Orochimaru watched with disturbed gleams in his golden eyes and one arm crossed horizontally over his chest while his other one was leaned on top of the one close to his body so he could rest his chin on his hand. His long tongue slithered out of his mouth as he deliciously noted his prey on his hands and knees panting heavily from the training session the snake-man had put the no-talented young Uchiha through in a training room next to the one where all of his bottles and samples of experiment was located.

'Kukuku. He's growing exponentially well under my teachings. The boy's a diamond in the rough. Hmm. It's a shame the fools teaching him within the academy fail to see such rare talent in the boy,' Orochimaru desirously imagined a three tomoe'd sharingan spinning within his crazed fantasy world… a world ruled by a devilish snake. 'Mmmm. It gets me all excited… soon it shall be mine. Kukukuku.'

Orochimaru dashed over to the boy so fast it looked as if he performed a sonido, to a lesser extent than the mighty beings with white masks covering parts of their bodies that one orange haired shinigami and comrades had fought in the past.

Junichi flinched as he was just getting up to try his Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu again. He only had enough chakra for two bursts of his clan's signature jutsu.

Orochimaru rested his hand on the kid's shoulder, "That's enough for today child. No need to strain yourself."

Junichi's eyes gleamed in defiance, "No my lord. I can still fire off another…" He couldn't even finish his sentence as his eyes grew too heavy to keep open and he almost collapsed onto the ground if not for Orochimaru who caught the stubborn boy.

"I know… I don't doubt your loyalty to the course." Orochimaru assured, subtly feeling up the boy he held in his arms with something akin to lecherousness in his golden silts, "But you've nearly burned out your reserves unfortunately. You'll die if you use up all of your chakra."

"Damn I'm so weak." Junichi angrily berated himself, "No wonder I can't pass the genin exam."

Orochimaru forced the boy up straight, keeping his hands on his shoulders while massaging them to loosen the tension within the boy, "Now. Now. Child. You are only human after all. You have your limitations… for now. I shall lead you under my wing to power child." The snake man promised, reassuring the boy of his worries as Orochimaru let the boy go and eased him off in the direction of the door, walking back into the main laboratory room before walking over to the entrance of Orochimaru's secret lair within Konoha.

"Okay, my lord. Thank you for believing in me. I won't let you down!" The boy promised resolutely, getting Orochimaru to chuckle as they past that legit 'fake' coffin with the words, 'Shodai' printed all over it. Well no one said Junichi's master wasn't an experimenter. He had a fetish was inventing extraordinary semblances of stuff belonging to that of his idols.

At least that was what Orochimaru told him.

The cold air of the night penetrated the boy's skin and made him shiver as Orochimaru pushed the door open; dispelling the genjutsu to let the boy out, "Think nothing of it child. I merely wish to see that you get the justice that is rightfully yours." Junichi smiled weakly at Orochimaru and bid him a goodbye with a wave of his hand before tiredly treading outta Orochimaru's hidden liar.

Orochimaru closed the door and sprawled his arms on the door after giving it his back with a moan of sickly pleasure coming from his lips, "I'm so close to obtaining those gorgeous eyes of theirs, I can almost taste it." Orochimaru brought his fingers to his lips, licking them, bringing them to his nose, and then sniffing them indulgently, "Ahhhhhh." Orochimaru moaned.

Orochimaru walked over to the coffin and swung it open with gusto, a corpse of a long black haired man wearing a suit of red armour, black trousers, geta sandals, a konoha forehead protector wrapped around his forehead fell out of the coffin and onto the floor.

Orochimaru picked up the body of Hashirama Senju: The Shodai Hokage and the man whom founded Konohagakure no Sato with his friend and rival Madara Uchiha, the strongest Uchiha to ever grace that lowly clan with his presence alone. They were truly gods among men, especially this man Hashirama Senju.

