AN: Thank you for the great response to the last chapter. As such, I am going ahead with my plans for the future of this story (mwhahaha) and I hope you enjoy it. The village is about to get a wake up call, Secrets are going to be revealed, and twists and turns that no one expected will be taken….Hope you keep enjoying it. Smaller chapter then usual, but I hope to get another out real soon-EG

"If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest; but he is such an ignorant peacock, that he goes bustling up and down, and hits on extraordinary discoveries."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 2: All Change begins with Knowledge

Part 4 – Discovery

Naruto sat at the ramen stand eating a bowl of miso pork ramen slowly. He could feel the concerned glances of Ayame and Teuchi, but he pretended not to notice. His mind was confused, not an uncommon feeling, but what he was confused about was new. Yesterday, when he and his team had come back to Konoha, instead of being forced to walk through the village with all those hateful stares that he had almost forgotten, he had been protected. Not even when walking through the village with the Hokage or Iruka had Naruto felt that safe and protected, as when Zabuza had pulled him to his side. Part of him wondered if that was what Haku felt about Zabuza, if that was what having a father would be like.

After meeting with the Hokage and the other two he had debated going for ramen, but had decided instead to head home. Once home, he had busied himself caring for his plants, and trying to sort out how he felt having those two in the village. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad? They didn't seem to mind how people treated him; instead they tried to protect him, but what about when they learned why the villagers hate me?

He felt himself sigh into the ramen again.

"Naruto, where did your friends go?" Teuchi asked. He had moved forward to speak to the boy, after several glances from his daughter, which bordered on glares.

"Huh," Naruto looked up, his face confused.

"The two from this morning, where are they?" Teuchi asked again. "They seemed interesting."

"Oh, they are having meetings at the Hokage's office I think, they are joining the village, ya know," Naruto answered. He put a grin on his face and looked up at the old ramen chef.

"Oh, I see, so you're on your own for the rest of the day?"

"For now, Haku said he would meet up with me later. I just can't decide what to do in the meantime, because Kakashi-sensei gave us a few days off," Naruto looked into the bowl of ramen again. "Old man, you need help around here today?"

Teuchi looked at the boy, and knew what he needed. "No, but today the academy is closing early, why don't you go see Iruka? I'm sure he would want to see you after such a long mission."

Naruto looked up and gave a real heartfelt smile, "Hai, thanks, old man."

Teuchi and Ayame watched as Naruto ran off towards the academy. "What do you think is up?" Ayame finally asked.

"Seems Naruto has made some friends who are caring for him," Teuchi answered heading back to the bowls of ramen waiting to be made. "I think he may be off for a bit till he gets used to it or at least sorts it all out in his mind."

He could just make out Ayame's muttered, "…bout time."

* §§ *

Naruto ran to the academy hoping that Iruka was still there. As he neared, he saw the academy students leaving for the day; he jumped onto the roof and moved stealthily in hope of avoiding Konohamaru. Not that he didn't want to see the brat, but just not right now. He stopped above the room that Iruka worked in, and walked down the wall and jumped into the classroom.

"Naruto!" he heard Iruka's voice shout out, and he turned to the back of the room.

"Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto, when did you get back?" Iruka asked walking down to the window to meet Naruto. He almost fell back as Naruto jumped into his arms.

"Yesterday, we had a debriefing with the Hokage, and I trained this morning. Kakashi-sensei gave us a few days off, so I though I would catch up with you!"

"Whoa…calm down. So you got back yesterday and had a debriefing. I guess that means you can't talk about the mission yet, but if you're hungry I could take you for ramen and we could catch up."

Naruto smiled happily. "Nah, I already had ramen, but can we catch up? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Naruto…did you just refuse ramen?" Iruka had a stupefied expression on his face.

Raising a hand behind his head to scratch it, Naruto gave out a bashful laugh, "Guess that's strange huh? But I just ate like twenty bowls, and so…"

"No, no, no, no…it's okay Naruto, so what have you been up to?" Iruka asked, sitting down on his desk.

Naruto sat in the first row of desks and smiled widely. "Well after meeting with the old man, I went home and got some sleep, it felt good to be back in my own bed, you know." at Iruka's nod he continued. "This morning I went training, and I saw the weirdest thing."

