Code Blue

Chapter 1, What we do is secret

The night's wind howled through the streets like a wolf. Moon shining, the street lit up in a bluish-white haze, covered with fog in the mid-night frost. The man walked through the street, not as much as making a sound. Even his feet patting on the soft dirt road didn't make any more sound than a pin dropping when no one was around.

The loner stopped in front of an ally. His head turned around, looking if anyone was in sight range. As he suspected, there was no one. The bare loneliness of the street would chill a child to the bone, and have him scream for his parents. Yet, the man seemed undisturbed, as he turned his attention back towards the dingy ally. Stalking forward, the man entered the side-street, confident that he was not being followed by man or beast.

In the ally, his footsteps began to reverberate off the walls, making a soft pinging noise. And as he got closer to his destination, the man tensed unconsciously, cold sweat beginning to form on his face. His mouth became more and more arid, making the man thirst for water. Nervous he was, and it didn't dissipate as he came to the end of the ally, and to what seemed like a dead end.

He swerved around again, taking in the length of the ally. Everywhere he saw was just damp darkness, stained in filth. He felt life in the strand, but the weak pulses of small hearts could be nothing but rats, just eating from the trash. There was no way he was followed, yet his sweating got worse, and his fists began to shake softly, despite the hardened training ninja were put through.

Turning his glance towards the right building, the man reached out and tapped on the wooden wall. Nothing happened at first, and the man grumbled. His face turned into a scowl as he tapped again on another section of the wall. Still nothing. He kept on tapping on different points of the wall until something finally clicked. Smiling slightly to himself, he waited for the door to open, and when the floor beneath him opened up, he fell down into the cavern beneath him.

The man landed on his feet in a squatting position before looking around. The trap door closed up immediately, and the lights turned on. He was standing in a room that was encased in steel, with a few tables and other accessories. He walked through the room, looking at the tables and grumbled. Feeling that something was wrong, he could only bring himself to cross his arms over his chest.

On one of the tables, a piece of paper caught his eye. Turning towards the table, the man slowly walked over, taking care in how loud his footsteps where. As he reached viewing range, he knew it was a document that should not have been left out. Instead of giving in to his curiosity, the man flipped it closed and sighed. The nervousness was relieved for a moment as he turned his head upwards. However, the feeling in the air made him think he should not have come.

"I see I can trust you after all."

The man turned around in a flash, immediately sliding into a loose fighting stance. The man that spoke raised his arms and had a wide smile on his face. "Are you?" the first man said, looking intently to where he perceived the other man to be. Most of his face was covered by a ninja mask, as was his, as they obviously didn't want to be seen. "That was a test?" He asked out of confusion.

The other ninja chuckled before reaching behind his head. He slowly began to unwind the black mask covering his head. When it was completely removed the other man stepped out of his fighting stance and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, it is I, and yes that was in fact a test. I can't just go revealing my secrets to everyone you know... Danzou."

Danzou grumbled as he also began to remove his ninja mask. Tossing it to the side, He looked into the face of the Fourth Hokage with an unemotional glance. "So, any particular secrets that you want to share with me Arashi?" Arashi chuckled and smiled at Danzou, placing his hands on his stomach and knelling over in laughter. "What's so funny?"

Between laughs, Arashi was able to speak. "Oh, it's just that when you actually see what I'm going to share with you, you might loose your resolve!" Danzou raised an eyebrow at Arashi's sudden outbreak. As far as he knew, there was nothing that could break his resolve. "Well, if you think that you're ready for it, I'll show you."

Scowling at the prepubescent Hokage, Dazou nodded. Inwardly though, Danzou was shaking his head in shame for the Hokage. He may be better than the Third, but he was obviously not the best choice for the Hokage title. How could someone be so relaxed in a secret meeting anyways? The boy's emotions will forever be a mystery to me.

"This way Danzou-san!" Arashi led Danzou to the other side of the room, and more specifically, to a file cabinet on the other side of the room. The Fourth casually opened the top cabinet, pulling out a small green file folder and lying it on top of the cabinet with the front page open. "This is the big secret, besides you only one other knows it."

Danzou began to grow a bit confused as he said that someone else already knew about it. It wasn't good practice to reveal secrets after all. Just one more reason that proved to Danzou that he truly didn't understand how the Fourth thought, which made him a bit angry. It doesn't matter, Everything will always fall into place with either of us in the lead.

