A Different Life

Naruto was angry and sleepy, all because his aunt and uncle woke him up at the crack of dawn and were currently dragging him to god knows where. He couldn't help but let himself fall back to sleep as he was being dragged. He was just beginning to fall into a deep sleep when something hard rammed into his stomach. His eyes shot open to find himself at his teams' regular training ground along with his teammates. Sasuke stood to his left looking as if he'd just woken up and Sakura sat with her legs crossed just a few feet away from Sasuke.

"What's going on? Why are we here so early?" Naruto asked looking at his teammates.

"Kakashi-sensei apparently wants to up our training." Sakura said from her spot on the ground.

A smile found its way onto Naruto's face as he figured out why they were really there. His mind started to wander onto future possibilities.

"What's with the stupid look on his face?" Sasuke asked pointing a thumb in Naruto's direction.

"I assume he has figured why you all are here." Taiyo said with a smile on his face.

"So this isn't just a regular training session? Sakura asked getting up.

"Not at all my dear students, there will be regular about this training session." A familiar voice said behind the group.

Kakashi appeared standing on a tree branch before jumping down joining the rest of team seven and the Namikaze twins. As Kakashi walked towards the group an image of feral dog appeared behind him joined by an overwhelming pressure that forced the genin to their knees. At first glance the twins seemed to be unaffected but if you took a closer look then you would see their knees beginning to buckle and the sweat rolling down the sides of their faces.

"It seems like Kakashi is getting serious." Taiyo whispered to his sister.

Taiyo only got a robotic nod in response, her eyes locked on the genin in front of her. Naruto seemed to be getting used to it already as he was on one knee pulling himself up, Sasuke seemed to be resting on his knees and Sakura reacted the worse as she was lying face down in the grass.

"As of now I don't feel that you three will be competition to the genin in the next exams." Kakashi said releasing his K.I and walking towards Sakura.

"Was that really necessary Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked standing up.

"That was only a fraction of what I can do and by the time I'm done with you the chunin exams will be a breeze." Kakashi said helping Sakura up.

"So what do you have planned for today?" Naruto asked with his arms crossed.

"You will continue training with your aunt and uncle and I will take of Sasuke and Sakura." Kakashi answered.

"Let's go Ruto we have a lot of work to do." Tsuki said before walking away followed by her brother and nephew.

Kakashi turned towards his two remaining students. A clone appeared next to him in a spark of electricity.

"Sasuke follow this clone he has everything you need to train." Kakashi told Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded and followed the clone who had begun walking deeper into the forest. Sasuke didn't know what he would be learning but he was sure it would be worth his time. Back in the clearing Kakashi stood there giving Sakura a calculating stare.

"Let's see how much you've improved since our talk." He said vanishing.

He appeared behind her kicking her in the back sending her flying forward. Sakura pulled out a kunai, stabbing it into the ground canceling her forward momentum. She quickly began weaving through hand seals.

Kakashi noticed his was starting to blur, he gave a quick smirk from under his mask before releasing a pulse of chakra to cancel the genjutsu placed on him. His vision cleared but he still felt a disturbance in his chakra. There was a small displacement in the air in front of him, he quickly leaned to the side while lashing out with a quick jab smashing into human flesh. Sakura suddenly appeared on the receiving end of his punch. He pulled his fist out of her gut dropping her to the ground.

"So you've learned how to double layer genjutsu?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes my dad has been helping me in his free time. I can only layer d-rank genjutsu and two c-rank but not for long." She said picking herself up.

"Then that gives us something to work on." Kakashi said giving his signature eye smile.

X-x-X

Sasuke stood opposite of the Kakashi clone in the middle of a small clearing. The clone stood with his hands in his pockets while Sasuke stood in one of his clans many taijutsu styles with his Sharingan active. He had a few bruises forming on his arms and his face while Kakashi seemed to be unscathed.

"Your taijutsu is up to par I don't think we have to worry about that." The clone said.

"Itachi made sure I would be more than competent in close range fighting." Sasuke said as if it was obvious.

"What about ninjutsu, is there anything new you're learning?" The clone asked.

"Itachi has been working with me on my wire techniques and taught me katon: Ryūka no Jutsu." He told him.

"Well I'll let Itachi continue with that but if you want I can teach you how to use a sword." Kakashi suggested.

"I have heard about you being one of the best in the village with your tanto, by the way why don't you ever use it?" Sasuke asked getting sidetracked.

"I only use it when it's needed, but back to the matter at hand do you want to learn or not?" Kakashi asked.

