted to speak about. Could he be asking her out? Asking for her to be his girlfriend? An offer of marriage?! She blushed heavily as she heard wedding bells ringing in her head...

The blush finally forced Naruto's hand and he sighed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking at her in the eye... until she looked away with a heavier blush.

"Allow me to ask you at least one question," Naruto said seriously to her. Hinata looked up with him in curiosity with her blush still heating her cheeks. "Yes or no, do you like me?" Hinata squeaked and looked away. She glanced at him, taking note that he never once looked away from her with those serious eyes of his. She always found them odd but nothing else. Fighting her blush, she looked him in the eye back and spoke up at long last, "Y-y-yes..."

"Would you say that the only reason you're trying to be a kunoichi now is to somehow garner my attention and affection?" Asked Naruto. Hinata only nod sheepishly, the index fingers of both hands pressed together with enough force to crush a rock.

Naruto exhaled a heavy sigh. "Iruka sensei will probably tell the class someday, or they will learn it themselves individually. Shinobi are assassins, we don't fight for affection or recognition, we fight because we have to. Granted there are branches that avoid fighting, but at the core we kill people." Hinata paled and the blush easily disappeared. "And to add to that, I am not looking for a love interest any time soon. Maybe someday when I'm older, but not now."

The shy girl started to feel numb. He wasn't interested enough in her? Better yet, did he view her as weak?

Naruto looked up towards the reddening sky of the day's evening. "Whether you stay or go, you'll do more harm than good to everyone including yourself if you don't even train to be at least competent. If you die on the battlefield, that is it."

He turned around and walked away without taking away his gaze from the sky. "Whoever is waiting for you to come back will be... crushed to know otherwise."

Hinata perked up at that... could it be that... he wasn't sure he could handle the pain? Her blush was returning to her. Could it be he was tearing her down to protect her?

(End Flashback!)

Much to Naruto's amazement, Hinita stayed despite his confrontation with her. She sought to improve herself in every field of study made available to her that suited her more flexible style compared to most Hyuga styles. It was further enhanced when Naruto took the time to spar with her with his own style. His only regret being that she was no longer quiet and insisted on sharing her day with him when they casually got together... occasional chatter of this category was one thing, constant was another. At least she wasn't-.

"Narutooooo!"

The boy by that name choked on his ramen. "Oh dear god no!" He mentally screamed! His current stalker! The fanatic of weaponry! He must have at least twelve seconds to make a escape and disappear into the crowds nearby!

Too late! Before he could drop the chopsticks, two slender pair of arms wrapped around him and crushed him in a hug. He could no longer make a feasible escape now that he was in her clutches! The only other person who had a measure of success in tracking him outside of Hinata! Well there was Itachi too but he didn't stalk him...

The collector of weapons has him in her grasp! The mistress of maces! The geisha of guns! The dealer of pointy death! Tenten Bell! He could only mentally weep. Ever since she learned he specialized in ranged weaponry, and especially since her father's shop in the past year started to sport the ranged life enders, she has not left him alone till either she was satisfied or he managed to lose her... sans missions and, until recently, academy classes of course. It was not remotely easy.

"Hi, how're you lovable blond haired gunman!" She exclaimed in a school girl-like fashion around their favorite teacher. Not one to be rude, Naruto deigned to smile, hesitantly, and reply, reluctantly... it was the only way out now. "I'm fine, how're you Tenten? A new load of arms came in I take it?" Off to the side Hinata was smoothly glaring at the fairly well known weapons mistress amongst the Genin.

"You could say that, I just got back from a mission and a small training spar to find we now have the AGR-14 rifles in stock. I was hoping-" Naruto interrupted her without shame, "Isn't it against the law to look into transactions made in any store, let alone weapon stores?" It had to work! He didn't mind her but the weapon lectures... The weapon lectures! "Only if you're not an employee or if it was willingly presented to a third party if not ordered by a judicial court," Tenten replied with a experienced smile. What did the world have against Naruto when people became wise to his last ditch efforts?

