The air was filled with fog, Fire was swarming the forest, Screams were heard as a horde of people running for their lives…
"Please! Please! Spare me! I have a family and a little child of mine waiting!" Begged the person kneeling down in front of an Anbu Captain wearing a dog-kind mask.
"Sorry but… As patience runs out, Mercy also runs out." With no hesitation the Anbu Captain swings down his sword splitting the man's head in two.
"That was kinda overkill, Don't you think?" Anbu with cat mask asks him
"Orders are orders I guess. Now shut up and do your work" The Captain commands his soldier with authoritative voice
"Yes sir!" As he said that the Anbu runs after the horde of people
The Captain stares at the night sky barely seeing the moon from the fog "... Tonight's moon would have been beautiful…" After a while of staring The Captain decided to regroup with his squad
Meanwhile in a military Tent
An Anbu with a frog mask comes into the camp and kneels down "Reporting! The Third Squad successfully flanked the prisoners! Right now The Fourth Squad is on their way to pierce through the prisoners from their back! Over!" The Anbu keeps his head low down
At the little tent there were a total nine people, Three guarding Anbu's, And Four Anbu Captains along with Commander and the messenger Anbu.
The Commander Anbu who's sitting on a chair looking at a table map of the location stays quiet for a moment. "Order First Squad to flank them from their right side and drive them to the Asa River" Commands to the Anbu who's kneeling down
"Yes Sir!" With that the Anbu disappears back to the field
"What are we gonna do after they reach the Asa River?" Asks one of the Captain
The Commander stays quiet for a moment "Let's hear what you all have in mind." Asks The Commander looking at other Captains.
Everyone stayed quiet, Only screams of the prisoners were heard. One of The Captain who's shorter than others, Wearing blank mask steps forward
"Go on." Says The Command to The Captain
The short Anbu Captain gets closer to the table map "I got this tactic on my mind. It's called /Open-The-End/ But this tactic is more useful to enemies who lost the will to fight."
Other Anbu's get confused. "Well, Tell me more Captain Blank." Says the Commander
"We spread out our armies encircling the prisoners, Tightening the circle. But as we tighten the circle we'll intentionally leave an escape gap. Prisoners will be pressured to escape, As prisoners start trying to escape we'll slain all who try. this will kill all the hope of them"
The other Anbu's stay quiet waiting for their commander. "What's the chance for that? See how many prisoners right there? How many troops do we have? Is it enough to circle them? What if things go wrong? Answer these questions, Captain…" It sounds more like a command to the Anbu's
The short blonde Anbu just stares at his commander for a moment before he says "If things go right, There's ninety-two percentage chance. Our men will be enough, Or else we can reduce the enemy's size. If this Tactic goes right, It could be one of the greatest tactics in history."
After eternity of silence, Commander accepts the tactic to be tested on field.
To The Field
"Captain Weasel! New orders from the commander!' Screams as another Anbu appears beside him
"Report!" Commands to the Anbu as he slays multiple enemies
"Once the enemy reaches the Asa River, Encircle the enemy with your full force! And tighten your circle while leaving one escape gap!"
"Understood!" Weasel-masked Anbu Captain was confused, But still decided to go along with it. "Push enemies to the Asa River with full force!" Commands to his own squad
Everything was going nicely, The Fourth squad which is under Captain Weasel's command continued to push the enemies with Third Squad flanking the enemy to keep the formation tight. Soon enough The First Squad came in their support for the encirclement. One squad was made of a total of 25 Anbu's with specific Captain chosen. Enemy's size was easily tripling the Anbu's.
What felt like forever, They finally reached the Asa River. But right before enemies got closer to the river, Anbu circled them tightly with only one escape gap to the river. Desperate people had no chance but to take it, As people started to run toward the gap. Weasel was closely observing them.
Suddenly five by five the people who were trying to escape got cut down. The Second Squad, Led by Hound, Is cutting down the enemies who's trying to escape. 'Horrific Military Training… Nothing but excuse to perform genocide' Weasel thought
River once was crystal blue, Was turning bloody red. There was no hope for the prisoners, The second Squad was striking down anyone who tried to escape, Other three squads were slowly pushing them to the center, Massacring everyone until no one's left alive.
