Disclaimer: NOT MINE!
-Konoha, Secret room-
"I am very glad all of you could make it here."
Morino Ibiki snorted loudly at that, his arms crossed as he leaned back into his seat.
"Well, when the Hokage requests for your presence in an, and I quote: 'Emergency meeting with the safety and future of the village in mind', you show up. Isn't that right, Inoichi? Dragon?"
The Yamanaka patriarch nodded, smirking slightly at Ibiki's words, while Dragon, the ANBU director, coordinator and leader did nothing to show their agreement, yet it was felt by the three other men in the room anyway.
Freaky, I know.
"Hokage-sama" Dragon spoke in a cold, concise yet ambiguous tone, one that kept people in doubt about the ANBU member's gender "No disrespect meant, but could you please be fast in explaining your need for us here? The induction and training of new members is scheduled for later this week, and there is much to do and plan."
Raising his eyebrow at Dragon, Hiruzen leaned forward onto the table, locking his fingers together and covering his mouth with his joined hands. Meeting the gaze of each of the people in the room, Hiruzen said a single word.
"ROOT."
All traces of joviality disappeared from Inoichi and Ibiki's face, replaced by a sense of grim sobriety.
Dragon's reaction was simply to straighten out fully, the tiny traces of impatience that the three men in the room weren't sure even existed becoming less than a possibility, lost in the void.
Seeing his people looking sufficiently alarmed, Hiruzen spoke.
"You all know that I ordered Danzo to disband ROOT sometime after the 3rd war, and back then it seemed that he had done so. But after the Kyuubi attack, I had allowed it to become active again, a necessary evil to keep the village safe I believed.
I became alarmed when it managed to come back into full functioning too fast for a program that had been completely defunct, but there was not much I could do about it. A few years after I gave Danzo the order to disband again, this time completely, but recent events have me believing that a member of our ow illustrious village has been harboring an illegal army under my own nose.
After a cursory look upon many of the documents in the archives, and checking some dates with particular events which could have had a different outcome had I not been occupied with this or that crisis that was much too convenient in timing, I have come to the conclusion that not only Danzo has ROOT still active, but that he also has members of his little faction, or collaborators, positioned well within various sectors of our village's functioning, loyal to him above their Hokage, or their village. That is unacceptable."
A somber mood fell onto the people in the room, with Ibiki and Inoichi mentally working through the full implications of this information, about how much sensitive info their departments gather that could have been reaching the wrong hands, how much the village could have already been harmed by this.
"I am yours to command, Hokage-sama. What do you need me to do?"
Hiruzen shifted his gaze towards Dragon, the one to have broken the silence, before looking towards the other two, seeing similar looks of resolve in their faces. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Hiruzen responded.
"We will be doing an in-depth sweep of the village. Every single department which has anything to do with our shinobi, or that is indispensable for the proper functioning of the village is going to be thoroughly checked. From administrative matters to financial ones, even the academy and orphanages, I want you to check everybody who isn't in a list of vetted individuals I shall be giving you.
You have free reign on how and when you will be doing your checks, but anything and everything you learn of is to meet my hands directly, or, in my absence, Dragon's."
The three people in the room nodded at that, prompting Hiruzen to speak up.
"Is there anyone that you would advise bringing into this endeavor?"
None of the three hesitated as they spoke simultaneously.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
They then proceeded to trade surprised looks, with Hiruzen's own showing on his face. Composing himself, the old Hokage cleared his throat to get the people present settled down, before speaking up.
"Not that I don't feel happy or proud that the three of you so promptly trust Naruto to bring him into this venture, but I'd like to hear valid reasons for this trust you have in him. This is not small matter, and you all know this, so make sure that your arguments are valid and logical."
The three stopped for a moment to collect their thoughts, before Ibiki spoke up.
"This project is going to require the careful processing and handling of much information, the interrogating and interviewing of many people, and a good eye for detail. Surprisingly, Uzumaki is one of the best possible interrogators we have here. He showed the remarkable ability to make our prisoners crack in an obscenely short amount of time, with… unorthodox methods, to be polite. Speaking more candidly, the things he did were absolute bullshit and had no logical reason to work, and yet they did regardless.
The only reason I chose him and not Anko is the fact that Anko likes to be very physical in her information extraction, and we do not want the shinobi and Kunoichi that are loyal and innocent of traitorous acts traumatized for life."
Hiruzen nodded at that, before turning towards Inoichi, who took his cue to speak up.
"Aside from what Ibiki has already said, I see another good use of Naruto-san's skills. According to what I know of ROOT, their members are conditioned to be unfeeling, inhuman machines, working only for the end result of the mission.