He placed the money he owed on the counter of the ramen stand in defeat. He bid farewell to Hinata and left with Tenten practically joined at the hip. Hinata only watched from her seat with an aching heart. The only consolation she had in all this was the fact Naruto wasn't interested in any form of romantic relationship. But one can dream, and can hope...

XVX

Meanwhile at a meeting room in the Hokage tower, Konoha

Every Jonin, special and full-fledged, and Anbu of Konoha stood at attention save for three in the back for different reasons. Might Guy had to be propped up against a wall to even stand, Kakashi Hatake was curled into a lifeless ball in a corner trying to keep himself from crying, and Anko Mitarashi was sitting in a chair nursing a angry purple book shaped cruise at the back of her head with an ice pack. These hiccups in their usual sternness at these emergencies however were not paid heed to as the Hokage stood at the podium facing the alert Jonin.

"Just a few hours ago we have learned that Danzo Shimura has been found slain," Hiruzen said with duly noticed graveness. He turned to the wall to his left when a projector slide out from the ceiling and sparked into life, immediately bathing the wall in bright light as the lights dimmed. The Jonin, those that could anyway, turned to the glistening wall to be assaulted by a photo of Danzo's headless body laying on the cold stone floor at a unknown location. Upon further inspection he sported several slash wounds to the chest with the occasional stab wound, a missing arm, and several defensive wounds on the remaining arm.

"We know not who had done it nor the exact reasons but we have our theories. Evidence uncovered show he was in league and even in contact with Orochimaru... but we're uncertain he if he had a hand in Danzo's demise," the elder Sarutobi said. "May I ask why you are uncertain in your theory?" A calm voice asked. All available eyes turned to the most prominent Uchiha at the meeting, Itachi Uchiha. The elder grimaced and drew in a breath.

"Because of his infatuation with the bloodlines of Konoha, he would not risk an opportunity to certain failure if he thinks he can take some form of advantage in it with his expertise." Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Please explain," he asked in the same calm as before.

The scene changed from a corpse to a ruined set of buildings, one bearing the known family crest of the Uchiha. "Through documents uncovered from Danzo's estate we have found evidence he plotted the demise of the Uchiha clan with a shinobi he did not name. Probably to keep this person out of our reach while under his thumbs. As we all know only thrity-seven people were reported slain in this incident years ago including the late clan head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha." If Itachi was still grieving or any form of sorrow still echoed in him, there was no visible sign. "We never caught the one responsible for this. But that was not the end of it."

The scene changed again to the non-explicit stone similar to where Danzo's body was left to rot on. More specifically a room made of the stone, though that was not what caught everyone's attention. There was a tank of viscous liquid filled to the brim of familiar eyeballs... "Mikoto Uchiha, the current clan head, gave us permission to exhume the bodies. Out of the bodies that could be found, their eyes were... removed. We assume that the missing bodies were dug up and taken for more thorough examination and destroyed. Whatever the case was, Danzo was hoping to enlist Orochimaru's aid in an experiment involving Danzo himself." This did get a reaction from the Uchiha, a creasing frown and the clenching of a hand. Everyone else paled from either the implications of a experiment involving Orochimaru, the smoldering outrage of the noteworthy Uchiha in the room, or the fact that Danzo had no sense of morals when it came to the dead.

Anko was the one to break the silence, "Was there even a response from... him?" The Hokage turned a weathered eye to the special Jonin. The scene changed to another corpse on the ground with a broken neck. "Orochimaru was interested, and this man was his messenger. We doubt he'll come to Konoha soon for Danzo since his messenger, or any for that matter, could return to him bearing news."

Anko scowled but nodded, it was reasonable at best to assume the snake sannin wouldn't show up. He'd assume something happened to Danzo or either message was intercepted. Few ever walked into what they thought was a certain trap unless they had a ace up their sleeve after all.