Back To The Military Tent
"Hmm… It's a good tactic to kill an enemy's hope, But as Blank said. It'll be effective against those who lost all the will to fight." The Third Hokage voiced from the hill with the Anbu Commander
The Commander took off his mask revealing very pale skin, Golden eyes with slitted pupils, And purple markings around his eyes. Orochimaru. "Yes, But i'd recommend not to use this tactic on the field regularly. If the enemy gets their courage, They can easily break off the formation giving us ultimate failure." Orochimaru said, Looking down the hill.
After a while of staring at the scene of massacre, Finally things were calming down a bit. "Orochimaru, After the training, Call Blank to my office." The Third said walking away
"Yes, My lord." Said Orochimaru looking at his former teacher's fading back 'It's sad really… Think you have it all under control. But I can just say with full confidence… Things are gonna fall to the south one day…' Orochimaru thought with mischievous smirk
"Lord Orochimaru… The training is done, Soldiers are waiting for you." Blank told him from his behind
"Huh?" Orochimaru turned back shocked by the sudden presence in his back
"Are you alright?" Asks Blank confused on why Orochimaru is acting weird
"Umm, Yeah, Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. You can go" He watches as Blank's shape disappears in little shards 'Danzo wasn't playing when he said Blank is amazing at stealth.' He looks back to the Asa River, And sees every Anbu's lined up waiting for him as they didn't leave a single soul alive.
When Orochimaru walks out from the still burning forest with his mask on, Anbus stands straight as they salutes. Orochimaru starts talking as he stops right in front of the soldiers
"You all did good in this training, And I expect a lot more from all of you during the next drill. As always, No word to anyone about this training. Or else consequences will be greater. Dismissed. Blank. Words" He looks at the shorter Anbu as others leave.
"Yes Lord Orochimaru?" Asks the short blond Anbu Captain as he kneels down in front of Orochimaru
"Hokage expects your presence at his office. You should go there right now, But before that. I wanna ask you one thing." Orochimaru says with emotionless voice "What would you do? If… All of your troops refuse to fight for you?"
"I'd kill them all. If they don't fight for me, They'll fight for no one." Answers back with blank features behind his blank mask
Orochimaru stays quiet before he turns around and starts walking away "You can go Captain." Waves behind himself
"Yes Lord Orochimaru." He bows his head one more time before he disappears in little shards
'If they don't fight for me, They'll fight for no one… Heh… Cruel and selfish for sure…' Orochimaru thought as he chuckled
At The Hokage's Tower
The Third is in his chair looking through multiple papers concerning potential promotion of Gennin's. He looked up to the door when he heard a knock on the door. "Enter." As it said, Blank is seen entering the room stepping up in front of The Third's office table as he kneels down bowing his head
"You called, Lord Third?" Asks the blond looking up to the old Hokage
"That I did. I have a new mission for you. Before we get to the details, Stand up, Take off your mask, And tell me your age" Kage orders the Anbu in front of him
Hearing his Kage's orders, Blank did as he was told, He stood up as he took off his mask, Revealing crystal blue eyes. Sun-kissed tan skin, Six whiskers three on each cheek, "I'm ten"
"The age of an academy student." The Third said firmly looking at the young Anbu. "I have a mission for you. You'll enroll in the academy, And inspect all the students, Everything about them and report back every month's last day. As in the time being you're no Anbu, You're just a regular child, If you're needed you'll be called back on the field for a mission, Still this mission i'm giving you is permanent until i say otherwise, You'd be on every Military Training with no skip. That's all. Come back tomorrow morning as the sun rises. Dismissed." The Third said, Still looking firmly at the slightly confused eyes of the young Anbu, Or the former Anbu for the time being.
"Yes Lord Third." With that he disappears in little shards, Again. The Third sighed at that. "Yeniko, I've made a mess again, Could you please come here and clean it? Thank you" The Hokage stares at the paper file of certain young Anbu. 'Damn… I never thought I'm this much of a genius to ever come up with that excuse…' The Hokage feels proud of himself as he continues staring at the file
"May i Hokage?" Asks the Hokage's secretary behind the door.