"Let's do it, I never turned down learning something new especially from a ninja of your caliber." Sasuke said relaxing his stance.

"That's great, you have three choices you can choose a blade from my personal collection, buy a custom blade or choose from the vast collection the Uchiha have in their vault." The Kakashi clone said.

"I already have one in mind that's back in the Uchiha vault." Sasuke said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Well lead the way." The clone said.

Sasuke didn't say a word he just disappeared in a burst of speed. The clone was not far behind he smiled as he trailed his student. He knew he would pick a sword from the Uchiha vault, Sasuke never wanted Naruto to get too far ahead of him and if he had a special weapon like Naruto's Susanoo no Te then they would be equals.

X-x-X

Taiyo stood in the middle of a clearing with his eyes closed and hands at his side. Naruto appeared at his right sweeping at his legs. Taiyo with his eyes still closed swiftly jumped over Naruto's sweeping leg landing back in the same spot. Naruto disappeared, reappearing behind his uncle this time who kicked back at Naruto with lightning speed while still facing forward. Naruto flew backwards kicking up dust as he crashed into the ground.

"You're getting faster Naruto but it'll take years for you to catch up to me." Taiyo said with a grin on his face.

"Taiyo don't tease him, if I remember right you were the same when Minato came to train with us." Tsuki said scolding her brother.

"I'm still faster than you." Taiyo said sticking his tongue out.

"Naruto you seem to be learning quick, you know it took Taiyo and I months to learn the first level of the Idōken." Tsuki said completely ignoring her brother.

"I guess it's like father like son." Naruto said smiling sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess so but it seems you have already gotten used to the weight we put on you last night." Tsuki said.

"Yeah you know with my Uzumaki blood along with the fluff ball in my stomach my body is forever changing." Naruto explained.

"That's right but we still need to adjust it." Tsuki said walking over to Naruto.

Naruto took off his shirt so she could adjust the gravity seals on his shoulders. She quickly upped the level of all the gravity seals on his body. Naruto stood up slowly remembering what happened last time he tried to stand up to quickly after having his gravity seals upgraded. He still had the scar where the bone popped out of his leg.

"Since you seem to be picking up on the Idōken so well we have something else to teach you." Taiyo said walking over to him.

X-x-X

In a dark room at unknown location, Minato stood at the head of a table surrounded by three of most trusted shinobi. Not many knew of this room and those who did sat at the table waiting for their leader to speak.

The atmosphere was tense as the powerful shinobi stared at each other waiting for their briefing to begin. Minato looked at each of the shinobi in front and him. Shikaku Nara who sat to his right, a man with invaluable intelligence he had been Minato's right hand since his appointment as hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the previous kage even in retirement Minato turned to Hiruzen for advice. Lastly his ANBU commander Panda, a mysterious man but Minato trusted him with his life.

"What did we get from the recon in Taki?" Minato asked sitting down, waiting patiently for them to respond.

The little light that shined inside the room seemed to dull as Shikaku sat up in his chair getting ready to speak. "There's been some disturbing turn of events in Taki."

Shikaku pulled out a map with different colored markers on it. Minato felt something awaken in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt since the beginning of the third Great War. He had been in situations like this before but not as Hokage, he was just another ninja under the command of Hiruzen but now it was different he was the one making crucial decisions. He looked around at the remaining men in the room. Hiruzen looked unaffected on the outside but knew that the life of being a shinobi was catching up to him and another war would not help it. Panda looked like he always did, like nothing mattered but Minato knew better Panda was one the most loyal shinobi he had ever met.

"Tell me everything we found out." Minato said getting into Hokage mode.

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile at his successor. He knew he made the right choice when he chose Minato to be the yondaime instead of Orochimaru. He had watched Minato grow from a child into a man. Shikaku shifted and pointed at the map.

"This is as far as our first squad got before being hindered by the hidden entrance into Taki." Shikaku started in a low voice, half of his face covered by the shadows. "So we sent three of our agents to wander in Taki territory disguised as civilians to see if they could find where the patrols were coming from."

"Haven't we failed using that tactic before?" Minato asked confused as to why a brilliant man like Shikaku would use such a simple tactic.

"This time was-." Shikaku started to explain before Panda raised his hand.

Panda continued looking at Shikaku like he was waiting for permission to speak. Shikaku smirked before giving the silent man an approving nod.

"As Nara-sama was saying, this time we didn't use a regular ANBU squad as we could not afford to be captured and fail the mission." Panda said in a tone barely above a whisper. "GHOST squad volunteered for the mission."