"Oh?"

"At the Hokage monument I saw two guys training, and they were wearing green spandex, and they kept shouting about…" he stopped as Iruka shot off the desk to cover his mouth. He couldn't help but notice that Iruka had a wide eyed look on his face.

"I am familiar with Maito Gai and his student Lee. I think that it is best to forget anything you see about them and never tell others," at Naruto's nod, Iruka removed his hand. "Let's just say most people try to pretend they know nothing about those two." As Naruto thought back on what he had witnessed, he gave a small shudder and nodded. "I didn't know you trained that early in the morning?"

"I went with Zabuza and Haku," Naruto said practically bouncing while seated.

"Oh, I am not familiar with those names, who are they?"

"We met them on our trip, they are moving here to be Konoha Nin, they moved in to my building, and they asked me to join them on their morning run, and then Haku and I sparred. It was awesome!" Naruto bounced up and started talking faster and faster in front of Iruka.

Iruka meanwhile had become pale as he listened. Nins who were moving to Konoha? And living in Naruto's building. He would have to ask Kakashi about this.

"So what can you tell me about them?" Iruka listened as Naruto started telling him all about his new friends.

* §§ *

Naruto smiled as he walked out of the academy. Visiting Iruka was the best idea; he would have to thank Teuchi for suggesting it. Iruka even promised to find him in the next day or so and take him out for ramen. As he walked out, he saw it had been an hour and he still didn't know what to do with himself. Normally he might consider attempting a few small pranks on the people he knew for fun, but he didn't think it was a good idea right now. With Zabuza and Haku trying to join the village because of him, and yes he knew it was because of him, pranking might not be a good idea. So deciding to do the smart thing for once, he controlled the urge to cause havoc.

At that moment several people got chills up their backs, as if something was wrong in the world, Kakashi, Iruka and the Hokage being a few of them.

Suddenly he sensed something behind him. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he controlled the urge to roll his eyes in frustration. A square rock was following him. When is he going to realize that rocks aren't square?

Knowing he had some time, Naruto quickly hid an evil grin, and moving too fast for his stalkers to react, he jumped on the square rock, and started laughing as three loud shrieks emitted from inside.

* §§ *

"Hey boss, who is that?" Konohamaru asked, looking off to the side.

Naruto turned, and grinned widely. Waving his hand he answered, "A new friend. You guys will like him."

At that moment, Haku arrived and smiled softly at Naruto before turning to look at the three children before him. Two boys about nine years old and a little girl probably the same age stared at him from their positions surrounding Naruto. By the clothes they wore, he assumed they must be academy students. Smiling at them, he found himself being glared at by a boy with round cheeks, a long scarf and a pair of goggles on his forehead, which Haku noticed the other two wore as well. Confused by the angry glare, he watched the child silently.

"Him? Are you sure leader, because he is awful pretty?" Konohamaru finally said.

Slapping the loud brat over his head, Naruto glared at him "Yes him, you fool. This is Haku; he's joining the village as a shinobi. He is awesome and really strong. You guys should be nice to him, and maybe he'll teach you some tricks as well," seeing he had the three's attention, he grinned. "Ne Haku, this is the Konohamaru corps, as they like to call themselves."

"Oi, boss, you're introducing us wrong!" Konohamaru screamed. Suddenly a smoke bomb went off, causing loud coughing. Haku was pulled back out of the smoke by Naruto, just as it dissipated. A small giggle escaped Haku at what he saw. "Too much gunpowder…"

The three children were in crazy superhero positions, before they spoke up.

"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult, female ninja from the senior group, MOEGI!" the girl said as she moved into a sad attempt of a seductive pose.

"The one who divides numbers, UDON!" the boy wearing glasses got into a taijutsu pose probably only ever seen in a bad kung-fu flick.

"The village's number one genius ninja, KONOHAMARU!" in a pose, which made Haku shudder as it was very similar to those two…men… training that they had seen earlier that day.

Suddenly all three got into positions next to each other, in yet another superhero pose. "The three of us make the Konohamaru Corps!"

