'Thoughts' "Speaking" Author's Notes/ Bijuu Speaking "Telepathic Talking"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the pics or anything along those lines... insert the rest of it here... start the story!


=Chapter 11: Mission, Start!=

=Academy: Iruka's Classroom=

Sakura was the famous one, so to speak, out of the Konoha 10, having actually made contact with the newcomer.

She felt some déjà vu from this as she had to keep reminding herself they were not kids anymore. It felt like they were back in their small 10 year old bodies, fangirling over a piece of news and all of her friends were fighting for her to answer their questions.

Well, she had spent some time with the mysterious man, along with Tsunade, and with no interference so she was bound to be questioned.

"What was he like not trying to kill us like 1 month ago?"

"Did he use really cool and weird weapons?"

"HOW YOUTHFUL WAS HE?"

"What was he like in this village?"

"Was he attractive out of the office?"

The rest of the group looked at Ino as if she was insane.

"Out of all of the things you could've asked while I talked to him out of the office, you ask that!?"

"Well duh... he's obviously really strong, remember one month ago? He kicked us back to the academy like we were flies and that counts as attractive!" A hand appeared on Ino's shoulders by none other than the lazy genius.

"Just let Sakura answer our questions and calm down already, tch. Troublesome." Sakura nodded at this and the room calmed down, still tense.

"Well... he was unusually calm in this village, not friendly territory to him. He wasn't calm, he wasn't troubled by being in the presence of Hokage-sama at all!" She paused to look at the group, they were intrigued and soaking the information like a sponge. "He talked face, well hood, to face with Danzo, even insulting him and lived-"

"He insulted Danzo and that person lived?!" Ino screamed out. The rest of the group nodded their heads.

"Not once, but many, many times. He always seemed to have some sort of comeback. It's like he prepared for it." Now, this got the group's full attention, even Choji who stopped munching on his crisps.

"How'd he live?" Shikamaru's 200 IQ started whirring, something didn't add up.

Sakura just frowned and tied her cherry blossom hair. "Well... he knew that Danzo didn't want to attack him as he wanted information. He also almost seemed to know what he was going to say. He made Danzo look like a fool many times."

"They've got a death wish, signed and served on a silver platter to Danzo," Tenten murmured.

"He wasn't fazed, surrounded by elite ANBU and ROOT." The group gasped at this. "He even threatened to launch an attack on the village once." Their hearts skipped a beat at this. "Anyways to answer your questions... He was awfully calm and relaxed, but always had his guard on, considering we attacked them a month ago... He used those black orbs, Truthseeker Orbs I believe Kakashi-sensei said they were... Youthfulness, I'll let you decide that... What was he like? I think I answered that already and was he attractive? He felt familiar..."

"What do you mean he felt familiar?" The not-so-stoic Neji decided to speak up.

"Everything about him felt awfully familiar except I can't pinpoint it. When they were just leaving the village, they used a slight bit of their chakra but I don't remember who had the same 'feel' so to speak, of chakra."

"We'll talk on our mission, it's almost time to leave." The Ino-Shika-Cho trio nodded before leaving.

"You guys got called too?" Kiba asked, earning nods from the rest of them. "Well, let's go!"


=Hokage Office=

"Danzo-sama, we have word of four members of the Orange Flames at our gate. The escort team is leading them here as we speak."

"Good, is the squad going on the mission ready?" Danzo turned his chair to look at the window.

"Hai, should I call them here?"

"Yes, call them." The ROOT ANBU disappeared in a sunshin, leaving Danzo to look over the streets and saw the figures surrounded by ninja and a crowd. His mind wandered back to yesterday, where he got a report that the ninja tracking him had been knocked down right outside of the village gates.

This had annoyed the man once more, as he was already insulted many times earlier that day. He had sent some his best hiding shinobi and all of them were in near-death states, from one person. He grit his teeth, how powerful was he? Well... at least he had many secret weapons.

=Orange Flames=

The ANBU were escorting the group of 4 back through the streets of Konoha, back to the Hokage Mansion, except this time, security had doubled. It seems Danzo wasn't taking chances with more members around. This didn't faze them one bit as Kitsune still had to teach Danzo a lesson.