The Hokage looks at the door startled by the sudden noise "Oh yeah, Enter, Yeniko."
The secretary opens the door as she goes inside, The first thing she saw was the pile of glass shards. "Again? Hokage, Where do you even get these glasses? Most importantly, How do you even break them?" Asks as she's annoyed by the fact it's the fifteenth time she's cleaning it.
The Hokage chuckles nervously as he scratches the back of his head. "It just happens" 'Why can't he use the door like a normal person?... Oh yeah. I forgot that.'
To Naruto
He just arrived at his home after talking with The Third about this new mission. He does his night routine, Open the door, Go inside, Look for potential traps, Change to light loose clothes, Showers, Stare at his mirror reflection for exactly five minutes and zero seconds. Go to his bed, Take off his socks and pants, Leaving his shirt and underwear. Lay down on his bed, Cover himself with a blanket, And lastly, Sleep.
He wakes up before the moon goes down, Morning routine. Sit up in his bed edge, Wear his socks and pants, Go to bathroom, Shower, Again stare at his mirror reflection for exactly five minutes and zero seconds, Go to his bed, Change to civilian clothes that he only have that's spread beside his bed, Stare out the window, Moon is going down, Sun is slowly rising. Disappear in shards to the Hokage tower. Appear right in front of the door. Wait until the sun fully rises.
To The Third Hokage
He was walking through the halls of Hokage Tower tired that he couldn't get enough sleep. Until he sees Naruto standing right in front of the door. Staring at it with no movement at all… 'Creepy guy who's waiting for the child to open the door…' The Hokage couldn't help but feel like that. "Naruto…" He calls him out while he's approaching him
"Hm?" Naruto snaps back to the living world as he turns toward the voice, He tries to kneel down before his Hokage before The Third stops him and enters the door with him behind.
Sarutobi sits down on his chair and focuses on Naruto, Especially his clothes… "Don't you have something better than that?" Asks the old Kage seeing the choice of young undercover Anbu… Naruto's clothes, Red cargo pants, Bright purple T-Shirt, Almost as if shining white boots… Fine, It's alright but… Especially… Especially… What's with the necklace around his neck? Seventeen human teeths… Really? "Take off your necklace, Naruto…" He was going to take Naruto to the Academy With Bunch Of Kids… He's never gonna let him wear that necklace there.
With no questions Naruto immediately takes off his necklace and just stares at Sarutobi.
"I'm not gonna ask about your weird inventions of a necklace, But i gotta say this. You're not gonna wear these in public, Or with any other person that's not from Anbu, Me, And your commanders. Am I understood?" But he thought, 'Weirdest order I've ever given…'
"Yes sir." Naruto said as he took off his necklace and put it in his pants pocket.
… Simple… Simple… That simple… It must be a dream, When it's about Naruto. Nothing ever was simple. If it's truly this simple, It must be some kind of luxury dream. 'It's dream it's a happy dream with happy ending, It's a dream, It's a dream, It's a dream' He continued to chant with closed eyes
"Umm… Sir?" Naruto asks confusedly, He's been feeling like this plenty of times lately.
The old Kage opens his eyes slowly and stares at the young male figure… 'It's not a dream… It actually isn't… Maybe he's an impostor? No, No idiot will be standing in front of the door and stare at it with no movement at all… Plus these weird necklaces… What's with the necklace now I mentioned.' Hokage just staring at Naruto with tired face
'No one told me Hokage was a pedophile…' Naruto thought counter staring at the old Kage.
After what felt like eternity, Kage finally broke eye contact and rubbed his face tired from all this. "Give me a minute, And we'll leave for the academy." The old Kage said while leaning back in his chair feeling the peace.
…
…
…
"Lord Hokage, Minute has passed." Short blond said to his leader
"... Ugh…" He was annoyed… Very and very annoyed… Another word he might consider strangling the undercover Anbu to death repeating- "Do it! Do it! DO IT NOW YOU PRICK!"