"Considering both parties, or rather a party is dead and the other is left in the dark if he didn't have a hand in it, we suspect a third party was involved. Possibly the one who massacred both citizens and shinobi alike in the massacre," Sarutobi said. The scene changed to a perfect picture of the one infamously dubbed the "mystery man" by many of the shinobi of the village, the ex-Vindicare assassin without his cloak holding his knife up defensively. "We origionally thought this man was behind Danzo's murder along with several others in his immediate vicinity including the messenger till we had a closer look at the evidence we had on hand."

"How did his picture get taken?" A Jonin near the middle asked. The aged leader groaned and pinched his bridge. "Special Jonin Anko Mitarashi had an encounter with him earlier today but was unable to bring him down, let alone touch him."

Said Jonin arrogantly smirked. "So the traitor's student wasn't on par with someone with an attitude?" He boldly asked. He received a fist to the back of the head in response. "Unless you faced him, you have no right to comment on this," stated an Anbu heatedly. Hiruzen added his two scents in as well, "He is a suspect in the murders of several shinobi years ago at Warehouse Nine in Konoha's southern district as well as the kidnapping of Naruto Uzumaki on the same night."

The Hokage returned to the improvised screen, ignoring the paling faces of the more ignorant shinobi and kunoichi alike of that matter. The screen split into two images of Danzo's and the messenger's respective cadavers on two different examination tables. He resumed where he left off without missing a beat, "New evidence suggests it was a different person all together. As you seen, the person in the suit was obviously male." He pointed at a set of finger indentations on the messenger's neck, "And men's fingers tend to be a lot thicker than a woman's own fingers." The finger shaped bruises were indeed slim, thick fingers were one thing, but thick fingers with gloves on them...

Sarutobi pointed to Danzo's corpse. "And the man in question is not known to use a a sword. One can indeed inflict this kind off damage with a kunai or knife, but the severing of his arm in one clean blow would require the use of chakra if it was a blade of short stature. There was no indication he uses chakra at all from what we could gather on the 'Mystery man.'" Unbeknownst to everyone, two sets of eyes narrowed as their suspicions took another leap forward.

XVX

Training ground seven, Konoha, a day after the meeting, Eight-twelve a.m.

So long as they were not inherently dangerous for everyone for malicious reasons, Itachi loved a good mystery now and then when it came to people. It kept the mind sharp. And Naruto fit this criteria. He was training him? Why was he the only one being trained? Was it the same man that had everyone on edge for the past several years? He wasn't the least bit envious of the boy, if anything it was a benefit for all. Namely Naruto was capable of defending himself when push comes to shove and protect others when called for. Shame he wasn't the same blond Itachi protected from the shadows when he was able to, he kind of missed that portion of Naruto.

He was waiting for his team of fledglings under a tree in a Jonin variation of his old Anbu gear with the clan crest on his back. As He waited for them to convene at the end of the hour, he took it upon himself to read the case files of his soon-to-be students to at least brush up facts he forgotten, which was not much. Save for Haruno, he knew his team fairly well long before they were formed. Hard not to when one is your own little brother, and the other was a boy he watched over for a time and occasionally taught after he reappeared. He partially regretted teaching him the shadow clone technique though, made tracking Naruto immensely harder along with his growing ability to slip by people undetected.

He may not be the same blond but he did have a sense of humor... Itachi along with several other people shuddered when he snuck up on them seemingly out of nowhere.

Naruto's case file didn't reveal much outside of what was already known.