They climbed up the stairs to the room, still surrounded by ANBU and still walking down the extremely long corridor.

One of the new ones started comment. "Your Hokage really knows how to express his power. Especially how to shove it into our faces."

One of the ANBU put a kunai to their neck. "What did you say about Hokage-sama?"

"Oh, about ho-"

"Forgive her, she can be a bit stubborn." Kitsune watched as the guard slowly pulled the kunai away, still watching.

"Oh, so did your so called Hokage demand your respect or gain it?"

Kitsune held a hand out to stop the guard. "Quiet, we are here."

"Hai, Leader-sama!" All three comrades responded at once.

The great oak doors opened, revealing Danzo sitting at his desk, tapping his hands as if pondering something. He opened his lone eye. "Welcome back, Kitsune."

"Thank you Danzo, although there seems to be a tad bit more security," Kitsune joked.

"We do not know the true extent of your abilities and thus, we do not trust you." The look of satisfaction grew on the face of the Hokage.

"Well done, you made a come back, but can you do more?" The smile disappeared from the Hokage's face, leaving a Kitsune scratching their head with their hand.

"I'm glad we're having this small bit of trust but we must get down to work."

Kitsune turned serious. "Is your team ready?"

"They should be here right now." The doors burst open revealing ten people and one ninja hound. They made their way next to the newcomers, watching their actions.

"I remember a few of you from yesterday. Sakura, Nara, Yamanaka, Hyuga and Inuzuka. Although, there's a few more here no-"

"An Aburame, Akimichi, another Hyuga and two clanless people? Oops did I say that out loud..?"

"It's fine Horse. Although, I wonder how you knew."

"Obvious really, who doesn't know those 10 people," Dog said.

"Alright, this is not a social gathering, this is business." Everyone's attention turned to Danzo, except for the Flames who were busy doing their own business.

"Ah yes, Danzo," agreed Kitsune, unwillingly. "Let us introduce ourselves before we go on our mission. Home team goes first."

"You know me from yesterday, I'm Haruno Sakura."

"Aburame Shino."

"Akimichi Choji."

"Hyuga Hinata, nice to meet you."

"Hyuga Neji."

"Inuzuka Kiba, and this is Akamaru!" The ninja hound barked as if saying 'hello!'.

"Nara Shikamaru, troublesome."

"Yamanaka Ino, best friend of forehead over there."

"ROCK LEE! THE POWER OF YOUTH COMPELS ME!"

"Tenten, no last name."

The Flames nodded before Kitsune spoke up.

"You may know me as Kitsune."

"Horse."

"Tiger!"

"I'm Dog, nice to meet you."

Neji raised an eye. "Why can't we have your real names?"

"I never said we had to use our real names," came the reply of a smirking Kitsune. "Also, you expect us, an organisation revolving around secrets to reveal our identities?"

"Are we done wasting time?" asked an annoyed Danzo.

"Let's start." Danzo finally became the slight centre of attention as an ANBU handed him two scrolls. He threw one to Shikamaru and then to Kitsune. "It's an A-Rank mission that could turn to S-Rank quite quickly, depending on circumstances, however, I am sure you prepared for this mission." The Konoha-nin were shocked at this, Danzo never, ever complimented somebody. "It's simple: Go, eliminate, return."

"Simple enough," commented Tiger. "A-Rank Missing-nin huh, sounds fun to me!"

"A mix of A and S-Rank, pay attention baka," said Dog.

"We've dealt with stronger!"

"Hokage-sama, no disrespect but we're just Chunins, how are we supposed to deal with A to S-Rank nin?"

"You ten have shown potential and are far above Chunin level in my standards." This shocked them all as Danzo complimented once more! And ten people at that!

"Alright, briefing over, I believe we can take our leave?" Kitsune asked. Danzo nodded and motioned for them to go. Kitsune turned and left, flanked by ANBU and followed by his comrades.