…
…
…
'Finally peac-'
"Lord Hoka-" Naruto interrupts Hokage's thoughts as the old Kage jumps at him… God knows the young boy said two words… Almost, But two is two no matter what.
At The Academy
"Okay kids, Be quiet, It's important." Iruka, The teacher of the academy told his students as he smiled at them waiting for their silence… Which never came
"Kids, Kids! That's enou-" He gets interrupted as argument broke out
"What did you say Ino-Pig! You better take your distance!"
"Say that to yourself! Forehead!"
"Girls, Please calm down!"
"Shut up fatty!"
"... Fat-fat-fatty?... FATTY!?"
'… Worst mistake i've ever made, Become a teacher…' "SILENCE BRATS!" Frustrated Iruka screams as he bangs on his desk
Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud… Everyone's paying attention from their seats.
'Finally…' Thought Iruka as he smiles and starts talking in a soft voice, Yet irritated smile, As if daring the kids to interrupt. "Today Third Hokage will come here himself to make some announcement-"
"What is this announ-"
"Kiba, Shut up before I roast you alive." Iruka tells the young Inuzuka with irritated smile
The kid with two red lines one on his each cheek screeches as he leans back to his seat
"I don't know the details, But Lord Third is coming here to make an announcement, And he'll examine our lesson of today, So, Be at your best behavior, Okay my cute little trouble making brats?" With that Iruka smiled lovingly at them as well as… Threateningly.
"Yes sensei!" Iruka's cute little trouble making brats all answered together lovingly as well as… Afraid.
"While we wai-'' While Iruka was promoting his idea to pass the time, He gets interrupted by a knock on the door. "That must be Lord Third, Remember what I said kids!" And he opened the door to let the Hokage in as well as a young blond boy following the old Kage.
Silence fell over to the classroom, Only quiet steps of old Kage are heard in the wooden floor. As he walks behind the desk, The Kage looks over to the kids that's staring at him. "Hello young ones." He was answered by the excited greetings of the kids. "Your homeroom teacher must have already told you that I have an announcement to make."
"I've already told them about it, Lord Third." Iruka said standing beside the Hokage. But the blond kid who followed the Kage in didn't go unnoticed by the homeroom teacher Chunnin.
"Good. Today, I'm introducing all of you, Your new classmate." With that he motioned Naruto to step forward.
"Naruto Uzumaki." The Kage didn't think anything about the short introduction. Since he knows Naruto isn't much of a talker.
"W-what? But Lord Hokage, This class is already halfway gone. To be honest, You already know how hard it is to be in a new class that's already half way. Not to be rude, Lord Hokage, He needs to learn from the scratch" Iruka told the old white haired Kage worried about killing the hope of new kids motivation.
"Ah, Don't worry about that, Iruka, I'm sure he'll blow your expectations of him." Kage reassured the homeroom teacher.
"If-…-if you say so, Lord Third." Even if he wasn't so sure, Since Hokage himself suggested this boy. This boy must be special, Iruka thought. "But… Is it the thing that you were going to announce?" Honestly, Iruka was troubled by the fact, Hokage himself came here just to introduce a new student.
"Of course not, I just thought while I'm escorting Naruto here, I should make my announcement in person." The old Kage stared at the Chunnin with annoyed face as he imagines the Chunnin calling him stupid
"Hehehehe..Hehe…Heh…Eh…" Iruka just awkwardly looks down from the Kage's stare
"All of you are the future of the Konoha, Hidden Leaf Village." Old Hokage started looking at the students. "Our future lies within you, Some of you if not many of you wants to be Hokage i just know it, One of you might succeed, And many-"
As the old Kage was saying inspiring words to the kids, Certain blond who's standing beside the Hokage is staring at a certain pink haired and big foreheaded girl. 'There she is, The cute girl i met before. Even more beautiful now' Naruto thought intently staring at the girl
"Stop drooling on your mind damnit!" Naruto heard a voice with splashes of water.
'Huh? What's happening, Nine-Tails?'
