Chapter 5: Jaded Leaves Gleaming

Saru dived to the side. A kunai slammed into the tree. Blood dripped from the monkey mask. It had been such a lovely day when he had woken up but they just had to decide to instigate a war after lunch. The ANBU tilted his head. Only the rustling of leaves met his ears for a few seconds. Broken sounds of distant battles snuck in between the laughing trees. Where did she go?

Black eyes peaked through the eye holes of the monkey mask. A deep breath brought the taste of iron and smoke. Pushing his feet deeper into the mud, the ANBU pushed his chakra into the ground and had it spread. A technique he had used and mastered enough to no longer need hand seals.

There.

A female jumped high from behind one of the trees. The earth followed her upwards in a pointed spike. She flipped. Her feet slapped onto the back of a tree branch. With a push, she propelled herself to the side. The earth spike smashed into the branch seconds later.

Kunai flew from her hands as she twisted towards Saru. Hands blurred. Words were whispered. Rumbling filled the air. The projectiles slammed harmlessly into an earth wall. The kunoichi used the obstructed view to rush towards the ANBU. Her hands flashed through seal forms. She slapped her hand into the wall, water sliced through it, revealing the ANBU behind. The woman smirked as her sharp water continued to slice through the figure. He crumbled into earth. A spike ended her life, shock ingrained permanently on her face. The symbol for the Cloud village gleamed on her suspended corpse.

Saru stepped out from behind a tree and shook his head at the corpse as he pulled a scroll out. "Couldn't you have chosen to attack tomorrow; it was supposed to be cold and misty." Unrolling the scroll Saru flicked the end of the paper at the far end of the corpse. Once it was layed across most of the body, he made a few hand seals and murmured, "Seal."

The scroll fell to the ground as smoke exploded out with a slight whoosh of displaced air. Picking the scroll up the monkey ANBU turned towards the closest battle sounds and vanished silently into the trees, leaving behind a bloody spike and used kunai as the only evidence of war.

AUAU

Pain shot through her as the lightening sparking hand slammed through her chest, just missing her heart. Unfocused blue eyes looked up into blood red sharingans. "Sasu-"

Jerking up with a gasp, Naoko stared out into the dorm room she shared with multiple other little girls. It was that nightmare again. She had been having it for the past couple of weeks. The little girl looked down at her hands. A tear drop hit them. Naoko could not remember the entire nightmare anymore. There was just pain but a part of her knew that it wasn't just a bad dream. It was memories. Her chest ached from the dreamed, remembered pain. Someone had tried to kill her. No, kill Naruto. She couldn't figure out why, though. Everything she could remember was about the academy. It was all about pranks and other children that were being so mean to him.

She pulled her night shirt up to look at her tummy. With a little pull of chakra the girl was able to draw up the broken seal. She knew Naruto had had the Kyuubi in there once upon a time. She even remembered checking it when first waking up in the alley way, back when Naruto was still prominently active in her. Like everyone in the village, Naoko had come to think of Naruto as her brother and her twin. She just happened to know him a lot better than people would think, though that wasn't going to last long, Naoko also knew the fact that they weren't truly siblings but the one and the same, soul wise at least.

The little girl shook her head, ridding herself of her silly thoughts. It didn't matter what was going on in her head. She was Naoko. She was Naruto. Who cared. With that Naoko's eyes suddenly got a gleam to them. What was she going to do today to be put into time out. The sooner it was done the better as it gave her more time to train and more time to figure out something, anything involving those strange butterflies her hair becomes when cut.

Three months, three whole months had gone by since cutting her hair and nothing had been figured out. It didn't help that she had her hair turning into bugs. Pretty bugs but bugs all the same. It made her feel like that creepy boy in Naruto's class. Abruame Shinito or something like that. Especially when the butterflies crawled back into to her. Naoko sighed before hopping out of bed. She might as well figure out something to get in trouble for.

