The Rise of a Warlord

Chapter 13: Live or Die?

(I own nothing)

-X-

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

-X-

Warning-

Naruto will be darker...

There will be harsh language...

There may be lemons...

This list may grow in time...

-X-

Hanging from the ceiling, Naruto let a passing ANBU sentry walk on by before dropping to the floor as he went out of sight. Usually they would be able to sense him but what Jiraiya didn't know was that he took more than a few of those seals that hid his presence for himself and so far he's had to use two of them.

He didn't want to be seen too closely by any other ANBU because they all knew each other to some extent. The mission would be over quickly if one recognized the mask and tried to joke around with who they thought was the real ANBU member that owned said mask.

"Kabuto, I've reached the commander's office," he spoke as he picked the lock with ease and stepped in, "How are things outside?"

"Your little distraction worked perfectly, how you got the Third Hokage's grandson and his friends to help I'll never know,"

He smirked as he found the hidden compartment in the office wall and pushed the small button that opened the false section of stone, "He'll do anything for a little training and candy. I promised to teach him the basic academy jutsu and gave him a handful of hard candy." he mused lowly as he studied the safe he found behind the panel.

Two locks kept it closed and by the looks of it, it had one of those glass panel fail safes that would prevent it from opening if tampered with too much.

But he wasn't planning on breaking his way into the safe.

Making quick work of the keyhole within ten minutes, which turned out to be a special top and bottom tumbler system, Naruto then removed the mask over his face and pressed his ear against the safe while channeling chakra through his ear.

The chakra enhanced his sense of hearing to the point where he could hear the soft click of the combination plates falling into place.

"Looks like the ANBU are on their way back," Kabuto reported over the radio from his position outside, somewhere that gave him a good view of the area.

Naruto grunted lowly and opened the safe where he found his target, a plain green scroll that lacked any identifying marks as it sat with a bunch of others.

'Got the scroll... now I just need to get out,' he mused to himself while stashing it away in his pants then putting on his mask.

Checking his watch, he frowned and activated another seal to his him from being sensed by an ANBU.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the door to the room being unlocked and cursed.

-X-

"Naruto?" Kabuto asked as he tried to contact the blond, "Naruto are you there?"

A few minutes passed without an answer and he started to think that the blond commander of the unit had been captured.

"Kabuto."

A wave of relief washed over him, "Naruto good to hear from you, I was starting to get worried, what happened?"

The radio was silent for a moment before he heard a grunt over the line, "The ANBU Commander showed up when I was still there,"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm in a tight spot right now, trying to make my way out through the air ducts."

-X-

Standing in her office, Tsunade shook the officials hand over her desk as he introduced himself as Dashi. He wore official red robes baring the Fire Lords symbol and reminded her of her sensei. Dashi had long gray hair with a large balding spot on top while the side and back were well over a foot long. He also had a trimmed beard that matched his hair in color.

"Congratulations on your appointment as Hokage, Tsunade-dono, the Fire Lord sends his regards and expresses his sincerest apologies at not being able to be here in person." Dashi said with a smile that Tsunade swore could belong to Hiruzen.

"It's ok, Dashi-dono, I understand that he is a very busy man. Now, I understand that your here to observe and report to back on our security?"

He nodded, "Indeed I am, as you know, the Fire Lord likes to stay up to date when it comes to Konoha's security and the safety of her people."

Tsunade nodded, all throughout her ninja career she'd known this. Even during times of war the Daimyo sent someone to speak with her grandfather or granduncle about this. One day she even got to sit in on one when the first Hokage was baby-sitting her as a young girl. She'd always remember that because Hashirama and Tobirama would pick on her for coloring on some of the mission scrolls when Hashirama wasn't looking or spilling her juice on some of the others.

It only took close to half an hour to inform and explain to him about the new security and procedures enacted around the village but when he asked how they came up with these new updated defenses she knew that she had to tell him about Red Cell. The Fire Lord was the only one to really outrank her and if he wanted to know about something it might as well be an order and since he wanted a report on security...