Minato was slightly taken aback by the information he just received but he didn't show an ounce of surprise on the outside. GHOST squad was one of his personal black op squads outside of the regular ANBU only available to himself and Shikaku, they undertook missions that required to be done outside of village regulations.

"I assume they succeeded?" Minato asked in a calm tone.

"Yes sir, they successfully tracked the patrols and found the hidden entrance." Panda answered in an emotionless tone.

"Have they been briefed yet?" Minato asked.

Panda gave a negative nod Minato gave a quick hand signal, in an instant a kneeling ANBU operative sprung into existence next to him.

"I need you to bring me Kokutō right now." Minato commanded the agent.

The ANBU disappeared into the shadows as if he were never there. A few minutes passed before the ANBU member came back with figure dressed in all black including his mask. Kokutō seemed to blend into the darkness of the room, he was the epitome of stealth at least the moment. A black bladed katana sat on his back as he stood facing his superiors. Minato gave a wave of his hand and the other present ANBU disappeared in a flicker of movement. Three quick hand seals later and the room glowed with privacy seal matrixes.

"You may take off your mask, we are in one the most secure locations in the world." Minato told his operative.

Kokutō pulled his hood down revealing short spikey brown hair. He removed his masked showing his scar faced and the eyes of a veteran. Minato's visage softened at the sight of one of his personal guards.

"Raido Namiashi code name Kokutō reporting sir." He said standing at attention.

"Stand down Raido-san, you are here to report on your latest mission to Takigakure, we need to know what you saw inside there." Minato told him.

Raido seem to stiffen at the mentioning of Taki.

"Sir once we successfully infiltrated the village, we observed the villagers and the shinobi around the village something seemed off but we didn't know what. After a few hours' two platoons of foreign ninja entered the village unchallenged." He told them.

Minato sat in his chair analyzing the information he was just told. He could interrupt Raido and ask him questions or he could continue to listen and break down the information as he went.

"At first we thought it was an invasion until a man came to meet the shinobi. Who we recognized as Suien who we believed to be a missing nin. We moved closer to find out what they were talking about. Once we got close enough we found out two vital pieces of information. One these foreign ninja were from the recently created Otogakure and two Suien had taken over the village with the help of these ninja." Raido finished.

Minato sat silently taking in the information. Any way he put it this situation was bad, for some reason the Oto shinobi had been in the land of fire more than the other nations and now they had taken over another village. It seemed that the people of Takigakure felt as if everything was normal so it couldn't have been a hostile takeover or at least not to the public eye.

"Is that all?" Minato asked.

"Yes sir, once we spotted the village insignia we left the village." Raido answered.

"Hmm, I know I don't have to tell you that speaking of what was said here is considered treason." Minato said as Raido nodded. "Then you are dismissed, enjoy the time that you have."

Raido bowed his head slightly before putting his hood and mask back on once again becoming the leader of GHOST squad Kokutō. He attempted to meld into the shadows with no avail. He turned to look at Minato who formed a one hand seal as the sealing matrixes illuminated the room once more. Raido this time successfully faded into the shadows.

"This is troubling news Minato, we need to find out who is behind this mysterious Otogakure and find out what they are up to." Hiruzen said putting his pipe down.

"I'm sure you've figured it out but it seems that Shibuki is most likely dead and Suien and whoever the leader of Oto is made it look like his death was normal." Shikaku said speaking up.

"I'm already thinking a ways to deal with this but it'll take some time, meet me back here tomorrow at 0700." Minato said before disappearing in a yellow flash.

X-x-X

(The next day)

Team seven stood in front of one of the many mission desks in the back of the academy. The room was filled with teams ready to take on a mission along with shinobi ready to take a solo mission. The black haired woman at the desk in front of team seven seemed to not notice their presence until Kakashi stepped forward getting her attention.

"Team seven requesting a c-rank mission." Kakashi said.

The woman searched through the scrolls on her desk before pulling out a scroll with a fancy seal on it.

"This one should suit your team well." She said smiling at Kakashi.

Kakashi took the scroll winking at the woman making her blush. He broke the seal and read the scrolls contents. The contents must have been interesting because as he read his visible eye brow raised.

"It's look like we have a client to protect." Kakashi told his team.

"When do we leave?" Sakura asked.

"We leave in an hour, I have to go talk to our client, meet at the south gate." Kakashi said walking away.

"Where are we escorting the client to?" Sasuke asked his fleeing sensei.

"We're taking him to the capitol." Kakashi said disappearing into the crowd of shinobi in the office.

The genin shared a look of surprise. The only escort missions that came from the capitol were for nobles and the nobles of the land of fire had plenty of enemies. The noble themselves weren't always the best of people either.