Stepping up to the folder, Danzou looked back over to Arashi. "Before I find out what you are keeping secret, tell me... what do you really want from telling me?" A question that had been on his mind since he had met the young boy a while back. He was mysterious then, and he remained mysterious now. To think that he would trust someone else with such... confidential information.

The Hokage seemed amused at the question, sporting a smirk and narrowed eyes. Dazou knew that look, it meant he knew that a certain question was coming. He seemed to enjoy being in control of situations, even on the battlefield. "I'm glad you asked that Danzou-san. With this information, I would like for you to help me with a certain something."

Danzou's thoughts were suddenly filled with conspiracy theories and treasonous activities. He actually brought himself to doubt the young, brash, and sly Hokage. The boy was planning something big, and he had brought him in on the deal. However, what that deal was... that question was harder to answer. "Certain something? Mind elaborating on that Hokage-sama." His tone changed from genuine confusion to be laced with hidden aggression. However, that was in fact picked up by Arashi, who just smiled back at Danzou.

"The answer is in those papers..." Arashi lingered on the last word, turning his gaze back to the papers on the table. "Go ahead, see for yourself."

Danzou looked towards the folder and picked it up in his hands. He quickly began skimming through the files, not really expecting anything. At first, that was all there was, nothing special, but dealing with strange practices. Grumbling, Danzou thought of it as a waste of time, until he stumbled upon a section that he had to force himself to read back over.

The cold sweat returned with a vengeance, followed by his brow twitching and hands clenching. His mouth began to quiver, and he just couldn't hide his shock. At the sight, the Fourth smiled and cocked his head to the side, waiting for the question that he knew was coming. "H-How did you come to that conclusion?"

The Fourth's smirk couldn't have been wider.

-

Danzou startled awake in his bed. His sweat trickled down his face with his breathing erratic. Cursing inwardly, Danzou couldn't believe he still had that dream. It wasn't supposed to be like that, it was already done and over with! Yet, he still could not simply forget about it. Things are starting to get out of control.

A murderer, that's what he was. Of course, being a ninja for such a long time, it was obvious. But now, the kids are taught to kill only as a last resort, something Danzou could not imagine. We have gotten weak, and now we will be targeted. If Arashi was still the Hokage, would things be like this? No... the Third's pitiful ideals are a plague on the whole village. He's killing them with his ideals, and it must be stopped.

His mantra against the Third finished, Danzou quietly rose from his bed, looking out the window. The darkness of the mid-night hour was broken only by the reflected light coming from the moon. It created such an eerie bluish-white glow through the blinds of the window.

Not dwelling on the sights, Danzou walked over to his wooden dresser and reached for an empty glass. His dream had left him thirsty, and fulfillment is what his body needed. He stopped as he held the glass in front of his eyes, looking at the window's reflection. Looking behind him always reminded him of the past, mistakes, losses. Something he didn't want to dwell on, but was always lost in. I'll be alright, after all... root is loyal to me.

He reached over to the sink and turned the cold tap on. Instantly water came cascading out of the faucet, rinsing the sink with clear tap water. Casually, Danzou held the glass under the stream, filling it completely up before turning the tap off. He contemplated throwing the water on his face to wake him up, and to snap him out of thinking about the past, but settled on downing it through his throat.

Danzou placed his arm over his eye and walked back to a chair in front of his bed. Sitting down, he thought about the two boys he had... acquired. They had enormous potential, and could be raised to be completely loyal, but even he had qualms about what he did. The demon carrier had no name at all, and since he had told most of the people the truth behind the Kyuubi, he was bound to go through quite a bit of hatred. Loyalty only goes so far, but it would work to his advantage once again. I could either save him when something happens and make him completely loyal, or I could let him face it himself and make him strong. The pros and cons of doing either weighed against each other, but what would the Fourth have wanted for him?

Smirking to himself, Danzou knew the answer to that question. What the Fourth wanted doesn't matter anymore. He's dead after all. He leaned back in the chair and turned his gaze towards the window. The next few years will be crucial to him, and yet he still doesn't have a name. Knowing the Fourth, he would have called him something insane... I guess I could at least not spoil his memory. With that as his thought, Danzou thought for a moment about the craziest names he could come up with, and chuckled when he came up with something that even he could laugh at. "Uzumaki Naruto... Yeah, that's something that he would have called the kid."