Naruto-san happens to have the ability to elicit genuine and profound emotional reactions from people, be they positive or negative. Subjecting people to him for extended periods of time will eventually allow me to separate regular people, and those with great emotional control, from unthinking, unfeeling machines, no matter how good they are at putting on human faces."
Dragon was the next to be put on the spotlight, speaking in the usual concise, utilitarian-focused tone.
"There is no-one in this village that knows about our infrastructure and its faults than Uzumaki Naruto, fact proven repeatedly by the fact that he has never been apprehended for a prank that he did not want to before. He seems to find ways to transport extremely high amounts of materials, many of which should possess traits that would alert our various shinobi, such as intense smells, or bright colors, yet he goes undetected.
He managed to get an entire system of pulleys and scaffolds set up around Hokage mountain in a single night, painted the entirety of the stone faces, and was only found out because he himself purposefully alerted the village.
For any underground organization to be able to function properly without being caught, they need to know which paths they can take, where they can store their materials, where they can house their numbers, and various other such things. Uzumaki Naruto is the perfect person to help us unearth these spots, with his uncanny ability to do so himself.
The fact that he manages to perform acts that baffle the investigative skills of our top experts, bypass security systems and target sensitive areas without leaving a shred of evidence means that the enemy wouldn't know to target him as his name would be unknown during the entire process.
And, most important of all, while Uzumaki Naruto may not show the same devotion towards the village that he showed just a short while ago, something that I have noted in his interactions with its people, he still shows an unwavering level of trust and devotion towards you, sir. If there is one person who could be trusted, outside of this group, not to let the information reach enemy hands, it is him."
Hiruzen nodded lightly at that, and while outwardly stoic, inwardly he was anything but.
'Naruto, to think that you have garnered such favor with some of the topmost members of the village's functioning… You seem to have inherited your parents' charisma. Minato and Kushina would've been proud of you…'
-Musgaku Gai, outside Club Jianshu-
Naruto leaped towards his enemy at full strength, covering the space between the two of them in less than two seconds, before lashing out with a kunai slash aimed for the neck, which was easily deflected by Auru's Katana, causing a shower of sparks to emerge between the two.
Seeing his opponent unmoved and unaffected, Naruto grit his teeth in anger before jumping backwards, going through various handsigns, breathing in as he did, before ending in a Tiger handsign and exhaling.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)"
A large fireball, easily 10 feet across sped towards Auru, who reacted by whipping his sword across the middle of it, causing it to split into two and travel past him, splashing into a brick wall a few feet away from them and exploding, causing bits of the red substance to rain above the two.
Naruto joined his hands together to use his favorite Jutsu, a cloud of smoke emerging around him before it was split by the motion of a fire shuriken being thrown towards him, launched from one of the 5 blondes that were now across from him.
The clones hadn't stopped, running after the giant shuriken, ready to attack their enemy, prompting Auru to dodge the giant projectile, before he was attacked by 2 of the blondes. He watched the remaining two make another set of handsigns, prompting him to dispatch the two clones attacking him before the jutsu could be thrown his way. He crouched lightly, ready to jump away from the jutsu, only to find himself being tackled from behind, a pair of arms wrapping tightly against his own and keeping them parallel to his torso, unable to move.
Two fireballs with twice the size of the original one streaked towards the old Yakuza boss, the flames so hot they burned almost white-hot, causing the ground under them to turn into molten slag and the air around them to warp into a haze, before impacting with a massive explosion.
Peering attentively into the dust that had been raised by the explosion in order to check for the enemy's presence, Naruto was surprised by the voice that came from right behind him.
"It seems I have allowed you enough time to put in an effort. It is time I retaliate."
Naruto made a 180 in a dime, barely managing to deflect the blow that would've made a severe cut on his chest into a graze to his face, a thin line of red now running perpendicular to the whisker marks on his right cheek. That was followed up by a veritably flurry of sword strikes, slashes and thrusts which Naruto only barely managed to redirect time and time again, leaving his body and clothes riddled with gashes of varying severity and splotches of vivid red.
Auru was surprised by the young blonde's tenacity. Normally, anyone else in his position would've already gone down from the blood loss of the collective cuts, or due to the pain they were feeling, yet the child didn't even slow down or waver in his deflections.
Then, the old man noticed some of the older cuts starting to seal themselves closed, what seemed like steam lightly emerging from them as they did.
'Ah, so that's what it is.'
Forcing the child into a blade lock, Auru proceeded to surprise the boy by kicking him away, attacking him without his blade for the first time in the entire fight.
"Very good, to think that a high-speed regeneration bloodline like yours existed… You probably recover your stamina extremely fast as well, which is why you're probably still standing despite the fact that I've been gradually forcing you to increase your pace to keep up with me."
Naruto recovered from the kick that had driven the wind out of him, taking the time to regain his breath and recover more of his stamina, his gaze not moving from the unruffled old man.