"Well Dashi-dono, that's a classified answer but I know that you'll never tell anyone outside of the Daimyo." she started before clearing her throat, "A while back, my sensei, the third Hokage had a new division made just for testing security. They've staged four successful attacks on high security areas since the unit was started."

"That's good... I assume that those areas of weakness were fixed correct?" Dashi spoke before getting a nod from the blond, "Well then could I meet the commander of this unit?"

"I'm sorry Dashi-dono, but his identity has to be kept a secret or else-"

She was cut off by a shout from a male, "Hey you can't go in there!"

"Watch me!"

A small struggle was heard before they heard Shizune call out, "Wait, Tsunade-sama's in a meeting!"

But she was ignored as the door flew open, revealing Naruto in his usual ninja outfit as he strolled in with a scroll in his hand.

Shizune looked around the door frame from behind the blond with a apologetic look on her face, "I'm sorry Tsunade-sama, I couldn't catch him quick enough."

The Hokage sighed and waved the younger woman off, "It's fine Shizune, I'll handle him." she then turned to stare daggers at the younger blond, "I'm in a meeting Naruto, what is-"

He cut her off by tossing her the scroll and telling her to open it.

She unrolled it to find a single seal on the paper and channeled her chakra through it, causing an item to appear in a puff of smoke which caused her eyes to widen.

There, sitting on top of the scroll was a two inch thick binder with a plain green cover holding well over a couple hundred pages.

"Naruto... is this what I think it is?"

He nodded, "Yeah, it's the ANBU Operative Registry, straight from the ANBU Commander's office in the heart of ANBU HQ."

"You... you broke into ANBU Headquarters..." she mumbled with wide eyes as she opened the binder to the front page and seeing the personal information of a random active duty ANBU.

"Yeah I did, you said that no one could do it but it was pretty easy to me and my unit," he told her while crossing his arms, "Like you said before, it's my job to do things like this so please take my word for it next time."

Dashi looked at the blond with a sudden look of realization, "Your Naruto Uzumaki?" at the blond teens nod he continued, "It's so nice to meet you child, I'm Dashi, the Fire Lords envoy. The Fire Lord asked that I send his thanks for your part in getting him to safety at the Chunin exams and that if you need anything, he'll gladly try to help in return."

Naruto gave the man a slight bow, "Tell Daimyo-sama that I appreciate the gesture,"

Dashi smiled, "I'll make sure he knows, but I'm surprised that a young man like you already has command of his own division. You must be a very talented ninja."

"Thank you sir,"

Tsunade just sat there in a stupor, Naruto had broken into ANBU HQ... fucking ANBU HQ of all places! And not only did he steal one of the most guarded things there but did it without raising an alarm! Had one went off then she would've been the first to know before the village went into lock down. The thought that he went against her will and did this crossed her mind but she never really did order him not to go through with this in the first place so she couldn't punish him even if she wanted too... not that she did.

When she finally snapped out of her funk, she noticed that Dashi was laughing deeply at something Naruto had said but missed it as the older man spoke.

"Oh... oh Tsunade-dono, this young man is something else. I think that the Fire Lord can rest easy with him aiding you with the village defense." He spoke after calming down from his hearty laugh, "We may even have to contract his help in the capital with our own security."

"We'd be happy to help," she replied to him.

"Glade to hear it, but I think I've heard more than enough to know that the village is in good hands. I'll even talk to the Fire Lord about increasing the village funding to include Naruto-kun's division, no sense in them spending their hard earned money just so that they can do their jobs."

With that, Dashi stood up pretty quickly for a man his age, "Have a wonderful day Tsunade-dono, you too Naruto-kun. I must be on my way."

Watching the man leave, Naruto turned to the Hokage with a small smile only for it to vanish at her serious look.

"Naruto-kun, I think it's time we had a little talk..."

'Oh dear,' he thought as she stood up, thinking that his technically unsanctioned operation had finally pushed her too far.