Accuracy was superb, unrivaled even. Hand to hand combat was on par with Rock Lee minus his flexibility, but the style was unknown; when described it was like fighting a flexible brawler that constantly blindsides a person as well as constantly switched between defense and offense to trip up his opponents. He preferred short hand-to-hand weapons such as knives, and only used kunai as a last resort if at all; when asked, his answer was it made it harder for someone to defend themselves in such close quarters unless they were trained that way. Genjustu abilities were non-existent, not surprising given his status. His Ninjutsu abilities were seemingly limited to the academy level jutsus but Itachi knew better, he did teach him the shadow clone technique after all, but it was curious to see he would forgo their use unless he deemed it necessary as certain simulations shown; he never answered questions regarding that. His chakra control however was found wanting when compared to Sasuke's. And stealth abilities... Itachi cringed as he remember the first time Naruto caught him by surprise.

Itachi switched from Naruto's record to his own brother's. More accurately at the psychology report. He didn't have to look far to elarn the source of his skill set. And given he knew him on a daily basis... it still didn't hurt to see what a professional had to say.

He frowned. It was as he suspected. Unsociable, sociopathic, and had a superiority complex. Their father had drilled into Sasuke's head what he failed to do with his oldest son due to his mother's teachings and his own experiences, Uchiha superiority. It seemed to only be amplified with hate after the deaths of both him and a third of their clan. It was sad to think their father was a good man, but the attack from the Nine-tails changed everything...

Needless to say, when the village in general started to develop theories as to why it attacked, the clan was subjected to several of these theories portraying them as the villains, and people can only stand against such a thing for so long without some part of them being twisted into something spiteful.

Itachi shook his head. He looked onto his watch to see thirteen minutes till their appointed meeting time. Better wrap this up. He swapped the document for Sakura's record. It was a disappointing read.

She was skilled enough to barely pass the physical parts of the graduation exam. Knew only the academy style combat and justsus. Had a temper when confronted with something deemed annoying, such as her one time friend Ino Yamanaka regarding which boy they liked with both being pro-Uchiha, and the latter later joining the growing Uzumaki camp during their third year into the academy... wait a second, if the silent types were what attracted the ladies, how come he didn't get many back then? It's not fair!

Itachi had to mentally abuse himself to get back on track after that.

His overall assessment, the kunoichi in-training needed to up her ante if she was going to survive in the long run on missions. Let alone her teammate Naruto if she pressed the wrong buttons. There was a reason why The Hokage permitted a family member of a Genin to be their sensei.

He closed the folders just in time to see Sasuke and Sakura to show up. Oh it was obvious what Naruto would-

"Hello Itachi-sensei."

Years of being subjected to this have long since made him immune to being startled like this. He craned his head over his shoulder to see Naruto standing right behind him. "Naruto," Itachi replied curtly. He may be immune to showing some form of shock to this, but he still hated it when it happened.

Without another word, Naruto joined the other two. With a good foot or so between them however.

Sasuke just scowled darkly at the armored boy while Sakura looked caught between joining her crush in his mood and wanting to put some distance between the bandana covered blond and herself. Itachi almost shot up an eyebrow, did the teachers miss something in their report? Then again there wasn't anything about interaction between the two of them now that he thought about it. "Perhaps it was an incident outside of the academy," Itachi reasoned to himself. It was possible given that they lived in the same village.

Itachi cleared his throat, easily catching their attention. "Welcome to training ground seven, where we will be holding most of our team meetings should it you three succeed." This caught the attention of half the group. "What?!" Sasuke exclaimed, Sakura looked confused and pursed her lips while looking at Sasuke. "What do you mean if we succeed?!" Sasuke demanded with a hint of venom. Itachi shifted his attention to the uncaring but stoic face of Naruto. "Would you be so kind as to deduce what I meant by that, Naruto?" He asked calmly, annoying his younger brother to no end as he was passed over.

The bandana covered blond glanced at his teammates to gauge their reactions, or more accurately Sakura's when Sasuke made his much too obvious. He sighed and looked at Itachi, "It's a fairly reasonable thing to do. First there is a test to assess one's knowledge and physical level. Should it be found satisfactory then they are tested further to see if they are capable in a contest of some kind to prove they are worthy of being a shinobi or kunoichi. Am I right so far?" Itachi nodded to him with a small hum of approval.