The Konoha-nin stayed still until they were dismissed by Danzo. A minute passed until Danzo made sure they were out of hearing. "Spy on them and gather as much information as you can. Anything can count, you may go."


=Orange Flames=

Kitsune smirked under his hood with his Sage Mode Eyes on. He had heard everything.

"Heh, he's too predictable. Call him a Hokage? Please, that fool of Tsunade was better than him."

He nodded at his teammates ever so slightly and they caught the message. 'We guessed right.'

"Tch, why can't things be simple for once?" Horse commented, still walking.

As they reached the gates of the village, ignoring all the people around them, Kitsune looked out into the distance with his eyes, sensing three chakra signatures. He motioned another nod to his team before looking back at the Hokage Mountain and seeing the great faces, unfortunately with a new addition. Although, Kitsune wasn't admiring the faces like the guards thought he was...


=Hokage Mountain=

The wind whispered on top of the Hokage Mountain, abruptly stopping when it hit six figures watching over the peaceful village of Konoha. They saw the signal when he looked at them. They had planned this operation with care over the night and had settled it.

"Operation F is go," echoed the voice of Dragon who looked at his comrades behind him.

Ram, Rat and Monkey disappeared to the village below as the remaining three stayed.

"Now, we wait."


=Konoha Gates=

The Flames waited, at least three of them, the other one was hopping around excitedly.

"Yay! I get to fight more A and S-Ranks! This is going to be so much fun but man, they take far too long to get here!"

"Tiger, calm down, you'll get your fight later, but they're almost here.

"Ohh... but I can't wait to fight!"

Kitsune looked at his comrades, all anxious and ready to go. Hopefully, they'd remember the plan. "Settle down. Please, for our sake."

The Konoha-nin approached the four, still wary of them. Sakura spoke up as to start. "You're ready to go?"

The four hooded figures nodded in response as they followed the Konoha-nin out.

"Mission start!"

The journey started with Kitsune and Sakura up front, Horse and Shikamaru at the back, everyone else was scattered in between. For the first time in years, Kitsune finally got to strike up a conversation with his old pals, even if they didn't know him. Well, they had a bit of small talk, the Konoha-nin were still careful around them, not knowing what they could do.

He was mainly thinking about how well the plans in the village were going, somewhat ignoring the bickers of the group behind him. If all went correctly, no one would know what was happening and they would be long gone if they had any suspicions.

But they had stuff to do for now.


=Outskirts of Uzushio=

Six more ANBU made their way to the ruins of Uzushio, over the hills and through the thick jungle surrounding the old, torn-down village.

One of them had been here, and they weren't pleased about it. Alas, they had to show they had no emotion under their corrupt leader. They didn't enjoy last time, so why enjoy this time?

Thunder clapped in the distance, dark clouds loomed over the island, yet no emotion was shown once more by the ANBU. They approached the first set of seals snaking across the terrain with no problem.

The first drops of rain started to fall on the abandoned island, eventually picking up into a small storm. The wind rushed over and down the hills, through their masks and over the back of heads.

First seal. Done. The patterns shifted before moving back a metre, revealing a dual-layered pattern moving around the area. The hole they made in the first seal started glowing red before slowly rebuilding itself.

'Looks like the defences around this area have been strengthened. This is not going to end well...'

The ANBU jumped back, slightly ticked off at the reinforced seals. They had read through the report multiple times and this was not mentioned, albeit being the same point multiple groups had been before.

"Amenomihashira." A single voice cut through the air and two large spheres of chakra rushed through the air, surrounded by a blue barrier. Each sphere of chakra then split into five pieces which moved randomly inside the barrier.

The six ninja launched attacks as a counteroffensive.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu."

"Wind Style: Gale Palm."

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."

"Lightning Style: Thunderbolt."

"Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu."

The jutsus impacted, breaking the barriers but not harming the spheres of chakra inside.

"Honestly, and you're supposed to be some of the strongest in ROOT? That's funny, because you seem awfully weak." The ROOT ANBU scanned the area for any chakra signatures but found none. A twig snapped in the distance, they threw kunais at the direction but nothing fell. "Sage Art: Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu."