It was stated that he was so tremendously strong that he could control all nine constructs of chakra and even gave eight of them out to the other villages as a peace-offering to end all wars while allowing the strongest of all constructs of chakras, the Kyuubi no Yoko, to chill around Konoha until it was taken away by Madara and used against Hashirama Senju at the infamous valley of the end.

Not much was known about that fight except that the Kyuubi inexplicably escaped Madara's clutches and leap-frogged away from the man whom could control it effortlessly with those eyes of his. Other than that it was made a known fact that Hashirama erased Madara from the shinobi-world, but never recovered his body… such a shame Orochimaru mused.

But the abilities the snake-man could obtain with Hashirama's cells implanted within his very own being… well let's just say it would certainly be worth the ride. Of course being a teammate of Tsunade Senju, Orochimaru was flawlessly able to grasp a fair bit of what little was divulged of Hashirama's abilities, as the blond female basically bragged about the original Shinobi no Kami's power!

Orochimaru desired that godly power for himself!

He needed it!

He would be one step closer to clasping his true prize… immortality.

Perfection would be his!

He'd have to run some tests say, implanting Hashirama's cells into some chosen worthy subjects to make sure it was safe to infuse the cells of one of the most proficient shinobi to ever saunter the ninja-world with his godly foot-steps… at last that was a mere small price to pay for greatness.

Just thinking about all that fabulous power he could have at his very finger-tips turned Orochimaru on as a lunatic smile found its way to the unstable snake-man's face while a crazed look was evident in his orbs. His upper shoulders started moving up and down as a small sound of amusement came from the madman's lips. His belly expanded like a balloon getting pumped up, before the air was sucked out of it.

And then that balloon exploded and released a full on devilish chortle like a comprehensive amount of water breaking through a broken dam!

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-H A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA -HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA -HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-H A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Orochimaru's bloodlust was flaring insanely as a sickening purple aura shrouded his body while the snake-man hysteric laughter continued to vibrate all throughout the room with his hand surrounding his paled face as if attempting to silence his own unstable giggle.

"I've got to calm my bloodlust." Orochimaru told himself, breathing rapidly as he reached into his pocket and took out the scroll he used to seal the poor man's dead body whom he massacred earlier. He licked the scroll frantically, an insane look of a man totally off of his head in his eyes.

He couldn't take it anymore!

He needed blood.

And he desired it right this instant!

He would have it!

Orochimaru sprinted out of his lair within a split second like a man possess, leaping high in the air before landing cat-style on his feet. He reactivated the genjutsu hiding his liar before crouching down on all fours and shifting his head from side to side to eye any potential preys like a hawk's eye with a gruesome grin on his twisted face.

Once he treaded carefully through the streets away from his lair, his eyes landed on a patrolling shinobi walking over a bridge with a torch in his hand. The devilish snake wasted no time as he sprang into action and slithered his way over to the unsuspecting man.

"What's that?" The man flinched as he shifted his body in the direction he thought he heard footsteps only to see nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief, "I must've been hearing things-." He trailed off as a silhouette made its way over to him, putting him on guard as he could see a frightful yet gleeful face edging closer towards him, "Freddy?" The man guessed before it became all too obvious who it was.

It was worse.

"OROCHIMARU!"

Orochimaru embedded a kunai into the man's throat and watched with sickly glee as the poor man choked up blood in his throat. Orochimaru stabbed his whole arm through the man's chest and ripped out his heart, allowing the man to fall lifelessly to the ground, dead. The snake-man licked the man's heart before taking a bite out of it.

"Deliciously filling." Orochimaru droned, sealing up the man's corpse in a scroll. With his bloodlust still not sated, the snake-man stealthily made his way through the village and out of it to begin his hunt for more victims to kill and destroy!

Blood tasted good!

XxX

(White room – Orochimaru)

"I have no more part to play in this chapter..." Orochimaru smirked malevolently.

XxX

Chapter 5

Let No Man Stand In Your Way

The morning sunlight penetrated the stony face of one Ichigo Kurosaki while simultaneously bathing and defeating the darkness of the sky and turning it into a clear-blue one where the birds could soar through the sky while chirping contently. Through all this the stoic one merely sat leg-crossed on a humongous mountain with his hands lay atop of one another in upside palms and on his lap, the typical meditative pose.