'Shit, I'm completely outmatched here! I already pulled the trick of the clone transforming into a weapon, so it probably won't work again, and the fact that he can dodge two fireballs moving as fast as they were even while being grabbed by a clone means that none of my jutsu of C-rank and above will probably touch him…'
"But I am more than just a bit disappointed, you know. That woman you were with… she had no fancy bloodline limit like you to keep her moving, yet she pushed me further than you have so far. Perhaps I shall rouse her, even injured she should give me a better fight than you."
The amount of rage Naruto felt was enough to overwhelm Kurama's negative emotion sensing for a second, causing the fox to wince hard. He felt Naruto trying to draw on a sizeable amount of his chakra, enough to destroy his unused body from the inside out, and he actually let out a sigh of relief as he watched the seal hold back most of said chakra, letting only what was a relative trickle through.
However, that trickle was enough for now.
Auru could only watch in fascination as Naruto's injuries, which were healing at a steady rate, suddenly close themselves completely at an even higher speed, a larger amount of steam being released from his body.
The boy's clothes started waving in non-existent wind, his shoulder-length spiky hair flying upwards, it's spikes splitting themselves further from the existing groups and becoming jagged and animalistic; his whisker marks thickened considerably, his canines growing in a noticeable manner, his fingernails lengthened and sharpened into dangerous-looking claws, and a red color bled into his irises, with his pupils turning into slits.
"Fascin-"
The old man stopped mid-word, his sword parrying the razor-sharp claws that had been on course for his throat, surprising him due to the sparks flying from the clash, as they had been earlier.
'So the boy's… claws… are as sharp and durable as Kunai? No, even more so, they aren't receiving the stress cracks his kunai were from clashing with my sword.'
That move was followed by a series of animalistic slashes at what was easily a low-jounin speed, forcing Auru to increase his pace as well.
A puff of smoke above the blonde was all the warning the old man had to jump backwards, a second blonde having pierced the ground where he previously stood with his claws alone, before the original pounced at him, ready to eviscerate him.
Auru avoided that by hopping backwards repeatedly, watching with a level of fascination as the child kept speeding up. However, he could see the stress building up on the boy's body as his muscles seemed to be spasming continuously.
Having noticed that the spasms were increasing in speed and intensity, Auru took a bigger hop back than before, positioning his feet properly on the ground for his next move. As the blonde pounced towards him, his air time bigger due to the larger distance, Auru blurred.
He appeared a few feet behind Naruto, a gleam of silver light trailing after him, before he flicked his blade to the side, the blood on it splattering onto the ground.
A gush of red emerged from the blonde's chest, coinciding with the fading of power in his body, the red-hot energy coursing through him having been fully expended. With his body back to normal with the exception of what would definitely become a scar, Naruto fell to his knees, his strength sapped almost completely.
Naruto happened to be positioned to face Anko, and instead of anger, he felt despair now. Would his weakness kill both him and one of his precious people?
Leaning forwards in an attempt to reach her, Naruto fell forwards, his legs screaming rebelliously at him, only for a wave of pain to flare as his wound made solid contact with the ground.
Hissing at the pain, Naruto clutched the wound with one arm, endeavoring to stop the blood flow, while using his other arm to drag himself towards Anko.
Despite the fact that his arms were protesting as much as his legs had been, Naruto powered through it, painstakingly making his way towards his teacher, and one of his first true friends.
"Incredible… For you to still be conscious after that strike, your bloodline really is a fearsome one."
Naruto ignored the hated voice of the old man, reaching Anko and trying to climb over her to check on her own injury.
"However" the man kept speaking "It was not your bloodline that allowed you to reach your teacher, it was sheer tenacity. How admirable, of the new generation to fight so hard for their precious ones…"
Naruto turned towards the man, his stone-melting glare being one that would've put anything Sasuke could come up with to shame, before he spoke.
"And what the fuck do you know about precious people? A heartless piece of scum like you prob-"
"DO! NOT! Compare me to those… wretched piles of filth posing as humans. I find the act of putting a monetary value to the lives of people extremely… distasteful. I tend to avoid these little… events… and I make sure that none occur while in my family's territory. The only reason I came here today was because I heard of the girl.
And innocent young child like her is not to be put in reach of those who would try to use her to line their pockets by exploring the perversions of others, or for those who would try to groom and use her as nothing more than a sex slave!"
The man's incensed tone surprised Naruto more than the man's words, and he watched the old man take a deep breath to compose himself, before speaking up again.
"At first, I intended to only help the girl, but…"
The man seemed to turn slightly wistful, his eyes glazing over in a manner signifying him looking back upon his memories.
"Your eyes when you defended that child… They reminded me of myself, a long while ago."