"Indeed. The 'contest,' as Naruto adequately put it, is a method of the potential team's sensei's choosing. My choice is a fairly traditional method for Konoha, and a bit of a favorite of mine for nostalgic reasons, the bell test." Itachi held up a pair of bells dangling carelessly from between two fingers. "Retrieve the bells from me at the allotted time of two hours after I begin this 'contest' and two of you shall pass. The third will have to be sent back to the academy. My one piece of advice as to how to retrieve these bells is don't hold back. Begin!" Itachi body flickered out of view, in his place was a digital timer counting down from two hours.

Sasuke glanced at his 'teammates' before charging into the forest with a arrogant smirk. Sakura did not waste a second to give chase to her crush with the extra boost of getting away from Naruto. The lone boy casually walked to a nook in the tree and reached in to dig around in it. He pulled out a rather stocky rifle without a visible barrel from the nook.

The AGR-14, latest working design from Hammer Tech., not much for sniping but a reliable mid-range weapon. It was similar to an AK-47, one can toss it into a ditch, set on fire, drown it, stuff mud into the firing reload mechanism, and it will work like a charm. The only weapon he would consider better was the C-10 Canister rifle, now there was a sniper rifle! Light-weight, capable of switching between automatic and -semi automatic, and could bean Kakashi's favorite book right out of his hand before he even knew it. The AGR was its bulkier, heavy duty brother, bigger magazine and bigger bullets, and far less likely to break if used as a club. No room for a sniper scope however, but that was what the goggles were for. It pays to keep tabs on industry in general.

Naruto once again reached into the nook and pulled out a small bag this time. He sat down against the tree and opened the bag to reveal its contents: machine oil, rags, brushes, a wrench, and a silencer. Just a weapon's maintenance kit and weapon modifications, nothing to worry about...

XVX

Forty-eight minutes later Sasuke was hanging upside down from a tree by a rope wrapped around his left ankle groaning from a fresh round of being mauled by his brother without him even moving from his spot. He was that good. To be fair he was an Anbu before being a Jonin sensei, and Sasuke was a Genin. Still didn't mean it wasn't fun to watch Sasuke, quite literally, hang himself. Sakura didn't even leave the cover of the forest since learning of the "fight," he noted with a small frown. Naruto hasn't even made an appereance yet either, but he could reasonably assume Naruto knew what this test was about, hence his lack of involvement.

Itachi coolly walked away, uncaring of the fact that his lack of presence was what enabled Sakura to leave the relative safety of the brush to come to Sasuke's aid. He didn't deign to even look back as he walked to the opposite end of the field with a box of pocky being retrieved from his pocket.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" She shouted at him with due concern. Already a few bruises were presenting themselves on his arms, at least the uncovered portions, and one forming along his jaw. Her question was easily disregarded by subject of the young girl's affection as Sasuke climbed up his leg to reach the rope suspending him in air. He grabbed onto it and froze as he noticed a shadow casually sitting on a branch looking down at the duo.

"Where the hell have you been idiot?!" He yelled at Naruto, forgetting for a moment about his predicament as he glared at the dark shinobi. Naruto glanced at him when he answered sedately, "Just enjoying the view. It is a nice day after all." Sasuke snarled at him and all but screamed back at him, "I said where, not what you deaf idiot!" He whipped out a kunai and used it as a improvised saw on the rope. He growled as Naruto in all this time stared blankly at the grassy field before the tree as he dug a finger into his ear. He flicked a nonexistent speck of earwax when he replied, "If you keep yelling like that, I'll surely will go deaf, or you'd lose your voice. Whichever comes first."

The rope snapped, dropping the Uchiha onto the ground with a grunt. He got up hastily, threw the kunai at Naruto and dashed off to where Itachi was located. Naruto caught the kunai in a lazy swing and cleared his throat, stopping a retreating Sakura dead in her tracks. She shuddered as she heard a soft plop on the ground when Naruto jumped off the tree.