"I should go home and prepare." Sakura said walking away.

"Yeah me too, I'll see you guys at the south gate." Naruto said disappearing in a gust of wind.

Sasuke stood there as he was left alone by his team. He stood there for a few more seconds before shrugging and walking away.

An hour later the genin of team seven stood at the south gate with the driver of the carriage taking the noble back to the capitol. They heard some voices and turned to see their sensei, a middle-aged man dressed in a fine kimono and surprisingly the Namikaze twins.

"My dear students this is Futai Hiyoshi a member of the fire court and our client." Kakashi said Ushering the man forward.

Futai was dressed like your typical noble male. A kimono made of the finest material covered in intricate designs. His hair slicked back hanging over his shoulders, along with the long beard that hung from his chin.

"Nice to meet you lord Hiyoshi." The genin chorused.

"The pleasure is all mine, it's not every day you meet the Namikaze heir and an Uchiha." Lord Futai said a bit too excitedly.

"Now that introductions are over we have a mission to complete." Kakashi said walking signaling the guards to open the gate.

"Are you just going to act like Naruto's aunt and uncle are standing behind us?" Sakura asked pointing a thumb at the twins.

"Yeah what are they doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I was wondering the same thing." Naruto said scratching his head.

Kakashi looked towards the twins as if he was waiting for them to explain their presence at the gate.

"What, your loving aunt and uncle can't come to see you off?" Taiyo asked playfully.

Tsuki elbowed her brother in the side. "We were returning to the capitol and we ran into Kakashi and Futai-san so we thought it would be good if we got a ride with him."

"This is fine with you Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked looking at her sensei.

"Yes they can take care of themselves and its extra protection for free." Kakashi answered.

"Yes, yes three Namikaze, an Uchiha and Raijin Kakashi for such a meager price." Futai said stepping into his carriage followed by Taiyo and Tsuki.

Sakura hung her head a little bit, that was twice that lord Futai had forgotten about her. She felt like she didn't fit in with the rest of them as they were practically royalty in the land of fire. She quickly straightened up before someone saw her current mood.

"Whatever." Sasuke said putting his hands in his pocket.

"Alright team kenran formation." Kakashi commanded.

Naruto created two clones that followed him to the back of the carriage. Sasuke took the right side while Sakura was on the left with Kakashi heading the formation.

The gates were open and thus began one of the many adventures of team seven. Their destination, Keishi the capitol of the land of fire was a popular place. Keishi was south of Konoha, away from all of the other villages. The location was one of the reasons why it had only been successfully invaded twice in the history of the land of fire. The trip would only be about a day but nobles were not known for their endurance.

X-x-X

The group had made it about half way before Futai decided he wanted to set up camp. Futai and his driver had retreated to their tents for the night while the shinobi sat around a fire. All types of sounds floated through the crisp night air.

"Sensei don't you think we should set up a perimeter or something?" Sakura asked getting a little worried.

"It's already been handled, Naruto has clones in all directions." Kakashi told her.

"No offence to you Naruto but is that really enough?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke and Taiyo made teasing noises at Naruto as Tsuki shook her head the "men" in her presence.

Kakashi chuckled, "You should have more faith in your teammate Sakura."

"It hurts knowing that you don't believe in me Sakura-chan." Naruto said in a playful voice holding his hand to his heart.

"Ha-ha very funny but-." Sakura started to say before being cut off.

"No really there's nothing to worry about my clones are more than enough." Naruto said with a serious tone.

"He's right and if something or someone does come within three kilometers of us his clones will sense it." Kakashi assured his student.

That seemed to please Sakura as she became quiet and relaxed.

"So what's the capitol like?" Sasuke asked looking at the twins.

"It's a great place but it's nothing like Konoha, the people aren't as nice." Tsuki answered.

"Yeah but it does have its upsides to, like the shopping district or the famous music hall." Taiyo added.

"We should get some sleep if we want to be at our best tomorrow." Kakashi said putting out the fire.

The rest of the shinobi agreed and went to their separate tents. They all laid their bodies to rest not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

X-x-X

The team arrived at the gates of Keishi, the genin were in awe of the walls that surrounded the city, twenty feet high, fifteen feet thick stone walls. Even the walls of Konoha weren't so huge but then again they had barriers and an army of shinobi defending it.

"I guess this is the end of our little journey." Futai said leaning out the window of his carriage.

"Yes it is lord Futai, it was a pleasure." Kakashi said shaking the noble's hand.