A few minutes passed. Danzou, who wasn't really paying attention to anything at the time, only just then realized that there was a soft beeping in the room. He turned towards a group of panels on the wall in front of him where one of the lights was flashing. Danzou sighed as he propped himself up in his chair and flipped the gray switch next to the flashing light.

Instantly, the screen on the panel jumped to life, lighting up a small room. The motion detector? He focused on the screen as it faded into view. A blond boy was thrashing harshly on his bed, and Danzou recognized immediately what room he was looking into. That's the demon carrier, what's going on? He saw that the child didn't seem any different, only that he was moving around a lot. It looked like he was running as he was sleeping, and Danzou figured it was just a nightmare.

I guess the demon must be able to influence his dreams... but dreams can't hurt you. He was confident that no one would try to hurt the boy, at least not inside the structure. They would never get away with assassinating him. Even if it's one of our own. Flipping the motion detector off, Danzou took one last look at the boy before getting ready to flip the monitor off.

"Keep alive Naruto... dreams are just dreams."

Naruto became closer and closer as the monitor flipped off, but Naruto could still be seen. He was gripping his sheets harshly and bashing his head into the pillow. Sweat excreted from every pore in his body, as his breaths came out in quick shallow puffs.

He could hear a voice in the back of his head. It was driving him insane and torturing him. It sounded like it was coming from right behind him, as if someone was whispering into his ear. Sounds of "kill" and "murder" rang through his virgin ears, even blood lust began to move through his thoughts. He thought about the people that were close to him, and saw their blood run down his hands.

Naruto's eyes opened in a flash. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his chest rising and falling rapidly. The voice was growing dormant as he regained consciousness, but still remained. The amount of sweat on his face had increased, as if he had been aflame. And that was pretty much how Naruto had felt, he was hot all over.

"Why doesn't it stop?"

Naruto's eyes closed as tears trickled down the sides of his face. A searing pain shot out from his stomach, making a fire ignite within him. Naruto groaned in pain as he rolled his head, trying desperately to get the pain to stop. It was unbearable, making the task of getting a decent rest impossible. He couldn't even get the chance to calm down. To make it worse, the voice began to return, muttering yet again about death and slaughter. Stop it! Naruto's eyes closed afterwards. He felt something break, and all he could hope was that it was the end...

What he didn't expect, was waking up to find that he was not in his bed. He was already confused and scared, but now it looked like he had awoken in some sort of dungeon. It also seemed that his wounds were gone. Either he had been sleepwalking, or more likely he had actually died and where he was had to be wherever his next life was. This is a creepy place though...

Naruto shakily got to his feet, using the walls to prop himself up. Darkness surrounded him, and the strict quietness broke only when a drop of water fell from the pipes above his head. Stranger still, Naruto could not get over the fact that he figured he knew the place. Although he could not recall being in a place so dark and dirty. Still, I feel like I've been here before. His thoughts came to a dead end as he tried to place the hallway he was in. It was just too unfamiliar to him.

When a low hiss came to his ears, Naruto turned around in a flash. His eyes trembled as the hissing slowly grew, until it became loud growls. Naruto figured whatever was making the noises was large, very large. Every nerve in his body was telling Naruto to turn and run for his life, but his curiosity was slowly getting the better of him as he actually began to walk towards the sound.

Naruto mentally cursed his curiosity, but he really just had to know what was making the sounds. As he looked around a corner, Naruto saw a bright light at the end of a certain tunnel. The sounds also seemed to be resonating from the room, so Naruto swallowed nervously before starting to slowly walk down the tunnel. I must be crazy, but I've got to see for myself.

When he walked into the light, Naruto was shocked to see the huge cage in front of him. To make things stranger was that both sides of the massive gate was held together with just a tiny sheet of paper with the word "seal" on them. It was almost unreal to see the little paper hold back the two massive gates on its own.

The growling from before was coming from inside the cage, but inside was so dark that Naruto couldn't make anything out. Naruto squinted his eyes and slowly walked towards the cage, not even thinking about what could be behind them. Closer and closer her walked, until he was within... striking range.