Dead silence met that last statement, before Haku started laughing loudly. Naruto standing next to him was shaking his head sighing loudly and with great drama…"What am I going to do with you guys?"

Glaring at Naruto, Konohamaru turned to look at Haku again. "So are you really a super cool ninja?"

Trying to control his laughter, Haku nodded. "Ah, in my old village I was a Hunter-nin," seeing the sudden look of hero worship on the face of the two boys, he turned to the girl, only to feel a sudden chilling fear. Are those hearts?

"Haku-nii-san, will you play ninja with us? Naruto-nii-chan was playing as well?" the girl, Moegi, said walking closer to him.

Looking to Naruto, he raised an eye at the embarrassment in his face. Smiling, "Hai, I would love to play ninja, so am I a good guy or a bad guy?"

* §§ *

"Hey, watch it!" Sakura screamed out at the whirlwind of kids passing her by. Suddenly noticing the orange blob in the center, Was that Naruto? She hadn't seen him since she left the tower yesterday to head home.

Her parents had greeted her with warm smiles and questions about her mission. She had told them that they weren't allowed to discuss the mission openly yet, to which they had nodded wisely. Her parents, while technically listed as civilians, had been active ninja during the Third Shinobi War with Iwa. Her mother had been a field medic during the war, but now she was a doctor in the hospital as she had no desire for field work anymore. Her father had been injured and been taken off the ninja roster, and now ran a small seal tag shop. They had agreed to her request to join the academy, but she knew they had no wish for her to be a ninja. They had asked after her teammates. Her mind still remembered the harsh words her mother had given her.

"Sakura, what about your other teammate? You spoke about Sasuke and your sensei, but what about Naruto? You almost never tell us anything about him," she had seen her father look up at her mother's words.

"Who cares about him, he is such a loser. He won't ever be half the ninja Sasuke-kun would be. He should have become a civilian; I mean he is just some orphan."

Sakura had been shocked by the slap she got from her mother. It had been her father though who had spoken up.

"Uzumaki Naruto deservers better then that attitude from you, young lady! I told you this before when I heard you repeating lies told on the street by other civilian families, he is a good kid, just lonely. I thought you had gone beyond this after the last talk we had when I found out you attacked him in his sleep with those other kids at the academy. I had wished you had been his friend, but that was your choice. If you are going to be a ninja Sakura, you need to start looking at things from a grown up perspective. What has the Uchiha done that is so great, he had his family's libraries and teachers at the academy bending backwards to help him, Uzumaki had no one."

Thinking back on it, she remembered that first time her parents had yelled at her for her treatment of Naruto. She and a few other girls from school had been held after by Iruka-sensei because of a prank they tried to pull on Naruto. Seeing him sleeping during the lunch break, they had jumped him intending to scare him awake. The prank had gone badly as Naruto had woken up violently. Several girls had been hurt before Naruto realized what had happened.

She and Ino had broken up as friends only the day before over Sasuke-kun, and even she had given Sakura disgusted looks. Everyone knew Naruto lived alone and sometimes he slept at school as if he didn't get enough sleep at home. Many of the students from larger clans, while not being close friends with Naruto, never went after him the way the small families and civilian students did. Without Ino she had planned to spend more time with those kids, but that event changed her mind. She had spent most of the academy by herself after that.

Shaking her head, she continued on her way home. Why do I have to run the errands today?

"Oi, forehead, what are you doing around here?"

"Ino-pig," Sakura muttered turning to see Ino outside her parents flower shop. "Wow, I didn't realize your brain was incapable of noticing that I am picking up some groceries for my parents."

"Well foreheads, not all of us feel the need to state the obvious, but try to use questions to start conversations. Of course, the lack of social skills in you only shows how Sasuke-kun will pick me."

Scowling, Sakura began a loud argument with her ex-best friend.

* §§ *

Iruka looked up from his ramen as he felt several chakra signatures he knew run by. Seeing Naruto with Konohamaru and his friends he smiled. A small part of him wondered on the strange chakra with them. That was no ordinary shinobi, looking down at his bowl; I think I'll go find Kakashi after this.

"Is there a problem Iruka-san?" Ayame asked.