For once he was alone… in a sense. Alone in a training field where the aforementioned mountain he was sitting on was along with a waterfall, dozens of trees, tree posts for training purposes, a memorial stone where fallen ninja had their names engraved on, and a minefield for whatever reason Ichigo did not give a rat's rear end to know why it was there.

There were a couple of people at and/or near the memorial stone but since Ichigo didn't know, and didn't care to know, them he was alone in this sense.

Ichigo's massive cleaver-like broadsword known as the mighty Zangetsu was stabbed into the ground while the white-faced being composed of reishi silently chilled within the depths of his mind, begrudge to give Ichigo any of its power, but knowing it was all for naught to resist not handing over its tremendous power to mighty one as the orange haired shinigami tamed the devilish being within him like a bullfighter bringing a bull to its knees!

But digressing off of that subject Ichigo had managed to get himself some work from the old man in the big tower within this village, hence why he was by himself, as it was for this very reason why Hiruzen decided to call off the ANBU watching him at least for the time being. Now he was here meditating after going back to Kushina's apartment after seeing Hiruzen and getting himself some work.

xXx

(Flashback)

A soft, delicate, and tiny grip was felt on the tip of Ichigo's nose as the orange haired man was sprawled on the couch of Kushina's apartment in only his kimono pants he wore from yesterday, and a blanket over him given to him by the lovely Kushina Uzumaki.

Speaking of the devil… "Uh oh! Someone has your nose Ichigo-kun!" Kushina teased in her usual jesting manner.

Ichigo merely opened his eyes to see the blond haired baby blinking at him wearing bright orange baby pyjamas and a dummy in his mouth, being held up by his red haired mother who was crouched in front of the orange haired man. Ichigo sat up, and tiredly rubbed the sleep out of his eye before a yawn came from his mouth.

"Gotta get that sleep outta your eye, right Ichigo-kun?" Kushina asked with a huge grin on her face. Ichigo nodded his head before Kushina got down to business, standing up with baby Naruto held in her arms, "Are you still gonna go around to Sarutobi-sama's tower and ask for some work?"

Ichigo stood up, letting out a grunt of confirmation before reaching for the bag of the clothes bought for him by Kushina.

"Do you want any breakfast before you go, Ichigo-kun?" Kushina asked and Ichigo nodded, making Kushina smile brightly, "Alrighty then! I'll meet you in the kitchen, okay?" Ichigo's hum was all the red haired woman was getting out of him before she sauntered off into the kitchen to give Ichigo some time to change.

"As a warning, Ichigo, blood will be on your hands as of today, are you positive you wish to go through with this?" Zangetsu's calm voice echoed throughout Ichigo's inner world.

Ichigo simply took off his kimono pants before pulling out a pair of black hakama pants and putting them on, 'All evil shall be eliminated.' Ichigo replied, his hazel eyes turning as cold as the North Pole.

The devilish composed being of reishi chuckled insanely within his inner world, "OH! I taught ya well King! HAHAHAHA! Why don't you let me out and we can have a nice little saunter around this world while we put any and all clowns to…' It coughed abruptly, "-Sleep… if they get in our line of fire of course. Heh! Whatddya think King?" A 'cu-ckoo' inexplicably whistled through the air, making the hollow chuckle dryly.

"Meh. It was worth a shot."

Ichigo ignored the white being composed of reishi and pulled out a medium green tiger-patterned (on the back) kimono top before throwing it over himself and tying it shut with a black obi. He slipped on a pair of blue sandals he wore yesterday and walked into the kitchen to be greeted by a lecherous growl from the red haired woman while baby Naruto sat in his high-chair while banging the task with his hands like a wild cave baby.