AUAU

Uchiha Itachi regarded the animal masked figure standing before him. Trepidation flickered through the ten year old for but a moment before the sharingan user bowed in silent greeting. The white coated, mouse masked ANBU bowed back before stepping forward and handing the boy a small jade maple leaf. Itachi stared down at the gift. The first step to his pre-made future. The path of the ANBU awaited him. Looking up Itachi stared over his empty room as twilight's blue light glowed outside the window. After a moment longer Itachi turned the leaf over and stared at the familiar script carved across the back.

In the dark we protect. In the shadows we swear undieing loyalty to the leaf. By blood we leave behind personal identity and give our lives for home, family, and prosperity of Hi no Kuni.

Uchiha Itachi slid his thumb over the carving, feeling the cool bite of the stone a moment longer before nipping his other thumb, drawing blood. The sharingan flared to life as Uchiha Itachi squared his young shoulders and swiped his blood across the script. The word blood glowed. With a puff of displaced air the ten year old vanished into thin air.

In a unknown place, deep in the forest surrounding Konohagakure, the ten year old reappeared. With him nine other shinobi and kunoichi popped quietly into existence. Itachi glanced at the others but only recognized Shirakumo Hayama and Hijiri Shimon. He already knew that only five of the others would pass along side him. One would die. Shirakumo and Hijiri would become his temporary teammates during the month long training period he had ahead of him.

Itachi closed his eyes as exhaustion, someone his age should not feel, filled him temporarily. He would do his duty to Konoha as many times as he must, even if this was some terrible twist of fate where he was stuck in a time loop. He would protect his home. Black eyes opened to regard the pigeon masked ANBU captain before them, silver hair spiked up behind the mask with its gravity defying abilities. Memories of things yet to come would not destroy him nor deter him on the path that lay before Itachi.

He would become ANBU. He would go down the same path. And he would repeat all his mistakes, all his failures, and all his successes just so he would find himself slicing down his traitorous clan again. Itachi would not put such a burden on another. Even if it slowly destroyed him. Uchiha Itachi was already broken and insane. Repeating the same thing over again was proof enough of that but what must be done must be done. This time would be different though, Itachi would be the last Uchiha at the end.

"In the dark we protect. In the shadows we swear undieing loyalty to the leaf. By blood we leave behind personal identity and give our lives for home, family, and prosperity of Hi no Kuni." Whispered the Hato ANBU standing before them. "You have been chosen for the test that will determine whether or not you possess the commitment and loyalty Konohagakure no sato and Hi no Kuni demands of its weapons. If you succeed in this test you will become part of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai."

Silences filled the clearing as all the ANBU hopefuls stood nearly perfectly still. The Pigeon ANBU regarded them in the silence as it stretched into minutes. Finally the opposing figure stepped to the side and waved his hand to the neatly piled items behind him. "Gear up. I will be your captain for this mission and one of your proctors of the test." Another ANBU member shunshined into the clearing. "And Buta will be your other proctor for this test." Finished Pigeon.

Itachi moved swiftly over to the piles and glanced over them before finding the one with the jade maple leaf resting on top. The other piles had other types of jade leaves gleaming in the dawn light. Within the pile was a nondescript ANBU outfit. The mask was a blank white. Everything else was standard gear.

There was a scroll with mission details, though Itachi knew an important aspect of the mission information was missing. It was part of the test. It would prove who had the skill for the ANBU and who also had enough loyalty to the leaf village to forsake every humane and personal belief they possessed. Underneath it all was a single piece of paper with the words:

Squad: Pigeon

Code Name: Jaybird

Mission position: Center

Black eyes stared down at the words. He had forgotten about that. Putting him in the center marked him as someone to protect. The center was either a medic, genjutsu user, or a long range fighter. With his sharingan he was expected to be the genjutsu user in the team then.

"All ready?" Called Pigeon as he regarded all the nervous ANBU hopefuls standing in blank white masks. "Then lets head out, Points lead us towards Tsune no Kuni." A moment later the clearing was empty of any indication of its importance.

AUAU

The door slipped open with a soft swoosh. Bare feet lightly tapped the wood floor, somehow keeping any normal creaking from occurring. Slowly the small figure moved through the room, pausing for a moment at each bed. Blue eyes gleamed in the morning light as the child finished up with her latest prank. The boys would be waking up soon and they would regret it. A small smirk filter across the innocent face as the child tied the last string in place. Looking at her master piece for but a moment the child turned and quietly moved through the string work that ran through the room.