Naruto's eyes widened as giant claws struck out from behind the cage. Jumping backwards instinctively, Naruto began panting as he saw the claws less than a half a foot from where he was standing. W-What is that? The claws slowly began to move back into the cage, and a face appeared in the darkness, surrounded by red energy.

"To think... that my strike was avoided... I want to eat you, but I can't because of that absurd seal."

Naruto gawked at the giant face, and then remembered what the ANBU had told him before. He wasn't dead, he was staring straight at the thing that was sealed into him at birth. The Nine tailed demon fox. "Y-Your the Kyuubi aren't you?" At Naruto's question, the Kyuubi's mouth turned upwards in a smirk and his eyes narrowed at the boy.

"Correct child, I am the nine tailed fox. And I don't plan on living in someone with such suicidal thoughts."

"Y-You know about that?"

The fox came closer to the bars, letting his whole giant face shine through for Naruto to see. "Of course I know child, I know everything about you. Even the fact that your too weak to be mentioned in the same breath as I." The fox chuckled as Naruto's face turned to anger.Mortals were always so fun to toy with.

"If your sealed inside of me, if I die you die right?" Naruto knew what the fox had implied earlier, if that was the case...

"I don't know. But I'm not taking a chance." The Fox seemed unperturbed by Naruto's question. Naruto raised an eyebrow and bit his lower lip, he seemed to have lost his edge in the battle.

"You want me to be strong right?"

"I don't care... I won't let you die either way." Naruto grumbled as he looked down at the ground. However, the Kyuubi smirked deeper. "How does it feel boy? To be controlled?" The Kyuubi was pleased to see how Naruto flinched as he brought that up. "You'll be hated you know, they'll all think your a monster eventually. And that's exactly what you are."

Naruto's head flung up towards the Kyuubi with a scowl. "I'm not the monster, you are. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be dying of pain and craziness right now." He heard the Kyuubi chuckle slightly, before it got louder. Naruto was really confused, and kept scowling at the demon. "What's so funny?"

"I'm the only reason anyone cares about you. Don't you get it? If I wasn't here no one would give you the time of day, and the only way you can pay for it is by having everyone hate you. The gods punished you, and for WHAT!" Naruto kept his silence after that, turning his gaze down to the floor again. What could he have said?

"You're just the same as the others, pathetic and weak. When they're done with you it'll be worse, to the point where you won't have anything but your will to follow orders." Naruto thought about it for a moment. Unlike before, Kyuubi was becoming passionate, almost like he had a personality. Strange, but Naruto didn't think about the Kyuubi's emotions at the present time.

"What do you mean by that?"

The fox growled again before leering at Naruto, who shrunk slightly under his gaze. "I'm referring to the people who are training you. I see them and what they are doing. They are training you to become nothing more than a slave."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and returned Kyuubi's leer with one of his own. "A slave?"

"Question nothing, kill your heart, and complete your mission at all costs. They are training you to be completely obedient, and never raise a hand against anything that they do." The Kyuubi's words were filled with resentment and hatred, emotions that filtered towards Naruto, making sure that he knew discomfort.

"Danzou-san saved me though, why shouldn't I follow his orders?"

"Fool, following orders are one thing, but he's taking away your individuality." The Kyuubi grunted before turning around, he had enough of the conversation. "Do what you want, but if you follow down the path you are on, don't expect help from me!"

"I thought you said you'd keep me alive?"

"Self preservation and pain prevention are two different things insect, remember that." Naruto sighed and shook his head, the fox was being less than cooperative, but at least he wasn't going to let him die. There was just... one thing left though.

"Why... did you attack Konoha?"

A long and uneasy silence broke out between the two. The Kyuubi growled lowly before glaring back at Naruto. "I don't think that's any of your business, now leave!" As soon as the last word was spoken, Naruto disappeared into thin air, back to the rest of his body. "Pathetic worm..."

-To Be Continued-

Note: Kyuubi interaction that doesn't involve Naruto getting the snot beat out of him. I rewrote this after finishing the whole chapter... the things I do to make it better. You don't want to see what it was before... too many clishe moments to count. I think this chapter Really Really Really sucks... but then again I never was any good at things like this.