"Your constantly disrespecting me, your commander and Hokage... you've ignored me when I didn't want you to pull this mess with the ANBU HQ..."

"Actually, you never told me not-" he tried to defend himself only for her to punch her desk, making the wood creak and groan under her fist.

"Shut it! I'm talking here... let's see, you barged in on my meeting with a representative of the Fire Lord, before then you assaulted one of the guards that tried to stop you from barging in on my meeting, and you ignored Shizune who tried to stop you..." the woman listed off without ever changing tones, making him inwardly grimace, "I should demote you, remove you from the command of Red Cell, and maybe even have you court-martialed... but I have something a little better in my opinion."

In a flurry of motion, she was standing and had her fist stretched out, making him close his eyes as he had no time to avoid her punch.

...

...

Only, the strike never came.

Opening one eye, Naruto saw that she was holding the top of a paper in her hand and leaned back to read it.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, you've been approved for the rank of Special Jounin."

Hearing this made Naruto calm down, he'd been expecting a lot of things but not that. A punch to the head, a slap, screaming, flying paper weights, flying chairs, flying desks, maybe even a kick to the balls but not a promotion to a higher rank, a demotion maybe but not that.

"I don't know how you did it Naruto-kun but you put the village in a even better position that normal with the Daimyo, you even got funding for your division. Not to mention your perfect record with Red Cell missions. If anyone deserves this it's you."

Naruto was silent for a moment.

"Well say something,"

"Special Jounin's don't have to take genin teams right?"

-X-

Kabuto hummed lowly as he studied the thick stack of papers that he'd been given from his boss, checking over each paper carefully before he had to hide them away.

So much value in a single sheet, the whole stack was a variable gold mine waiting to be mined. There was power in information, that he knew... even his commander knew it.

Flipping to another page he chuckled, wondering just how much damage would be done if even a fraction of these were released to the other villages. With these papers, Naruto, his boss could ruin lives and cripple the village. With these he had the perfect insurance against them. Add to the fact that he had multiple files on the security flaws that weren't reported, he could easly have an enemy assassination squad deep within the village and no one would be none the wiser until it was too late.

Best part of all...

Everyone still thought that his loyalty was unwavering, that the blond was still the ever faithful dog of the village. Everyone but him... Kabuto knew what monster lurked beneath that loyal facade, the same monster that held his life in the palm of his hand also held the lives of every ANBU and their families within his grasp.

-X-

"You're a Special Jounin now too!"

That was all he heard after telling Anko about his promotion before she jumped him, hugging his head tightly with his face pressed into the valley between her breasts while her legs wrapped around him. With her added weight and the fact the her legs restricted his movement, Naruto soon found himself on his back still pressed firmly between her breasts while her legs remained locked around the upper part of his thighs.

"That's so cool, were both special Jounin now!" the woman continued to say, as if they hadn't just fell, "So what do you specialize in? You already know that I specialize in Interrogation and information gathering,"

A Special Jonin, or Tokubetsu Jonin was a ninja that had jonin-level abilities in a specific area or two while regular jonin had enough skill in all aspects of being a ninja. But a special jonin had to be respected, as they were usually more than twice as good in whatever field they specialized in compared to the others.

"Demolition, Infiltration, and Stealth." he replied into her chest, voice muffled from her soft, fleshy pillows before he managed to pull his head back and get more air, "But as much as I enjoy this could you move your legs? Your ankle's digging in my spine."

Anko only smirked before pushing his face into her breasts again, "But it's been so long!" she mock-whined, "You haven't played with my tits in days and-"

"YEOW!"

Jumping off of him like he had burst into flames, Anko gaped at him and held her left boob, "You bit me!" she gasped out while looking down at her injured globe, which showed a reddening bite mark around her nipple through the fishnet shirt.

"You tired to smother me!" he shot back as he stood, leaving her on her ass as she poked at the mark marring her nice, firm, sexy chest.