"Grrr, Ichigo-kun, who's gonna be your tiger queen?" Kushina joked while Ichigo merely looked at her, making her sigh as she realized her joke hadn't had the desired effects on Ichigo as she wanted it to. So she put on her poker-face to dish Ichigo an ultimatum, "What do you want for breakfast Ichigo-kun? You have two choices, and I'm positive you'll pick the right one!"

"Go on." Ichigo breathed out easily.

Kushina grinned with her eyes shut as she held up two-fingers, "I, the bested ramen-maker ever, can make you a dish of my fabulous ramen, dattebane!" She was half expecting Ichigo to cut her off with a high-five or something, hence why she stopped herself as she believed she'd be making her roomie ramen right there and then. But when it was clear he was patiently waiting to hear the other choice she mentioned it in a sight lackadaisical manner.

"Or you can have plain old boring cereal… and you have to eat the whole box... dattebane!"

Ichigo closed his eyes for a second but it felt like an hour to the red haired woman before he reopened his eyes and started sauntering forward to Kushina's confusion before he bent down near the cupboard, opened it up, and pulled out a large salad bowl.

Kushina's jaw dropped ludicrously, "You can't really be serious?! Ramen's the bested food in the whole wide world!"

"I'd rather have cereal." Ichigo responded truthfully, making Kushina cross her arms underneath her bosom as she did her best attempt to scowl at Ichigo, but due to the laid-back attitude of hers, and her beautiful face it came off as a pout that adorned her features all the more.

"Fine!" Kushina pulled open the top cupboard where she kept all her none-brand food products before pulling out a plain white rectangle box with two black lines encasing the words 'cereal' in black letters. Where other people had Lucky-Charms, Kushina had cereal. It didn't come with a prize nor did it have any favour to it, it was just meant to fill one's belly, like water was meant to quench one's thirst.

In fact one could see that Kushina didn't have any named products of any kind. Whereas some may've bought a packet of Maryland from the shop after paying for it obviously, Kushina had cookie – one big, white packet with black lines encasing the word cookie in big, bold, black letters, and only one massive cookie in it. Her jam was plain and her bread was smashed as she couldn't afford fresh bread… good kami, how did this poor woman stay perfectly healthy with cheap, gone-off (more or less) food like this?!

Well It wasn't like she had a choice with her baby boy Naruto-chan to tend to, she had to buy the necessities necessary to take care of him, such as nappies, dummies, (he had been sucking on that same one for five months now) clothes, a crib, bottle, toys, a baby travel pack if she ever wanted to go out somewhere with Naruto, and baby foods such as jar food and giving him milk.

Damn it Minato… now he looked like a genius since it seemed he took the easy way out leaving Kushina to raise baby Naruto on her own.

"I hope you like plain old no flavoured cereal!" Kushina hollered, her frown increasing while baby Naruto giggled as if he found his mother's behaviour amusing.

Ichigo nodded and took the cereal box off of the pouting Kushina before he opened it up, and poured all of the contents into the bowl without a second thought. He looked at Kushina, "Milk?"

Kushina gained a glint in her eye as a devious smile spread itself across her face, "Oh. I'm sorry Ichigo-kun. I don't have any milk left. Ya know I'm just your average girl." Ichigo stared at her, wondering if this was her diabolical plan to get him to eat and enjoy ramen. Naruto must've thought she won because he seemingly pointed at his mother while incoherently rambling something that sounded like 'winner'.

'Naruto-chan knows mommy's won this one. She's gonna be making Ichigo-kun her bested ramen ever any minute now, dattebane!' Kushina thought with a triumphant grin on her face as she referred to herself in the third person. Her grin fell off of her face as a look of curiosity was replaced over it as she heard the sound of a running tap coming from behind her.

She turned around and gasped at what she saw, "Ichigo-kun!" Ichigo had just found an alternative to milk… water! "You can't eat cereal like that, dattebane!" Kushina was dumbfounded as she waved her arms around helplessly.

Ichigo turned off the tap amidst the claps that came from baby Naruto as if he understood the ingenious way the Shinin no Yōna Ichigo (The Deathly Strawberry) had managed to get away from eating ramen.