"No the pleasure was all mine Hatake-san, maybe I'll request your team the next time I need an escort." Futai said as his driver pulled away.

"See you next time Ruto." Tsuki said hugging her nephew.

"Yeah next time we'll teach you something special." Taiyo said fist bumping him.

The twins then disappeared in very unique ways, Taiyo in a burst of light and Tsuki who seemed to just fade into the wind.

"Kakashi, how lucky am I to run into you." A monotonic voice said from the Konoha ninja.

The shinobi turned around to see the man they met in Yu no kuni. His face still pale and his light blond hair hung down his back. His all black attire along with the twin kusarigama on his hips made him an intimidating figure.

"Kishi, what are you doing here?" Kakashi asked the strange man.

"I've been hired by a man from here to retrieve a stolen item from a group of bandits west of here." Kishi told him.

"I see where this is going, you can't handle this alone." Kakashi said figuring it out.

"That's correct, I've conferred with Jashin-sama and he has no problem with me getting help as long as he gets his sacrifices." Kishi said.

"I would have to get permission from the hokage before I could accept and even if I did how would it benefit Konoha?" Kakashi asked him.

Kishi seemed to pause as he thought about it, "You can have half of the reward and I'll put in a good word to the daimyo of Yu no Kuni." He told him.

"Okay that's sounds good enough let me check with the hokage." Kakashi said attempting to bite his thumb but was stopped by Naruto.

"No let me sensei, the toads will get to him faster." Naruto said before performing the summoning jutsu.

A medium sized brown and yellow toad appeared in front of the shinobi with a green sash around his waist.

"It's a pleasure Naruto-san, what can I do for you?" The toad asked in raspy voice.

"I need you to ask my dad if we can take on a secondary mission from a contact of Kakashi." Naruto told the toad.

"No problem Naruto-san." The toad said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

About ten minutes passed before the toad came back. He appeared in a puff of smoke, when it cleared it revealed that he was holding a small scroll on his back.

"I'll take that." Kakashi said taking the scroll off of the toads back. "Hmm interesting, it seems that Minato sensei trusts my judgment, when do we leave?"

A devious smile seemed to creep upon the face of Kishi as he took off. Kakashi gave a nod to his genin as he followed Kishi and soon team seven was off on yet another mission not even an hour after completing their first one.

"So Kakashi sensei is there a reason you didn't tell us this guy is a Jashin worshipper?" Naruto asked.

"Who is this Jashin guy?" Sasuke asked a little confused.

"Jashin is a malevolent entity that gives his followers immortality in exchange for human sacrifices." Sakura answered as if she was reading out of a book.

"Thank you for the answer Sakura." Kakashi said giving an eye smile.

"It's said that they sometimes go insane and go on a killing spree." She continued.

"Okay Sakura I think that's enough." Kakashi told her.

"Some people call them shinigami because of their fetish for scythes and their murderous ways." She kept going.

Kakashi appeared behind her with his hand over her mouth, "I believe that's enough for today."

"The girls a smart one Kakashi, but not all Jashinist are psychopaths." Kishi said turning around.

Sakura seemed to freeze up at the tone Kishi used. She had read about the cult when she was a child after a group of them slaughtered the caravan her aunt and uncle were with. She had nightmares about men with scythes for years and now here she was face to face with one claiming not to be like the others.

"Fear not little girl I will bring no harm to you or your teammates." Kishi said still facing forward.

"You have nothing to worry about Sakura, I've worked with Kishi many times before he's trustworthy." Kakashi said from beside her.

"We're almost there, just a little bit further down this way." Kishi said in his dark tone.

"So what's the plan, go in silently or the usual with you." Kakashi said with a slight smirk under his mask.

"You know me Kakashi, I like to be up close and personal." Kishi said with a straight face.

"I should have known, how are we going to get this item and how many bandits are we dealing with?" Kakashi asked.

"I will get the item and from the information I was given there shouldn't be more than a hundred bandits." Kishi informed them before speeding ahead.

"What's the plan sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Kishi is going to have his fun, I want you and Sasuke to flank the bandit encampment and get their attention." Kakashi told them.

"What about me Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"You'll be with me, we're going to place tags all around the camp." He told her.

Their heads snapped in the direction Kishi went as an explosion rocked the ground, with an affirmative nod from his students team seven jumped off to do the jobs they were assigned.

I'm sorry I've been gone longer than usual but it's finals time in college and I've been stuffed. I know there's not much action in this chapter but next chapter will make up for that with the rest of the mission and the journey to the chunin exams in Kiri. It would be nice if this story as many reviews as views but nonetheless I will keep writing.