"Well you enjoyed it!" Anko huffed while crossing her arms and looking away, making him smirk.

In no time at all, he was on his knees and pushing her onto her back in the middle of the living room just before straddling her waist, "So did you... Ko-chan." he purred out, only to slap her hands away as she tried to reach up and grab him, "You never complained when I left them up and down your thighs,"

She shivered from underneath him as he grabbed her mesh shirt with both hands and ripped it apart, freeing her chest and letting both bounce freely in the air.

"Oh kami!" she groaned out as he pinched one and twisted the other, "I love it when your mean to me! I've been such a bad little bitch, punish me! Twist my nipples and treat me like a slut!"

He chuckled lowly, "Whose slut are you?" he demanded deeply as he leaned down, releasing her nipples but taking hold of them both before licking the red bite mark around her hardened nub, "Tell me who you belong to?"

Having been dominated enough times, she knew this game all too well, "Yours Naruto-sama, I'm your dirty little slut!

He released one of her globes and lightly ran his fingers down her stomach and across the orange-brown skirt she wore, slowly hooking a finger on the fabric and pulling it up.

Anko obediently lifted her thighs and let the skirt pass below her rear, bunching up around her waist while revealing her lacy purple panties to him.

"That's right, and what does my little slut want?" he continued while the same hand rubbed the spot over her mound through the panties, much to her annoyance.

"Touch me!" she groaned, "Please touch my wet little pussy, make me cum!"

His hand slipped beneath the hem and she arched her back as a finger slid between her folds, causing her to release a soft moan.

How in the world did they go from talking about promotions to him fingering her? Not that he was complaining, after sleeping... or better yet, fucking nearly every night he found it a little weird when Anko was gone on a mission. It seemed that not only had she grown attached to him but he grew attached to her as well.

As he thought about this, Anko's hand wondered down his side and into his pants, breaking him out of his thoughts when she began to awkwardly pump him in this position while his fingers still rubbed her insides before sliding across the small bundle of nerves known as a females 'G-spot'.

"FUCK!" she cried out as her body locked up, her womanhood tightening around his fingers as she came.

Naruto hummed, "What's the rush? We have all night..."

-X-

"Morning Naruto-sama!"

Nodding to Yakumo, who sat on his couch in his office reading a genjutsu scroll, Naruto sat down at his desk to find a small stack of paperwork and huffed but compared to the Hokages this was easy... but then again he used shadow clones to do this most of the time. Speaking of which, he wondered why the old man and Tsunade hadn't thought of it.

With a small pop and a plume of smoke, a clone appeared to take said papers and go through them while he worked on making his exploding kunai.

What made them different from the improvised ones most ninja used in the field, he didn't just wrap the tab over the handle in the heat of battle or tie it on with a piece of ninja wire. He took the cheap binding material used as a grip off the handle, wrapped the tag tightly around the metal, then covered it again securely.

He would've worked on them at the apartment but with Anko lurking around, popping out at random times, he found himself worried about accidentally activating one and blowing his new apartment to hell like the last.

But as he did this he started thinking about his unit, so far he had the stealth, demolition, medical, and genjutsu covered but he still wanted specialists in other fields too, especially a short ranged taijutsu specialist to partner with Yakumo when Kabuto wasn't around.

Yakumo, while getting a little better with her physical conditioning was still way too fragile to be left alone on a mission, making her a support fighter to the others. Paired with a taijutsu user, she could cover his movements and confuse the enemy while the taijutsu user would be able to defend her if anyone got too close.

But a taijutsu specialist wasn't the only one he'd like to have on the team, a long to short range ninjutsu user would be able to both defend and attack whenever needed, and he'd seen what a good weapons master/mistress could do. He'd have to talk to Kabuto about this whenever the older teen came to report in.

-X-

"Sakura what are we doing here?" Ino questioned in a deadpan as she followed her friend turned rival onto the Ninja Academy grounds where they use to have sparring matches or run laps. Speaking of which, a class was doing just that right now and were jogging slowly around a cement walkway for their morning exercise while their chunin sensei watched from the side.