A soft groan came from one of the beds, making the little girl still and stare. A little boy slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes of sleep. The girl turned and bolted, somehow perfectly diving through the mess of string without touching any. Reaching the door the little girl threw it opened as the little boy got out of bed and triggered the trap. The girl glanced back with a grin as she ran through the door. Large pails of paint were in the process of falling onto all the boys and their beds. Screams filled the room.

The little girl ran into a solid barrier right outside the door. "Naoko!" Came a hissed response. Blue eyes flashed over to the side to find the orphanage head standing there glaring at her. Well crap. This was the first time she had been caught when she hadn't planned on it.

"That is a pretty good trap there kid." Naoko jerked her head up to find the barrier she had run into was a buff or maybe just fat Chūnin shinobi with a trimmed goatee, if the green jacket was any indication. The Chūnin looked over at Hayashi-san. "She one of the potentials?"

"Yes. This is an example of the things she's been doing that indicate her potential for the shinobi arts, Funeno-san."

The Chūnin nodded before clapping a hand onto Naoko's shoulder. "Well, we'll go wait in the mess hall as you collect all the potentials then."

Naoko glanced back at Funeno as he lead her down to the mess hall. What was going on? Was this a normal procedure to see what children would be joining the academy once they were old enough? Why would they care about her right now though? She was only three.

The little girl stared wide eyed at the two other shinobi waiting in the mess hall. One was a lady with curly black hair and oval glasses. The other was clearly a Hyuuga, JÅ nin ranked most likely, though he was young.

"Daikoku-kun?" The kunoichi nodded at Naoko in question.

Funeno Daikoku grinned. "Hayashi-san and I caught her pranking the boys dorms. It was a rather complicated trap involving string and paint buckets. It could have been deadly if she had traded out the material for proper shinobi gear."

"Really? Hey sweetheart how old are you?" smiled the kunoichi as she pushed a strand of curly hair behind her ear, the last question directed at Naoko.

Naoko frowned at her, "I'm three."

"Huh." The woman frowned at her before looking up at Funeno. "Well she is in the age bracket we are supposed to be looking for."

Naoko narrowed her eyes at the woman, her frown deepening into a scowl. What was she on about? The kunoichi gave her a odd look, probably because of the expression Naoko was giving her. Little kids shouldn't give those types of expressions and mean it.

Hayashi Yumi walked in at that moment, followed by a line of boys and girls. Naoko regarded them all. All the boys were still covered in paint to the little girl's pleasure. The children varied from ages three to eight from Naoko's guess. There were about thirty seven of them. "Naoko get in line." Bit Hayashi-san. Naoko ran over to the end and found herself standing by Haruko, her fellow three-year-old girl.

Hayashi turned to the shinobi. "Here are the potentials as we have determined over the last month and a half since being informed of this." She looked over at the line of children. "State your name and age." The children quickly went down the line, each of them giving both their given last name and first name. Naoko wrinkled her nose at that. She had been given a last name by the orphanage but that didn't mean she cared for it.

Naoko pouted slightly as the line reached her. "Tano Naoko, three."

"Very well, you may leave Hayashi-san." Stated the Hyuuga quietly as he stepped forwards, his eyes sliding over the line of children. The orphanage head scowled and looked ready to protest but seemed to think better of it and fled the room. She was used to giving the orders around here.

Blue eyes stared at the man. He had long, dark brown hair tied in a low ponytail with two strands of his hair framing his face. The Konoha forehead protector covered his forehead. The Hyuuga clan needed to marry in some manly men, badly. Or maybe some burly women even. The Hyuuga before her was just too pretty to be fair to any potential girlfriend he ended up having. Vague images of other Hyuuga she knew crossed her mind, their names just at the tip of her tongue. She couldn't remember who were boys and girls. Naoko was almost certain that she had known some Hyuuga of both sexes. A Green seal on one of their foreheads flashed by before the little girl just shook her head and focused back on the shinobi before her.