"What's happening? What's happening?! I'M DROWNING THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING!" The notorious Kyuubi screamed at him with gurgling sounds following
'Oh um' Naruto clears his voice awkwardly as he shook his head 'I don't know what possessed me'
Huffings can be heard as the Nine-Tails tries to breathe as much air as he can since the flood disappeared. "You don't know what possessed you because nothing possessed you, Idiot!"
'But if nothing possessed me then how did i black out?'
"I know for a fact nothing possessed you! You didn't black out, You were just imagining things!"
'Is it necessary to say this much "Possessed"?'
"It isn't but you keep saying it which is annoying!"
'Today's a boring one.'
"Well, Yeah. Nothing interesting, Going to the academy? Pfft. That old fart must have lost his mind."
'He's the Hokage. If you don't respect him, At least don't disrespect him.'
"Not even in your dream kit." Scoffs annoyingly
Naruto sighs as he's very annoyed and tired from the fox residing inside him 'Now you're just acting like a kid.'
"Excuse me? EXCUSE ME! If i remember correctly he was ONE of the if not THE ONE reason i'm being HERE, How dare you say that!" Triggered…
'What's wrong with being here with me? We're friendly, Working together… Let's exclude the last one.'
"Oh yeah, I should thank you all for the luxury I'm living in. Have you seen the dumpster I live in?! IT'S A SEWER… DO I LOOK LIKE A RAT?!"
'Well, If you become smaller, And have someone to do some experiment on you, Perhaps beat your shape until it transforms into rat's, You might become one.'
"Oh~ How fantastic thing to do, I beg you to do that"
'If you want, I guess?'
"NOT EVEN IN YOUR DREAM! I'D RATHER DIE! BUT NOT BEFORE I KILL YOU AND GO TO HELL TO KILL YOU AGAIN YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" At that moment Naruto knew, The fox that's renting his mind is angry for something that he didn't know what. Everything was alright. The fox was asking if he looked like a rat. He was begging to be a rat, And now he's angry… Like, What's his problem?
All of a sudden, A faint voice was heard that he didn't recognize. "Naruto? Naruto, Are you there?"
'Huh? What is it? Kurama.'
"Tch, That old fart is calling you out, You're distracted on your mind too much"
Naruto snaps back to reality as he sees everyone staring at him "Yes?"
"Go sit down, Your class is starting soon." Sarutobi told the young boy, But Sarutobi was a little shocked by the fact that undercover Anbu was distracted and not paying attention to reality. He never saw the boy do this.
"Mhm" Naruto nods his head as he walks toward the back of the class to sit in an empty seat that's in the corner. While he was passing-by his peers, He saw the determination in their eyes. Whatever the old Kage told them, Must have been inspiring. When he reached the seat, He sat down and simply stared out the windows
"Well, Since i'm done here, I should go back to the tower." Hiruzen said as he took few puffs of his smoking pipe
"Of course Lord Hokage, I'll get on with the lessons." Iruka told the old Hokage as the said Kage walks out the classroom, When the Kage walks out of the door shutting the door behind him, Iruka turns to his students smiling. "Well, You all heard what Hokage said clearly right?"
"Yeah!" All the kids screamed together except some, But it was clear all of them were determined to do something, Excited for something as Naruto observed.
Iruka smiled more as he took his seat "Now, Now. It's time to learn" All of a sudden… The excitement turned into growls of hatred. "What was that?!" Iruka stood up as the kids began opening their books "That's better."
"Tch, School? That old fart really does find anything to annoy me." The nine-tailed fox complained with growls
'I think school will be a good thing to kill time, Stop complaining.'
"Heh, Let's hear what you wanna say in the next five minutes" Nine-Tails said that as he smirks widely, Not that Naruto can see anyway
'Hmph, See what i say then.' Naruto said pretty confidently in his hunch… Nothing good comes from hunch sometimes.