"Just hold on, Ino, I think I have an idea about this Naruto thing." she replied as they reached the sensei, who turned out to be their former teacher Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei!" the pink haired girl called out while heading over, "We need some help with something."

Hearing his former student's voice, Iruka turned and waved back at her politely with a smile, "Well I'm a little busy right now, but what is it? Maybe I can during my lunch break."

"Oh I didn't mean you," the pink genin spoke, "I need to barrow Konohamaru and his two friends for a little while."

-X-

Tsunade sat there and stared... and stared... and stared at the teen across from her. Wondering how she could be attracted to someone who gave her such headaches every time they saw each other.

"So let me get this straight..." she deadpanned, "You want me to release two enemy shinobi from the ANBU holding cells and into your care... not only that but you want me to sign reprieves to postpone their death sentence so that you can recruit them into your division..."

He nodded.

"Why in the hell would I do that?" Tsunade demanded in a 'are you stupid' tone of voice, "Your team handles classified information and village secrets all the time so why would I let a couple of ninja off death row and let them near that kind of information?"

"Because they have nowhere else to go, Orochimaru is dead and his 'village' has fallen apart. Those two aren't as loyal as the others were so they'll accept the deal to live and have a meaning in life again."

She sighed, "I can't believe that I'm saying this... but I believe you. Fine, you brat... I'll have 'em released into your custody but they're your responsibility."

Tsunade wrote the order on a scroll and stamped it with her official seal before handing it to him, "I'll have the reprieves written and signed later on today... but just don't make me regret this."

-X-

"God damn it! Fucking Orochimaru, that cock-smoking son of a bitch! It's all his damn fault that we're gonna fucking die! I never should've came along and let that fudge-packing faggot do this by himself, he was too busy licking little boys assholes to think of a good plan and now we're being fucking interrogated and tortured for information on that dead piece of shit!"

The ANBU stationed around their hidden prison sweat dropped at their prisoners ranting... which she always seemed to do every morning around this time. It was always interesting to listen to just to see how many curses she'd use and they usually counted them just for the hell of it.

"Hmm, she's starting to run out of things to say." a cat masked ANBU mused to his friend as he looked at a magazine, leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up in a very Un-ANBU like way.

"She actually said the exact same thing last week," the bird masked one muttered, "Not that it matters, they're all going to be executed soon anyway."

There was only one way out of the prison and they were guarding it, this was considered on of the more laid back jobs you could hope to get in ANBU but if one of the prisoners did manage to escape you'd get in a shit-load of trouble so they had to remain on edge... or they were suppose to.

Suddenly there was a loud series of bangs on the thick metal door, causing the one leaning back in the chair to fall out of it and onto the floor.

"Open up, it's Owl!" came the voice of the prisons head ANBU, their boss.

Opening the door and quickly making it look like they'd been doing their job, they saw their female boss walk in with Uzumaki Naruto and snapped to attention with a quick salute to their boss.

"Cat, Bird, take two of the prisoners from sound to interrogation room 1, the large male and the fowl-mouth." the woman told them firmly without a trace of warmth or humor in her voice.

-X-

"What the fuck is this all about?" demanded the red head as she was sat into a wooden chair next to a large boy with a orange mohawk, both wearing chakra suppressors on each limb.

"A second chance," Naruto mused darkly, "In less than a month, the Sound Four will be hanged and their corpses will be studied before being dumped into some hole when the research department pick the bodies clean of every little secret they have."

The two looked at each other then back to the blond.

"But if you join me then I'll keep that from happening... pledge your loyalty to me and you'll live a lot longer. You'll also see that living in Konoha is a lot better than the underground shit holes like sound."

"So... do you want to live and work for the one who killed Orochimaru, or is the gallows your final answer?"

To be continued...

-X-

Just review, I'm starting to feel like this ain't worth continuing.