Smiling up at her, "No, you always serve the best. I was just thinking about my talk earlier with Naruto."

"Oh, did he mention the two new friends he made?" Ayame leaned down on the counter next to Iruka.

"Yes he did. Have you met them?" Iruka seeing her nod, smiled softly in hopes of some information.

* §§ *

"Kakashi-san, Hokage wishes to see you," the tori-masked ANBU stated.

"Oh, and I late?" Kakashi asked looking up. Sensing the lack of humor behind the ANBU's mask, he closed his book. "Well shall we?"

Sighing, the ANBU wondered when his sempai would move on from the past. Glancing at the memorial, he nodded his head in respect before disappearing after the great copy-nin.

* §§ *

Ibiki stared at the man in front of him, "Could you repeat that?"

Zabuza smirked beneath his bandages. "Orochimaru, the hebi sannin, has founded his own village."

Ibiki let out a whistle. "Well you just made my day miserable. You are telling me a new village has popped up in rice that not many know about, which is being swamped by missing-nin or recruited kids who have a lot of power, is controlled by one of our most dangerous missing-nin?"

Zabuza didn't even bother trying to answer. He simply smirked, as he felt the interrogator's chakra spike subtly. Ah, amusement, something to entertain me at last.

* §§ *

Sasuke looked to the other side of the street. Was that Naruto and Haku?

Looking at the door to the weapons store he was about to enter, he changed his mind and decided to follow the Dobe. He had planned to buy some replacement weapons for the ones lost on the waves-mission, but curiosity changed his mind. I wonder what the two of them are up to.

* §§ *

Zabuza followed Ibiki into the room where he sensed the Hokage and those two elders from yesterday waiting. He had actually enjoyed playing word games with Ibiki. The man was as sharp and scary as the bingo book made him out to be. They had talked back and forth, touching on some subjects. After a bit Ibiki left him alone to eat food provided, finally returning to tell him he was to meet with the Hokage again. He was curious as to what questions they would have for him, and as to how much of his conversation with Ibiki had been passed on.

Walking in, he saw the chair across from the three old shinobi that he was being waved into. Moving into the seat he sat down, once again feeling off center without his Kubikiri Hōcho on his back. He hadn't realized how dependent he had become on the feel of his sword on his person.

"Good afternoon, Zabuza-san, I hope you have enjoyed your time in the village so far, and that the accommodations provided suit your needs," the old Hokage started off.

Nodding his head, Zabuza once again wondered about the old man in front of him. This was the man who had served two terms as a Kage to one of the most powerful hidden villages. Before the Yondaime's death, he had been the only Kage to his knowledge that had retired, rather then died in battle. While it spoke of his power, the way he handled himself spoke of it more.

"Hai, the apartment suits our needs quite well. Thank you for the food we found, it made it easier on our first night."

The old man smiled softly, "Yes, and I heard you got to experience some of Konoha this morning while training with young Naruto-kun. Konoha has always had colorful people to add to our… uniqueness."

Zabuza froze and controlled a shudder as he realized that the old man was referring to the two men they had seen climbing the mountain. Gods, was that planned? I hope so, hate to think there are actually people like that in the world.

"Hokage-sama," the old man Homaru said disapprovingly, "shall we begin, I am sure experiencing Maito-san early in the morning might be making Zabuza-san question his decision to join the village." Looking to Zabuza, "We do have some… colorful…shinobi, in the village, but let not their actions belay their experience and power. I am afraid this village is known to well for producing eccentric ninja."

Nodding carefully, Zabuza decided to keep an eye out for a green blob, he had no desire to know any ninja like that in person, no matter how good they are. "If I may ask what you desired to start off with," he asked politely.

"Perhaps if you could, to ease our minds, tell us what led to your decision to revolt against the current Mizukage?" the old one spoke up this time.

Watching them closely, he kept his body as calm as possible before he began, "Many things, some as small as not appreciating the fact that the current Mizukage is not a native to Kiri or Water country itself. The man's tendency to beef up the military aspects of the village, without a current war in place, his support of the bloodline purges, even though it significantly decreased our manpower. It seemed as if he had greater plans, and not ones that had Kiri's best interest at heart. The village is," he looked out to the window, "very different from Konoha. Orphans run rampant in the street, many being snatched up by slave traders. The policies of the village have always been rather cut-throat, but since he joined Kiri and started rising in power, the sheer back-stabbing, political maneuvering and violence of the village had increased to intolerable levels.