Ichigo looked at Kushina, shrugging his shoulders before reaching into the drawer to pull out a spoon. He walked over to the table and sat by baby Naruto. He dipped the spoon into the bowl and lifted the spoon to reveal little crisp-like bits of cereal flooded by cold water on the spoon before shoving the spoon into his mouth and swallowing it without hesitance.

It had no taste, but again neither was a no-name brand cereal nor was water meant to have favour. This was one thing that reminded Ichigo of his own world. He could remember sauntering to the supermarket with his whole family before it was just himself, his dad and his two cute little sisters after his mamma died. They would often walk straight past the no-name brand products since they had enough money to afford brand products.

Thinking about that made Ichigo realize he took his pervious life for granted. Sure it wasn't perfect but at least he and his family weren't poor like he was now with Kushina. He lived in a very nice house, small, but still very well furnished and decorated, and his father supported them well enough that Ichigo never really worried about the income Isshin brought in or the bills he paid. That was probably due to the fact that he was a kid then and hence didn't have a job except to go to school and gain an education so he could be a respectable member of society. Now he was a man living with a blond haired baby and his beautiful mother who kindly took him in in the first place.

As far as Ichigo was concerned it was his job to support Kushina and Naruto as much as he could.

Even with the impassive façade he was putting on, Ichigo was still a fair-man that would pay for his own way in life with his own two hands one way or the other.

Kushina was gobsmacked while she continued to watch Ichigo eat his watered cereal without a twitch of his lips or a blink of his eyes to betray his feelings, 'That's not fair; Ichigo-kun's a big meanie! I'd a special dish I was gonna make him as well.' She then realized just how fast the speedy-man shot past her to the sink. "Whoa! Ichigo-kun! You were like an orange blur, kinda like the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)."

Ichigo momentarily paused his devouring of the cereal to stare up at Kushina while Naruto held out his hands to Ichigo's breakfast as if he wanted some. His gaze alone prompted Kushina to explain what that technique was.

"Oh yeah, the Hiraishin no Jutsu was created by my idol, the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju-sama. It allows the user to teleport to a marked location instantaneously. For example, If Tobirama-sama was still alive and he'd marked the Uchiha-clan compound then he could dash there from anywhere around the village in an instant." Kushina explained happily, "Minato-san actually earned his name as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō (Konoha's Yellow Flash) by using Tobirama-sama's technique. Minato-san played a prominent role in Konoha merging victorious in the Third Great Shinobi War, using Tobirama's technique. He might be as strong as Sarutobi-sama." Kushina mused. "The cream of the crop though is definitely the Shodai Hokage, Hashirama-sama, followed by his younger brother, Tobirama-sama, at least that's what lady Tsunade-sama told me."

Ichigo nodded his head in acceptance. He didn't miss the 'san' that Kushina added to Minato's name. Well that made sense since she had been alone for a year, no less; left by the man she once loved whom gave up his life for the sake of the village. There was always bound to be some slight resentment held towards Minato by Kushina since the man basically put the village before his own family, going as far as to turn his own son into the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko.

Subconsciously, Kushina was resenting Minato for what he did to Naruto a year ago.

"They must be strong then." Ichigo murmured, continuing to eat his cereal while a wave of excitement surged through Kushina.

"Yep! Lady Tsunade-sama would know since she's related to the Senju-clan. Tobirama-sama's her granduncle and Hashirama-sama's her granddad. She told me how her grandfather helped bring in all of the clans including the one I'm from under one roof under his protection, but it was Tobirama-sama who stabilized the clans and united them all, kinda like one big happy family!"

Ichigo hummed as a certain clan came to his mind, "The Uchiha-clan." Kushina stiffened up at the mention of her friend's clan, "What of them."

"What of them Ichigo-kun?" Kushina repeated with an air of innocence around her, making Ichigo stop eating as he merely put his spoon into the bowl and casted a gaze upon Kushina that made her gulp. She couldn't tell what he was feeling within those hazel orbs of his that held not even a hint of emotion, but she knew he expected that she knew something of the most hated clan within Konoha.