"Wood Style: Giant Forest Jutsu." One of the ANBU's hands turned into wooden beams, which expanded into full grown trees as a barrier against the wood dragon. 'There's another Wood Style user like me?' He jumped back as not to get hit by the dragon breaking through the barrier. 'Impossible, and that person's more skilled!' "Who are you?"

Laughter echoed through the trees. The wind and rain whipped up into a full-fledged storm, soaking the ground.

.

.

.

"Your demise."


=Mission=

The fourteen people search party was rushing through the trees towards the location at the border. It would take another day of jumping through trees to reach the missing-nin so both of the parties wanted to slightly get to know each other. Most of it was a bit of chatting but nothing about strengths, location or anything 'important'.

Kitsune spent most of his time at the front, sometimes going into the middle of the group to chat to others.

They had travelled throughout the day quite quickly before the night started to cloud the bright day.

"We should stop for the night now. We need our rest for when the bandits are," Kitsune said, turning to Sakura.

"Any ideas of where to rest?"Sakura spoke up. Kitsune only stopped on a tree branch and motioned for them to stop. Kitsune turned to Horse and pointed to the direction they were going. Horse nodded in agreement before setting off out of the trees.

"Why send one of your team, alone at that?" questioned the lazy genius of the group. "One of us can go ahead because this is joint mission, troublesome."

"Do not doubt her abilities, she is the best recon in this group. If I didn't think she would return, I would have had one of your group to assist her. Horse has... special abilities to find the surroundings."

The lazy genius was trying to figure out what kind of special ability. Dojutsu? Extremely unlikely. Good stealth abilities? Probably. As much as he wanted to ask, along with the rest of the group, the answer was predictable.

They waited for a while until a bird call came from the distance. Sakura used this time to observe the person next to her. He gave out information at the same time as hiding as much information. He had a joyful, kind and playful personality. She had made her goal, find out who Kitsune really is.

"It's clear." Kitsune stood up from his branch. "To the ground."

Kitsune jumped to the floor, followed by the rest of the company. They walked a bit more before reaching a cliff overhang surrounded by trees.

"All clear, hasn't been touched since we were last here," replied Horse.

Kiba jumped in the conversation. "You guys have been here?"

"We go across the lands everywhere!"

Dog nudged Horse, calming her down. "What she means is that whenever we've been hired, we've had to travel across the different shinobi lands."

"Alright, let's get a fire going for the night," spoke up Ino. "Then we can pick the first watches."

Tiger came back a few minutes later from gathering some wood to start the fire. They agreed on one person from each group watching at a time, except the Flames would take more watches as there were less of them. Reason? They didn't trust each other, even if Naruto knew all of them.

Everyone started eating the food they brought, with little light conversation.

"Orange Flames of the Sun." Everyone turned to Shino. "Your name must have meaning, why? Because everything has a reason behind it, including a name."

"You're right, it does have meaning but do you know what?" Kitsune questioned.

"W-well, orange is the mixture of red and yellow. T-they both symbolise energy and happiness. O-orange has many meanings including creativity, determination, encouragement and stimulation." Everyone turned to the shy Hyuga heiress who had suddenly spoke up.

"The Flame part shows your passion and that your beliefs will cover everything you touch. It also shows purification and hope, meaning that you strive for peace." It was Tenten's turn to speak up.

"And finally, the Sun. It represents life and strength, as well as energy, will and self. The sun is a giver of life and it shines its blessing over the lands," Shikamaru finally joined in. "So, putting those together, you are a group of determined people with the same passion of purification over this world. So what is your real goal?"

"HOW YOUTHFUL OF NAME THAT IS!"

The Flames looked towards their leader, ignoring Lee's outbreak of you, slightly concerned at their deduction. Would they have to erase their memories or would he tell them? It was too early in the game for others to find out their goals.

Kitsune started to chuckle a little. "You are all quite smart from that corrupt village, extremely observant dare I say, apart from my best friend." Kitsune stopped his chuckling before continuing. "You are mostly right, although there may or may not be a deeper truth to it. That is kind of what we represent so congratulations."