Every time she saw the blond, she felt a very real chill down her spine; to her, Naruto was scary without argument.

He walked directly in front of her line of sight and stopped with his arms crossed. "Y-yes?" She asked as politely as possible under the pressure.

Naruto just remained quiet. He looked over to where Sasuke and Itachi were, and Sasuke was gritting his teeth in pain after being forced to kneel. A hand from Itachi restrained one of his little brother's hands high behind his back. Sakura's eyes followed.

"Three Genin against one retired Anbu captain. Would any of us really stand a chance?" Sakura jumped a little from Naruto's sudden question. She turned to snap at the dark shinobi, only for her outrage to die in her throat as she observed the uncaring cool features of her teammates' face, but that is not what scared her...

"Tell me, would a single Genin be able to handle someone from Anbu? Let alone handle a Jonin?" He asked, a lone stern eye shifting over to her. Sakura's first reaction yes to outright declare that Sasuke could, but between the dark hair boy being restrained by a otherwise uncaring brother in all this and Naruto's steely semi-glare, she wasn't confident in answering him. Reluctantly she shook her head in defeat.

"Now that we got that out of the way, I think we should discuss as to how we're going to get the bells," Naruto said. Before he could get any further however, Sakura voiced her thoughts, "But what about Sasuke? Shouldn't we have him over if we're going to work as a team?" Naruto stared at her for a moment before turning to Sasuke. Itachi vanished sometime during their talk and left Sasuke once again hanging upside down from a tree by a rope around his ankle. His screams of fury were easily heard.

"Answer me this," Naruto spoke. "Has Sasuke shown any essence of the will to work with others before and during this excercise?" He didn't need to see to know that Sakura lowered her head and shook it in a definite no. "And look at it this way, a lesson to a aspect about shinobi." This caught Sakura's attention. When she looked up, there was a devilish smirk on Naruto as opposed to no emotion at all, "Take advantage of the situation."

XVX

"Sixteen minutes," Itachi noted mentally. It was sixteen minutes till the bell test was over, and he was on edge. Sooner or later whatever plan Naruto concocted was going to take place and he wasn't sure if he was ready for it. During this whole time between losing Sakura at the nearby field and now, he has done nothing but eat pocky and repeatedly failed to humble his young brother. He couldn't help but frown at the ferocity Sasuke was showing with increasing aggression with each and every attack. "Father has definitely done a number on his psyche," Itachi thought for a moment. And thinking of the angry child, unsurprisingly enough, said child leapt out of a tree with a fire justu brought to bear. Itachi flashed a small series of hand seals and spat out a bullet of water, canceling the fiery justu. Itachi reached up and grabbed a attacking, kunai clutching hand and effectively squeezed, forcing his younger brother to drop the weapon.

"Gah!" Cried Sasuke. He brought a hand to Itachi's offending arm and tried to counter squeeze, finding out quickly that he both lacked the fortitude and the strength to force Itachi to let go. Sasuke grimaced in pain and bite his lip t keep himself from screaming under Itachi's strength, that's when he saw it. A red dot, on his wrist; a few years ago he would be questioning what and how this was being caused. Naruto was making his move.

He dropped Sasuke's arm and jumped back with his eyes activated. The matured sharrigan spinning madly, catching the full glory of the metal projectile as it sailed by where his hand used to be; both eyes widened as he caught on what Naruto plotted. Sasuke, as he learned, had a bad habbit of recovering from relatively insignificant assaults at startling rates despite what his body tells him.

Sasuke came at him once again with the multi-purpose weapon that was the kunai, seemingly infuriated by the now red eyes of his elder brother as opposed to his currently normal ones. Using your enemy to be your weapon, a clever move. He lunged a hand at Sasuke's neck with the intent to disable, only to be drawn back as another bullet whizzed by.