"Kiri was heading towards self-destruction long before I planned the coup d'état. The village is not a place for families to be raised, even shinobi ones. No one trusts anyone, and the politics of Water country and the village itself was only making it worse. I wanted better for my village, for my country. I failed, and although I still wish to help, I do not see how it is possible at this time."

Silence greeted his words. He looked once again out the window, as he waited for their next question. He was not disappointed.

"But a man such as you, who is know for his sheer bloodiness in his academy graduation exam desiring a more peaceful village?" Koharu asked with curiosity in her tone.

He closed his eyes as memories of that exam long ago, a girl's face flashing in his mind. So like his own, and yet not…

"The reasons for the massacre that happened at my exam are part of the reason I desired to change the village."

He stopped as a door opened, turning he saw Hatake entering. With a wave of his arm, he spoke "Yo! Sorry I'm late but you see I-"

"Save it Kakashi," the Hokage said, tilting his head to a spot the man walked to.

Curios Zabuza watched as Hatake took up a spot alongside Ibiki. So, the copy-nin is here as well. I wonder is it because of Naruto or does he hold more rank then I thought in this village?

"Sorry for that Zabuza, Kakashi-kun seems to find it amusing to be late to everything. As I said early, we have some eccentric ninja in the village," Homaru said softly, a small disapproving glance sent to the copy-nin. "Please if you don't mind, can you tell us about the graduation exam? It would ease our minds to know what was behind it. I fear all we heard is that you slaughtered your entire class for no reason, yet the man we have before us does not appear to be such an individual."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hatake stiffen slightly. So that is your concern, am I a killer, or some one you can trust with your village Jinchuuriki?

"The year I took that exam, another member of my family took it as well. They didn't know that she and I were twins; our family had kept silent about it. Kiri did not allow siblings to graduate in same years, but my family wanted us to graduate together so that I could keep an eye on her. The actual exam required that you take out at least one other student, keeping proof of your kill and then surviving the rest of the night. She and I had been placed in separate zones, but we had plans to meet up. When she didn't show I went looking. What I found…" Zabuza closed his eyes fighting the memories. "My family has berserker blood, though diluted. But when I found her body, I lost it. I remember nothing till the next morning when the examiners came to fetch us."

"I see," Sarutobi took a hit from his ever present pipe. This explained a lot, to cover the murder, he became the demon of the mist, and planned to make sure nothing like that happened again. "I take it they never found out she was your sister?"

"No, and my family praised me for taking vengeance for her. I swore I would find away to fix our village. That should not have happened in a genin exam."

As if sensing the mood, Homaru coughed slightly, "Perhaps to the next topic. We are interested in the information about Orochimaru being the founder/leader of the Sound village. What can you tell us about him and who he has close to him?"

"What would you prefer to know?" Zabuza calmed as they turned away from the conversation of a past he wanted to forget.

"In your report you claim he is collecting bloodline children? How many did you see?"

"Quite a few, some of those bloodlines I do not know where they originated from, but they were definitely kekkei genkai, and some shouldn't have even been around," seeing their confusion. "Orochimaru was being protected by a Kaguya, which as far as I knew had been slaughtered by Kiri."

"Kaguya, how could you tell?" Homaru asked.

"He had the Shikotsumyaku, which is easily identified by the coloring. Any Kaguya who awakened their gift would have physical changes. The hair would turn the color of bone, pure white, and face markings consisting of red lines under their eyes and two red dots here," he pointed to the place on his forehead between and above where his eyebrows should have been. "This boy, Kimimaro was a fully developed user of the bone pulse and suffered from the side effects of the bloodline."

"Oh, how so? We have very little information about the clan. Our only knowledge is that they were a barbaric clan that lived for war and for unknown reasons attacked Kiri, which lead to their slaughter."