"Anyways..." Horse continued from Kitsune. "Our goals? We said the same to your Hokage. We will not reveal them unless we can trust you. At all."

"But if you don't tell us information, how could we trust each other?" countered Shikamaru.

Tiger, Dog and Horse started chuckling before it turned into a full out laughter.

"What? Did we do something wrong?" questioned Sakura.

"Ohh about that. How can we trust you if you have that other mission to do?" Kitsune answered their question.

"What other mission..?" piped up Neji. The rest of the Konoha-nin nodded but inwardly, they were sweating.

"I will let you say the answer, Tiger."

"Yay! My turn! Okay, so your old weird ruler person... thing, ordered you to spy on us! Isn't that fun!?" Tiger laughed out loud. "Now, if Leader-sama says so, I can go full power on you for betraying us!"

"Tiger, calm."

The Konoha team were paralysed, stunned, wide-eyed and all things in between. How?

"You must be mistaken, we don't have a second mission," Sakura blurted out.

Kitsune laughed while scratching the back of his head with his hand, slightly showing golden blond bangs of hair with streaks of red in them. "Well, we kind of heard him give the order."

If possible, they became more shocked. The Flames merely sat down and started fiddling with their fingers while waiting for an answer.

Shikamaru could not give a comeback to it. The Konoha group tensed up, waiting for an attack. Byakugans activated out of pure instinct, before deactivating once more.

'Damn, I forgot to tell them,' Neji thought. 'And Horse too...'

'What is that? Is it even chakra?' were Hinata's thoughts.

"By the looks of things, you've seen something you shouldn't have. Oi Kura, Cho what are you two doing? Oh right, well at least try to hide- it's not my fault it's ope- okay maybe it is but still!" Kitsune seemed to be debating with himself over something.

Horse reappeared behind him and slapped him in the head. "Stop talking around for their sakes! They've already seen to much, now you're going to ha- oops, hey can we do this there?"

"Yeah, sure."

The Konoha-nin relaxed a little at the Kitsune's sudden outburst of... weirdness and of Horse's as well. What's up with them?

The two sat down before going into a meditation pose. Yellow and green chakra burst from them, acting as a protective layer around the two.

"Hey, what's up with them? And are they even hum-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, dog boy." Dog suddenly appeared behind Kiba, kunai to the kneck.

'So fast...'

"Alright, we're done but... back to business. We want information." The weird chakras disappeared with Kitsune and Horse standing up.

"You want information but won't give any? That's not fair, troublesome."

"Alright then, I'll strike a deal. What do you want to know and I will deem if I can tell it to you."

"You're joking, we can't trust you."

"You think we're joking?" Tiger's head snapped round to Neji.

"If you remember, we hid from Danzo for a year and a half. We wanted it that way."

"That long? And you weren't found?" Tenten questioned.

"When Kitsune came to Konoha yesterday was when we heard it," started Sakura. Kiba, Ino and Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "Danzo's report on them. He lied. He had been following since then and they were never found."

"Do you guys even have bounties?" piped up the usually quiet Choji.

"Check the Bingo Book, Pages 284 - 296," responded Dog. "Although, you'll find it isn't every bit as useful as you would hope it is."

"In believe the only person that could rival us in the least amount of information is your old friend and his group. Pages 154 - 157, Sasuke was his name?" Horse said, attracting the attention of the wide-eyed nin.

"Oh yeah, I met him a few months ago. Jolly guy but such a freak. His groups a bit weird as well, I mean I guess I'm familiar with possibly one other of them? Ka something..." Kitsune pointed out, tapping his chin nonchantly.

"Ne, aren't you and M-" Tiger was cut off by Dog sending a 'shut-up' look to him.

"Yes, I believe we are."

"Ne, I'll tell you tomorrow when I feel like it. I'm tired but I'll take the first 2 hours, anyone coming with me?"

"I'll do the first hour with you if that's okay." Sakura did not disappoint, Kitsune did want some time to catch up with his old friend.

"Alright, then good night!"