They were in a forest, a forest that can provide cover for both sides of combating enemies, but if one of said enemies is forced to defend themselves, then the cover was useless. And a forest can hide so much more than a gunman in the brush. Itachi didn't like it but saw little choice, he had to go into the depths of the forest if he had to get a chance to knock out Sasuke. There was no way he could land a non-lethal blow due to the marksman's aim. And Sasuke was not relenting in his assault, heedless about the support he was getting, to form any hand seals.

He took a step back. His foot directly hitting a tripwire. Itachi shoved Sasuke back and jumped back himself to avoid the hail of kunai peppering his last spot, not that he would've noticed due to the ground giving way under him to reveal a spiked pitfall trap. His legs were planted firmly on the narrow walls of his intended doom. He grabbed the wall in front of him and pulled himself up with enough force to propel him out of the pit.

He landed and jumped away from another flame attack from his younger brother who followed up with a charge. Itachi frowned, , an eye twitched, and a bead a collective bead of sweat threatened to drop at the back of his head when he saw Sasuke get hoisted up into the air... by another rope on his ankle. And the older brother got an earful of profanities by the dozen.

It was just enough to distract him from a pink/red blur from grabbing the bells tucked away plainly at his belt and noisily go away into the brush. Itachi would have given chance had Naruto not opened fire from wherever he hide himself. They both knew the individual shots would not hit him, but they both knew that wasn't the point. If he was right, then there was less than a minute on the timer after all.

XVX

The trio stood before the slightly disgruntled Itachi Uchiha, which didn't compare to Sasuke Uchiha's displeasure. His mouth was frozen shut with a chunky bar of soap in it. Hard to top that for the time being. "Well not orthodox, but you did complete your task today," Itachi mildly congratulated them. "Though there are some aspects we will need to work on," the older Uchiha said while eyeing his scornful, and possibly rabid if the bubbles were an indication, little brother, "this team shows potential. Take the rest of the day off to celebrate. Sasuke however," he reached over and plucked his brother over by the ear, "will have to come with me."

With that said, he flickered away with his sibling, leaving his other two students behind in silence.

Till the newly deemed kunoichi broke it, "YES! We're shinobi! I'm one step closer to gaining Sasuke's affection...!" She hopped in the air with a fist pump. When she calmed down, she adopted a solemn but reluctant smile and turned to lone male in her company. "Thank you for-"

Her jaw dropped. Already a good distance away was Naruto Uzumaki walking out of the field with a hand waving a lazy good bye without turning to see if she was looking.

A gust of wind blew through the open grass field followed by a moment of silence. "That was just rude," she said deadpanned quietly.

A/N: To those who know your Starcraft, yes, I added two weapons from the game. I went with the armor, and introduced guns to the world of Naruto, so why not? And for the record, I favor Spectres over Ghosts any day, everything is cooler in black! As for the weapon Naruto is using, I based its looks off from what could be seen in the armory section of the ship should you side with Tosh with the silencer from the actual game play. Why they weren't classified, or more accurately mentioned, as gauss weaponry, or at least the AGR, I felt that adding such high powered weapons would be too much. Hence my downgrade into relatively more basic weapons.

Which partially brings me to present you all with a challenge to anyone willing to give a crack at it.

Challenge: Introduce your own Original Character (OC) from the Starcraft universe to the Naruto-verse to affect the life (or lives) of the known characters of Naruto in roles ranging from companion to teacher if they so wish, villain is also allowed. Such as what I did to Naruto with the Assassin. May be any (preferably known) class of units, such as Marine, Zealot, or a semi- (if not fully)- free willed converted agent into the Zerg (think along the lines of Kerrigan, queen of blades) as examples, I imagine it will be fairly hard to have an intelligent Zerlging or the likes being of the catagory but I'm not stopping you. First page must be at least a thousand words strong, not including any notes or disclaimers.

Please let me know if you do take this challenge so I can get a look at your work!

With that said- Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No Refunds.