"They don't feel welcomed within this village." Ichigo said calmly.

"Okay," Kushina sighed in a defeated manner, "I dunno much of the Uchiha clan just that they were given a position of power within Konoha as the police force by the Hokage."

"Which one?" Ichigo asked.

Kushina frowned, "That's what I wanna know! Hiruzen-sama keeps all the cards close to his chest! It could've been Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama, or Hiruzen-sama! One of 'em sent the Uchiha-clan to the back of the village and made 'em the police force." Well that made sense since the police force couldn't exactly be located in the middle of the village now.

Who was to say a criminal wouldn't break out of prison! If that was to happen then the criminal would be hard pressed trying to flee the village while avoiding the endless masses of shinobi littering the streets of the Uchiha-clan compound and the village as a whole IF the prisoner even managed to escape the compound of the Uchiha-clan.

"Though that's not why they're hated." Kushina continued, a saddened expression on her face, "I-It was... the Kyuubi." Ichigo looked at Kushina, fascination sinking into his orbs, "Rumour has it that it had sharingan eyes on the night of which it attacked."

Ichigo grunted in calm indifference. People obviously died that night. Mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, aunties, and uncles all perished amidst at what would seem like inexplicable attack, but of course nothing was done without reason. Someone sought to eradicate the village. And those fortunate survivors had to bear the despair and sadness caused to them by losing their love ones. Ichigo could remember the pain he felt losing his own mother, which turned to hatred. With nothing to vent his hatred at Ichigo blamed himself for the reason why his mother was decimated.

This was far from the same. The people of Konohagakure no Sato had a target to vent their hate on and unfortunately it was the Uchiha-clan that suffered the villagers unspoken rage and fury, backing them off into a corner like a dozen of trapped cats.

It still left the question of how an Uchiha was able to control the mighty construct of chakra sealed into Naruto. Ichigo had an idea, flashing back to the conversation he had with Fugaku and Mikoto about the sharingan.

"Illusion?" Kushina blinked a few times at Ichigo's question, "Do you believe the Kyuubi was under an illusion the night it attacked?" Kushina made an 'O' with her mouth. It was going to take a while until she got used to Ichigo, as he was a man of so few words.

"Well that's the only way I can see the Kyuubi taking orders from anyone if it were told to thump a village dattebane!" Kushina hollered. That would make sense since gossip was spreading around Konoha about the Kyuubi having sharingan eyes, even genjutsu-masters admitted that the mightiest of all constructs of chakras was under some sort of genjutsu, making Kushina's best friend Mikoto Uchiha along with the rest of the Uchiha clan feel uncomfortable as the villagers' treatment of them was too much to handle.

"I just wish the villagers wouldn't glare so intensely at Mikoto-chan though." Kushina admitted, a melancholic expression on her face as she thought about her tormented friend and her friend's clansmen. No one should've to be hated so.

Lucky, Kushina was brought out of her thoughts by baby Naruto making whimpering sounds while reaching his tiny hands at Ichigo's cereal, making grabbing motions with his tiny hands.

"Oh look who's hungry!" Kushina smiled brightly, walking over to Naruto before picking him up in her arms, "Momma's little boy's hungry, yes you are." Kushina tickled baby Naruto's stomach. Ichigo calmly slurped up his cereal while Kushina fed baby Naruto a tin of green baby food from a jar. Afterward Ichigo sauntered into the living room, grabbed Zangetsu, sheathed him to his back, and prepared to leave for the Hokage's office.

"Take care of yourself, Ichigo-kun!" Kushina declared, standing by the front-door with baby Naruto in her arms while Ichigo stood on the outside with Zangetsu on his back. Ichigo hummed as Kushina held baby Naruto out to Ichigo, the little blond haired-Cat-faced baby's hands grabbing hold of Ichigo's nose which brought a small giggle out of Kushina.