"Oh they were a war bred clan, but the attack on Kiri, they were a bloodline clan, only about 1/3 of them gained full use of the bloodline, but they all had some effects from it. Since Kiri was supporting the bloodline purges, they attacked, under the theory attack first, rather then running," seeing their nods to continue, "The boy Kimimaro is incredibly strong, he probably would be S-class to my eyes, if not for the fact that he is dying. He is also only fifteen years old.

"Like most of his clan, he has a superior skeletal system and accelerated healing for physical wounds, that is to support their kekkei genkai, but this also tends to make the ones who have the bloodline disease ridden. Since they have all abilities for healing going to the bones, muscles & skin, their organs and blood have a tendency to pick up and carry all types of diseases that they cannot be cured of easily. It is the negative to their gifts. The boy was able to have full mastery of his abilities, even to being able to create a weapon form his own spinal cord. That was a sign of a powerful version of the kekkei genkai."

"What exactly does the bloodline do?" Kakashi questioned from his place along the wall.

"Shikotsumyaku, or bone pulse, is the ability to manipulate their own skeletal structure. They had free control over the cells responsible for bone growth and replacement, allowing them to manipulate their bones at will. They could protrude their bones out through their skin with any injuries that would be received during this process healing instantly, change their bone density, and could even completely regenerate a lost bone. This allowed them to create instant armor or weapons at will. They could shoot bones from their bodies, even their fingers to attack you, and instantly re-grow replacements. Considering how many bones exist in the body, they never ran out of weapons as long as they had chakra, and they all had large reserves."

"But you say this boy is dying?"

"Ah, I could smell the death on him, if he lasts a year I would be surprised. It is a shame really, if not for the purge he would probably have been recruited into Kiri and have risen far in the ranks. Like I said, I doubt I could take him, to fight him you would have to do so from afar, up close would be instant death."

Silence reigned in the room, if this was just one of Orochimaru's shinobi, it did not speak well of the future.

"Why did you refuse to join?"

"Haku," seeing their confusion he continued. "When they met with us and offered to join, they seemed unhealthily interested in Haku's abilities. I felt he wanted us more so to get to Haku, and stories I have heard of the snake, made me very wary. The Kaguya was different from the ones I remembered; calm, intelligent and more dangerous then others of his clan. He also had an unhealthy attachment to your snake. We left and covered our disappearance quickly."

Nodding, the next questions came and Zabuza sat back to speak of all he knew about Orochimaru, while keeping enough to still use as barter if needed later. After all, no one provides all information needed, unless you had no other option.

* §§ *

It had been several hours, and Zabuza was started to get hoarse from all the talking. They had covered a lot of information about the Sound village and Orochimaru, but otherwise they had not asked about much else. Yet Zabuza could not get the feeling they wanted to ask certain questions. I guess they are trying to not let me see what they wish to know quite yet. No matter, I prefer to do this in pieces. At least I know they have enough to allow the next few months to go smoothly, and have convinced them I am not going to turn their Jinchuuriki into a bloody monster. I just can't help feeling I am missing something.

Hatake and Ibiki had joined in at times to ask questions, only leading him to believe that the copy-nin was more then he let on. So why was a high level ninja, who obviously was not suited to training, teaching a genin team? Surely he could be better used somewhere else? Or was he missing something.

Since they were taking a small break he looked around the room, and that was when it caught his eye. Where the copy-nin and Ibiki had been standing, four pictures hung on the wall, but one caught his attention, of a young man, with b-

Shouts and loud voices caught his attention. From the hallway he could hear a disturbance that the others had also turned to. It was also getting closer. Whishing for his sword again, Zabuza waited to see what happened.

BAM!

The door busted open, slamming into the wall. Looking to see who it was he saw the Uchiha brat standing there, a wild look in his eyes, breathing heavily. He must have come running from far away. He could hear the voices of people yelling that he couldn't come in, before his eyes focused on Zabuza.

Zabuza felt himself freeze at the look in the boy's eyes, before the boy ran up to him. Grabbing his shirt he moved in close to Zabuza.

"Is it true? Tell me, damn you! Is the Mizukage an Uchiha and is he protecting my brother?"

Zabuza froze, along with everyone in the room. Shit!

Edited by Beta: Treyvoni Fox 5/24/2009