The Hyuuga frowned blandly down at them, "I will do the first test. You all will stay where you are and do nothing." The young man formed a few hand seals almost lazily. He clearly thought this above him. Naoko scowled. "Byakugan." The skin around his eyes tightened and definition appeared in the colorless eyes, revealing the man's pupils.

These eyes of mine show me many things...people's limitations...unchangeable...Only a fool...become something...never be!

Naoko shook her head sharply. What? Where had that come from. The little girl glanced over at the Hyuuga, he was wondering down the line stating something to Funeno-san about each child, who than wrote it down.

His eyes sparked a memory. But she hadn't seen anything, just heard something. Naoko sighed. She had blanked out for a moment, more than enough time for someone to come and attack her. Small fists clenched. She couldn't control when those memories show up but hopefully she won't have it happen again, not when it was too dangerous for her or others.

The Hyuuga stepped up to her. "High level of chakra, unusually developed chakra coils." Interest filtered into the mans voice. "she would do well in one of the advanced classes if she is proficient in the basics." Funeno nodded and walked over to the kunoichi while writing the information down.

Naoko looked up into the Byakugan. The young man stared right back for a moment. A small smile of approval crossed the mans face when Naoko held his stare. "You will do well." Came the simple, quiet statement before the man turned and joined the other shinobi. It had almost come off as an order, in fact. But it had its affect. Naoko would do her best just to prove him right. Her small chest rose proudly. She stood straighter and smiled grimly, ready for what was coming her way.

The three shinobi quietly discussed the first test as all the children shifted around in their line. A bell rang out through the room, indicating that it was breakfast. The shinobi ignored it. So Naoko ignored her rumbling tummy.

Finally they separated and the female of the group stepped forward with the notes in her hand. "If I call your name you will be allowed to go to breakfast which I believe is being held in your respective playrooms today. The older children will take the younger ones to their playrooms before returning to their own. If it is found that you neglected this, Hayashi-san will be informed. Now, Fujimoto Akiko...Morita Hideo..."

Blue eyes watched as the line of children decreased to twenty eight. The kunoichi pushed her glasses up as the last child called exited the room. The sound of the door sliding shut filled the silent room. Funeno moved, revealing a pile of paper in his hands. The children watched as he placed a paper in front of each chair of the dining table nearest him, the one reserved for the caretakers and orphanage head.

The kunoichi hmmed, regaining all their attention. Naoko frowned, paper tests sucked. That was all there was to it. "When I call your name you will come forward, take a pencil, and seat yourself in the first available seat with a paper in front of it. You will not turn the paper over until you are told to." She looked down at her paper before marking something and looking up. "Tano Naoko."

Naoko jerked at the call. She had not expected to be called first. Quickly collecting herself, the little girl swiftly went to the Hyuuga who had a tin of pencils in his hand. Taking one, Naoko soon found herself seated at the head of the table with a foreboding white piece of paper seated before her. All she could think of was all the tests Naruto had taken. Ones where he had simply guessed at the answers. Others where he had not written anything. Some that he had written the right answer to only have it marked wrong. She fiddled with her pencil. Her hands growing sweaty.

She could not do this. Blue eyes stared at the white paper. Her face grew pale. There was a staple on the corner. Inari-sama really hated her, there was more than one page to this test.

A hand settled on the table near her. Blue eyes flew up to the person it belonged to. The Hyuuga stood, leaning slightly onto the table as he regarded all the children who were sitting before their tests. Naoko looked over at the other kids. Innocent, confused, and scared eyes stared back.

The Hyuuga spoke. "You will answer all the questions you can. Look through the entire packet. Once you are certain you cannot answer anymore of the questions, raise your hand. One of us will come to you, collect your paper, and then escort you to a playroom that you will stay in until we tell you otherwise. Kudo-san will stay with you and will take you to the restroom if it is needed. Now you may turn over the test and begin."