"Someone's got your nose again Ichigo-kun!" Kushina teased while baby Naruto laughed adorably. Ichigo merely brought his thumb up, caressing baby Naruto's whiskered-cheek lightly, receiving a sigh out of Kushina who couldn't stop the small smile from spreading across her face. That was the best she was going to get out of the stone-faced samurai.

With that over and done with, Ichigo sauntered down the road with the ANBU following him closely in the shadows while Kushina watched him disappear in the distance before walking inside with baby Naruto in her arms.

xXx

(Later That Morning)

Ichigo made his way over to the Hokage tower, and casually walked up the stairs before standing outside of Hiruzen's office. He lifted his right arm up and banged a couple of times on the door. One knock turned into two, then three, then four, until Ichigo deduced that maybe Hiruzen was sleeping since he sensed his reiatsu signature in his office.

"Oh… come in, come in." Came a sputter from inside of the room. Ichigo turned the doorknob, and sauntered on inside to see Hiruzen with what looked like markings all over the side of his face and drool coming out of his mouth, "Ah. Ichigo-kun, what can I do for you my boy?"

Ichigo allowed the silence to rule the aged Hokage for a couple of seconds before he spoke up, "Money." Hiruzen looked at the powerful orange haired samurai with interest. "Kushina can't support me forever."

Hiruzen made a continuous humming noise to let Ichigo know he understood what he meant. He was aware of the fact that Kushina wasn't a rich woman since her husband was dead and he wasn't Hokage for long. Add to the fact Minato never belonged to any clan, so he didn't have a compound or estate, just a house that Kushina didn't want to live in since it brought too many bad memories of the past rising to the surface.

"I can understand your dilemma Ichigo-kun. However…" Hiruzen trailed off, not wanting to frustrate the man by telling him he couldn't be allowed out of the ANBU's sights.

"You can send your guards to keep an eye on me if you so desire to. It makes no difference." Ichigo told the old man indifferently, "I shall go out and make some money, and then I'll come back. It's as simple as that."

Hiruzen sighed while he reached into his drawer and pulled out his pipe. He lit it before inhaling tobacco smoke and exhaling it out shaped in a circle. 'The boy's obviously a stubborn one.' Not to mention extremely powerful, if the report Turtle gave him was anything to go by, defeating a clan head, a Konoha Jonin no less, was no small feat. 'Perhaps giving him something small as a test could prove the boy's loyalty to Konoha.'

Someone skilful would obviously have to escort Ichigo on his mission and report the man's progress to Hiruzen once they return, 'And I know just the person capable of this.' And who knew? If all goes according to plan than Konoha could have themselves a powerful ally in the samurai.

"Alright then Ichigo-kun, I have a job for you to take." Hiruzen told him, receiving a grunt out of Ichigo as the old man reached into his drawer and took out a folder. He opened up the folder and skimmed through it before taking out a file. "It's a bounty mission. Target, Manabu Yamada, an A-rank nuke-nin, wanted dead or alive for fleeing his village of Iwagakure no Sato. Since then he's gone on to commit several murders, some known genin and even chunin. Last been sighted in Kaminari no Kuni (the Land of Lightning), proceed with caution." Hiruzen briefed the samurai on his chosen mission, sliding the file over to him.

Ichigo picked it up, "It's already done."

Hiruzen allowed a small smile to grace his features, "Ichigo-kun, my boy, I do believe you could make a fine asset to Konoha." Hiruzen said optimistically, getting neither a hum nor a grunt out of Ichigo, "Of course you probably just want to look after Kushina-chan after she took you in out of the kindness of her heart."

"I carry my own weight." Ichigo stated simply.

"That's a very admirable trait you have Ichigo-kun." Hiruzen replied, "Young Naruto could grow up to be a mature man with a role model such as yourself around him, guiding him on his way to becoming a respectable member of Konoha." Ichigo closed his eyes, reopening them after a second to stare at Hiruzen.