Five Minutes Later
'I hate school.' Naruto complained as the Nine-Tails laughed uncontrollably in his mind
"HAHAHAAHAHA I TOLD YOU! STUPID HUMAN! HAHAHAHHA"
'Ugh…' Naruto was very annoyed, He wanted to strangle the Kyuubi, He wanted to torture the fox. But the thing irritated him the most is, He can't
Later That Day
'It's not night yet.' Naruto thought to himself as he stared at the evening sun standing in front of his apartment door. 'What do I do? Go train? Sleep until it's night? Wander around? No, That's boring. What do I do?'
'Not again…' Kyuubi thought to himself, Annoyed by his host. One of the flaws of having a host is, The Kyuubi will constantly hear his host's thoughts. But one good thing is, His host will never be able hear Kyuubi's thought
Naruto slightly gets startled from the sound of "Psst" As Naruto looks around to find the source of the sound, He finds nothing.
"Psst, Hey Blank, Up here!" Silent whisper comes from the roof of Naruto's apartment, As Naruto looks up he sees a Anbu with wolf mask is looking down at him laying down on his rooftop
"Coyote?" Naruto is confused as to why Anbu is on his rooftop. If they have something to announce, They would just bluntly do it in public.
"Commander is requesting your presence at his Third Base, He's expecting you in half an hour."
"Umm, Okay? You can go now."
"Okie!" As the Coyote was about to leap away with whisper, He looks back at Naruto and whispers "Sorry, I ate the snack that was in the fridge, Nothing's left" With that the Coyote leaped away with no trace of him
"... It's not like I'll eat him in exchange anyway." Naruto tells himself displeased by the action his fellow Anbu made
"I have three praising words for you humans, Weirdo's, Weirdo's, Weirdo's."
Naruto rolls his eyes as he starts walking on the streets again to the secret base of his commander. As he's walking through the evening streets of Konoha, He starts taking turns through the streets, Going in circles at one place for six minutes. After his fifteenth turn of seeing one place, He starts walking toward the Konoha's wall and jumps at it and falls to the other side of the wall, And he starts walking deep in the forest. Few minutes of walking he sees a rock and touches it.
When he touches the rock, An underground secret entrance opens as the rock works as a door. Wasting no time he goes down deep in the underground base as the rock starts closing, As he's walking on the floor, It's making loud echoing noises. He was walking, Walking, Walking, He walked for four minute until he reached a door made of gold. He knocked while he cleared his voice.
"Come in, Naruto" Soft but fierce voice was heard
Naruto opened the door and went in while closing the door behind himself. "You called, Lord Orochimaru?"
"That I did." Orochimaru was sitting in a chair sipping tea. "Why don't you sit?" He motioned his hand to the opposite of the table to the chair.
Without saying a word Naruto sat in the chair. And dranks some tea as his Anbu Commander offered it
"I just came back from a mission to explore some abandoned site from the Second Ninja War. While I was exploring I found this sword." With that he grabs the sword that was laying beside him, A perfectly curved sword with green color on it's blade as if it's stain, Very thinly made, Amazingly sharpened as if it's slashing your eyes just by seeing it, Red grip with some dark blue craving. Rabbit with dark red eyes was carved in its rainguard. "I thought it'd be better if i gave this to you." Orochimaru put the sword in its holder carefully, Its holder was gray and black colored, With Red and Blue eyes painted on its two sides, Clearly made of steel. Orochimaru carefully offered it to Naruto.
Naruto took it with care. It was a bit heavy but eye-catching, But Naruto can say just by seeing it, It's not an everyday sword. He started looking through sword's everywhere. "Your generation's eyes fall on cool designs. The sword that I use is enough for me, I hope you will like the sword. Naruto" Orochimaru told Naruto with smile on his face
"It's amazing Lord Orochimaru" Naruto still staring at the sword, Mostly amazed by the sharp blade. As he tries to touch the blade slightly, His finger gets bloody cut just by slightly touching, With that he puts his finger in his mouth as he starts sucking the blood.
"Prepare for the next military training by next week. I found more prisoners for it" Orochimaru told him as he poured more tea in his cup
Naruto took his finger from his mouth, As he looks back to Orochimaru he says he appreciates the sword and shows his understandment for the mission. He bid his farewell as he leaves Orochimaru's secret base back to his home