The little Senju flipped the paper over and carefully wrote her name across the top. Looking at the questions, the little girl stared. The entire first page was simply questions pertaining to how to write and read, what was the subject of the sentence, what was the action in the sentence, and so on. Naoko answered it quickly and easily. The next page was similar, but with longer passages to read and answer questions about. She could do this.

After the reading and writing section was complete, the test went onto mathematics. That was only the basics, too. Though Naoko wasn't sure she answered the last few correctly, she had never been very good a math. The next section was history. That was extremely easy. Mostly because it asked silly questions like who the Hokages were and their most noted skills. Though the question about who had been the Kyuubi container and when did the person die had shocked her. She had been hesitant to answer that one. What if she gave more information than most people knew? Naoko ended skipping that one. Call her paranoid but she was not going to answer that just in case.

After those Naoko was surprised to find questions that related more closely to shinobi matters. She answered some and left many blank. Naoko blushed as she stared at one question. She should know the answer but for the life of her she could not remember what the three jutsu's the academy taught students. In turn Naoko could easily remember the different mission ranks, though not what differentiated them. Most of the questions pertaining to chakra was extremely easy. If Naoko was honest with herself she might have been a little too detailed in that. Or a lot.

The last section involved questions pertaining to different specific jutsu's, shinobi organizations, departments, and all together classified things or just stuff children would not usually know. Naoko read through them all and felt some of it was familiar, like the question about the Sennin, but she didn't answer any of them. She couldn't. Naoko raised her hand and looked up to only blink when she found herself the only child left in the mess hall. Sitting across form her was the Hyuuga, the only other person in the room. He sat there with his arms folded across his chest, leaning the chair back on one leg. His relaxed posture was fraughted by the intensity of his stare.

His faintly purple tinted eyes gleamed with interest. Naoko blinked before she realized she still had her hand in the air. As it fell the Hyuuga settled his chair back to its up right position and claimed her test. "You will find Breakfast in the playroom. First one on the right once you leave." He nodded to the door. Food! Naoko flashed her thousand watt smile at the man before bolting out the door.

AUAU

After her brunch, as it was close to noon by the time Naoko had finished her test, she found herself being taken out to the academy. Most of the children from the test were also being taken there. She was the only three year old, though. Blue eyes had eaten everything as they bounced over the area on their walk to the academy.

She hadn't been down this path in ages or, technically, ever. Yet Naoko noticed some differences. There were some stores that she didn't recognize, some signs seemed newer, and some stores weren't there at all. In one area there was a empty lot where a really good dango shop had once and, Naoko guessed, would someday stand.

Once they were at the academy they were taken to the training area. Naoko watched as Funeno brought out a box, handles of what she guessed were practice kunai stuck out haphazardly. "Form a line." Called Funeno-san. Naoko found herself at the end where she couldn't see anything. She could guess what was happening and she had caught a glimpse of the Hyuuga and kunoichi standing up front with their note pads. Slowly the line shrank.

Naoko took the offered training kunai and watched the person before her throw the weapons badly but quickly at the target. The kid had treated them like one would throw a ball. Naoko cringed but stepped up and took up the position Itachi had helped drill into her head, one that was just ever so slightly different from the stance she, as Naruto, had known. Taking a breath and then slowly releasing it, the child then sent the blunt blades at the target in rapid succession. Her nerves quivered as she realized at the last minute that the practice kunai were way to light.

She looked up to see them all fly too far over the target. Naoko hadn't realized she had looked at the ground at the last instance. Itachi had been working with her to stop that. Naoko scowled lightly; she had forgotten about the difference between real kunai and the academy's training kunai. Or maybe she had actually never known. Naoko stared hard at the target. Naruto had known, so she had at one point too. She had just forgotten.

The kunoichi handed her note pad to Funeno before pushing her glasses up. "Alright everyone we're heading back to the academy. You will be seeing us tomorrow where we will be directing you to your assigned classes. Starting tomorrow you all are academy students and future shinobi of Konohagakure no sato. Congrats."

Naoko stared wide eyed at her. She knew she shouldn't have been surprised but she was only three! Three year olds had never been put into the academy during her life time. Except for... Naoko sucked in her breath. Except for when Konoha was at war.