"I shall be sending an elite ANBU to observe your progress if that's okay with you?" A smooth nod of the head from the samurai let Hiruzen know it was, "Splendid." Hiruzen smiled, "I have to say I'm intrigue with how well you'll complete this mission, assuming you do that is."

"That I will old man." The Ginger-haired samurai assured, "I can assume you've been given a brief of my abilities by that ANBU outside." Ichigo gestured his head to where the three ANBU were stationed.

"Indeed." Hiruzen replied, making a signal for the ANBU hidden in the shadows to appear, to which all three did with the woman holding onto the ten year old purple haired girl as she shunshin'd her into the hokage's office along with Turtle.

"I've given Ichigo-kun a job to do. You three are relieved of your duties of observing him." Hiruzen told the three, getting calm nods from the male and the female ANBU elites.

"Awww! But I wanted to go on the mission." Cat whined and then looked at Ichigo, pouting, "You're just lucky you're so strong!"

"Rest easy, child." Bear commanded, making the purple haired girl yelp, "We understand lord Hokage-sama. And thank you for giving us this opportunity to watch someone of great power such as Kurosaki-san. The trust you've displayed in us as been of most touching my lord."

Hiruzen closed his eyes, smiling at the trio, "Oh. You humble me my dear. Rest assured you've all done a fine job. Now, I believe a few hours rest can't do you all any harm. After all you three are only human. And humans need their rest... no?" Turtle and Bear bowed their heads respectfully, with Bear having to scold the purple haired girl with a slap on the back of her head as she insolently crossed her arms over her chest, suggesting that she was hot-stuff.

Hiruzen merely let out a heartily chuckle as he watched the three saunter out of his office, or in Cat's case march out of his office with a pout. "The young ones these days are so boisterous." The wise old timer commented earnestly, smiling. Ichigo, despite not looking at the girl, sought to figure out what made her tick while forever keeping himself calm and corrected.

Her insolence could be blamed for the fact that she didn't have any parents, or maybe, like Ichigo, she witnessed her parent or parents massacred before her eyes. It had only been a year since the Kyuubi's rampage on Konohagakure no Sato, so it was a possibility that she was suffering inside. That could be counted for why she'd put on an insolent façade to convince herself that she was a tough girl when in reality she was as soft as a kitten.

"It's good to see that you're not blaming that girl for her attitude. You've matured immensely, Ichigo." Zangetsu complimented, hearing a mentally thought grunt come from the orange haired samurai in response.

Ichigo pivoted on his heel to prepare to leave Hiruzen's office.

"You'll find the ANBU assigned to observe you on your job waiting for you by the South entrance in three hours. I'm sure you can ask Kushina-chan to show you where that is." Hiruzen told Ichigo, seeing a slight nod of the orange haired man's head as he almost forgot about that before he walked out of Hiruzen's office altogether, leaving the aged Hokage with his thoughts.

Hiruzen spun around on his wheelie-chair and smoked his pipe while looking at the stars in the still night sky.

He soon turned around to face the wall that had four pictures hung on it, one of himself in his younger days, one of a blond haired man that looked like Naruto's originator, one of a white-haired man that had a look that just said he was a leader, and the last one was a picture of a long brown haired man wearing red armour with a goofy smile on his face like the blond haired man's own goofy smile.

These were the Hokages. In order of the long brown haired warrior known as the Shodai Hokage, Hashirama Senju, whose picture was on the far left side of the wall. Then came his brother, the white haired man and Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju; his picture was wedged between his brother's picture and Hiruzen's picture who had a genuine smile on his face. Lastly, on the right side of the wall, was a picture of the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto's father, and the man who saved the village from destruction by ensnarling the Kyuubi into his own son, Minato Namikaze.

Hiruzen looked at the pictures of his two predecessors, the ones that trusted him with the throne and title of Hokage and Purofessā respectively, as if seeking some sort of guidance from his old teachers.

'Let's hope my judgement wasn't misplaced in Ichigo-kun.'

Hisoka-like Orochimaru