The group set off sleeping under the overhang while Kitsune and Sakura sat near the edge on watch duty. The stars shimmered under the clear sky with no lights, bringing Kitsune's attention back to Konoha. How was the plan doing?


=Konoha=

"Alright, we've used half of our explosive tags and continuing to place equal distances from each other."

"Roger that, alright move to the village walls."

"Copy that. Going now."

"Alright, I believe the guards have passed, time to go?"

"Hai. Let's do this." Bird and Hare followed Dragon across the rooftops of Konoha, making their way to the Hokage Mansion.

"Ten ANBU at two o'clock!"

"Ice Style: Ice Spears!"

"Those weren't mentioned! Team Invention, keep your guard up, there seems to be higher numbers of ANBU around."

"Really? Team Invention? It's such a lame name why do you always copy Leader-sama?"

"Shh, ANBU!"

"Catch you guys later!"

Dragon, Hare and Bird jumped down to the immobilised ANBU on the ground.

"Oi Bird, do me a favour and rid their memories."

Bird said nothing but bring out a different sword and tap the tip of it on each of the ANBU's masks. A black and purple wavy orb came out from their masks before Bird cut each of them in half, dissipating them and removing the memories. "Alright, lead the way."

Dragon led them back through the shadows of Konoha, dodging every ANBU patrol that passed them, while still having an eye out for citizens. It wasn't long before they approached the big fortress that is the Hokage Mansion.

They quickly ran around the perimeter and took in the locations of the guards. They met back behind the mansion before jumping over the wall and in the fortress. They hid in the shadows and jumped from window to window before opening one which they deemed safe.

The team jumped inside and landed on a desk, paperwork strewn all over it. Bottles of sake lay on the tops of shelves, almost falling from the weight. They mentally cursed before trying to tidy it up as it was before. Hare closed the window as Dragon mapped out the surroundings. They were close to the vault, he could feel it.

Bird signalled to the team that he heard someone walking in the hallway. They tensed up, there were no places to hide in this room, plus they couldn't use any chakra. They waited and the steps grew closer, closer, closer.

The footsteps tapped on the wooden floor and stopped right outside of the room.

"Ne Shizune, how about some sake?"


=Mission=

"Can you at least tell me something about you guys? Please?"

"No."

"Anything?" Sakura was pestering Kitsune to give out a bit of information, even a little bit. "Alright then, could at least tell us how old you guys are? I'm pretty sure Danzo would like to know the skill of you guys at your ages."

Kitsune brought his hand up to his chin in thought. "Ne, Kura, should I tell Sakura-chan?"

"Do it kit, I can't wait to find out Danzo's reaction if he finds out your age. Foiled by an 19 year old, pathetic."

"Well, I guess I could tell you that. I mean Danzo's reaction will be quite funny if I say so myself. The youngest member in our little community is 16." Sakura gasped at this, someone could be insanely strong at that age? Naruto was the last one like that that she knew of. "I don't know the oldest, as it's kind of rude to ask that. Anyways, me, myself, I'm 19."

'This guy is only 19 and is that insanely strong? They managed to wipe out many of us and escape undetected from the nations at 19? Wow, he's no slacker.'


=Outskirts of Uzushio=

"Who... who are you?" Were the words of Tenzo, one of the last survivors of their attacker. Four of his companions had been knocked down and out, leaving him and Sai standing. 'This person, skilled in Mokuton, Sage Arts I believe and many other things! Why? Why is the world so cruel to me?'

"I believe I should tell you as your master would be highly annoyed for no information." The figure stepped out of the shadows. A person with short brown, unruly hair stepped out with brown bangs tied up by bandages. They wore a white cloth as a headband and a white garment, six tomoes patterned near the neck. A black belt surrounded their waist, still holding the extended cloth. They wore dark trousers and open toe boots. "My name is...

.

.

.
...Ashura. Otsutsuki Ashura."


So... How'd I do? Good? Bad? Awful? Trash? Amazing? Tell me!

If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll incorporate them if I like them!

And I'm on a roll! Yes, I'm incorporating some major plot twists (if you see them as that) in this story.

And that's all for now!

See you later: Ja ne!