The man leaned towards Naruto, meeting the boy's confused, yet fearsome look, before speaking.
"I used to be a shinobi too, you know. Jounin, in Kumo. I fought in the second and third wars, crossed fists with the likes of the professor and the yellow flash and survived to tell the tale. Had things kept going as they did, I could have possibly become a candidate for fourth Raikage, however…"
-Flashback, Start! -
In a small town in Grass country, during the 3rd war, a battle had just been fought.
Kappon Auru sighed, wiping the blood off of his blade. It had been a tough day of battle, and his squad had been fighting against a group of Konoha-nin which had been, surprisingly enough, backed up by Kiri-nin. It wasn't a planned thing, one could easily see that, it was more of an 'enemy of my enemy' scenario, and after they beat Kumo, they'd have probably fought against each other for the land they had 'liberated'.
Auru and his men were already prepared to die in combat, their last stand serving to slow down and weaken their enemies, when they were surprised by back-up.
They had allied themselves to Iwa, and it seems that it had been a good choice. The force of Rock nin had split itself in three, two smaller groups attacking Konoha and Kiri from the sides, while a larger one went around the back, cutting off their escape route.
The leader of the Iwa-nin, a man belonging to one of Earth Country's noble clans, was the one to give the order that lead to the deaths of thousands, but that was war.
Very few survived the attack, the majority of those few having been restrained and taken towards the impromptu interrogation area.
Auru happened to witness first-hand as the 'nobleman' from earth country walked towards one of the bound enemies, a brown-haired woman with a pair of red triangle marks on her cheeks, before saying something to her, and then gripping his crotch lecherously. The woman spat on his face in response, causing him to light up with anger, his shouts reaching Auru's ears.
"That's it, you Leaf Scum! I tried to make this nice and easy, but I guess I'll have to see how much you dog-fucking bitches kick and fight whenever your partner isn't a four-legged mutt!"
The man grabbed the woman's shirt, ripping the front of it off and revealing her breasts to him. As his hand was about to reach her, he was surprised by the gush of red that splashing on front of him, originating from the now-dead woman.
His eyes lit up angrily at the black-haired form of Auru, his dirty blade being the proof of him doing the deed, but Auru spoke up in a hard tone before the noble could.
"We. Don't. Rape. Killing, torturing, stealing, those are all necessities of war. But we do not rape. We may be taking each other's lives, be we shall not take away their humanity, or dignity."
The killer intent he released was enough to scare the rest of the group straight, any thoughts of violating the enemy Kunoichi instantly forgotten. Even the few captured Konoha and Kiri-nin seemed to be looking at him with respect and gratitude. Grudging, but there still.
However, a man so easily capable of debasing a helpless prisoner, one who had been told from birth that he was above all others due to the fact that he heralded from a 'noble' clan wouldn't have allowed something like that to go freely, as it did.
All it took was him sending one letter towards his family, with mother than a few fabricated and embellished 'facts' for Auru to receive a dishonorable discharge from Kumo.
They had been taking good damage during the war, and didn't want any stress on the only alliance they had, so they preferred to cut loose a shinobi with years of loyalty and duty in his file.
That day Auru decided that he wouldn't let things such as politics, or fear stop him from doing what's right. He established himself as a watchful entity in the red light district of one of Fire country's northernmost cities, protecting the average person from Yakuza action, and halting violence between denizens of the district. Very soon, his skills and honor made him a target for the ruling 'Family', which he easily destroyed.
He was then accepted as the leader of the city's underworld, and he instituted his code of morals which was surprisingly popular for people coming from such poor areas, known to most regular people as immoral human beings.
Very soon, and without him noticing really, he had already become the leader of the entire northern sector, and his name was known by anyone and everyone with links to the Underworld.
-Flashback End-
Naruto's face showed a mixture of anger and grudging respect, causing the old man to chuckle at it. The chuckle reignited Naruto's anger, but Auru spoke up before the blonde could.
"My name is Kappon Auru. I would like to know the name of the one who fought so valiantly for the weak."
Seeing that the boy wasn't inclined to answer, Auru let out a sigh, before standing up fully and walking away.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
The old man stopped mid-step, his ear perking up at that.
"Remember the name, old man. Uzumaki Naruto, the one who's going to punch your face in next time we meet!"
'Uzumaki, huh? Heh.'
"I look forward for our next meeting, so grow stronger… Son of the Yellow Flash."
Following that, Auru vanished in a shunshin. Naruto, shocked by the man's words, his head whirling from the various discoveries of the day, his mind fatigued from the various shocks of the day, more than a few of which came from him taking human lives for the first time, and his body weak from the blood loss could do no more than pass out on top of Anko, the running red staining the woman's clothes.
-To be Continued-