Naruto: The Pride of ROOT

by Anime Student

Minato and Kushina are alive and have three children. Mito, Menma, and Naruto. Mito and Menma have the Kyuubi sealed into them while Naruto suffered changes while having been affected by the Kyuubi's chakra during his time inside his mother's womb. He was feared by his siblings and seen as a disappointment by his parents. He joins ROOT and becomes Danzo's weapon. Minor Crossovers.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Soul Eater or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Now I'm sorry for the long wait for this next chapter but I hope you agree with me when I say that it was well worth the wait. Now the reason why I haven't updated any of my stories for such a long period of time is because of school. So from now on it'll probably be one chapter per story per month. I'm sorry if you think this is too slow but unfortunately you'll just have to deal with it.

Also don't be surprised if some jutsu are in English, Japanese, or a mixture of both because I am going to try to get these chapters out faster and in order to do so I will be making the names of the jutsu as convenient as possible, whether they are jutsu of my own creation or actual existing jutsu from the anime.

Also can you believe that Naruto is finally over?! I can't believe it! AND SUCK MY DICK NARUSAKU FANS! AND THOUGH THIS FIC ISNT NARUHINA NOR ARE MY OTHERS BUT I STILL FULLY SUPPORT NARUHINA AND THEY ARE MY OFICIAL SHIP! And I may usually hate on Sasuke but he looked so badass at the end and why the fuck does Sakura's daughter look like Karin with black hair and her name is Salad?! And did you guys see Choji's daughter? HAHAHAHAHAHA her name is translated into butterfly yet she looks like a fucking elephant! To be honest my favorite of the new generation is tied between Shikamaru's son and Lee's son or protégé. Who the fuck would procreate with him?! Well besides Mito in this story but hey she isn't cannon.

Chapter 2

With Pride

It had been a few hours since Pride had been sent to Kiri in order to help the rebels against the Bloodline Purges. He had been running nonstop since then and was only a couple miles from the last known battleground between the two factions. While he was running through the trees he had some drops of blood floating through the air around him changing into various weapons such as needles, kunais, senbons, and even chains. This took up a great deal of his concentration and slowed him down a great deal but even with this hindrance he was still moving at high Chunin level speeds.

However, in his distracted state he didn't notice that two figures were following him until it was almost too late. Minutes before arriving to the battleground he smelled two distinct human scents covered in the blood of at least 5 different people each. He noticed seconds before it was too late that they had thrown a couple of kunai at him. Luckily he was able to use the blood that was already floating around his body as a make-shift shield. He quickly stopped on one of the branches and saw the two that attacked him.

The first one was about 8 feet in front of him and to his left. The man stood at a staggering 6 feet and 8 inches with a sword that was almost as tall as he was and just as thick if not more. He had short, spiky, black hair with bandages covering the lower half of his face and parts of his neck. He wore the Kiri style armguards along with their shin guards. He had a black shirt and grey baggy pants and over the shirt he wore the world renowned Jounin vest and the Kiri forehead protector on his head. This man was none other than Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist.

The second man was about 6 feet in fornt of Pride and to his right. The man was about a head shorter than Zabuza but looked to have just as much if not more experience than Zabuza. He had blue hair done up in a moused up manner and had an eyepatch over his right eye. He had a talisman on each ear and wore the standard Kiri ANBU uniform. Unlike Zabuza who had no shoulder guards, this man had them along with a black long sleeve shirt and armguards. He wore black pants with shin guards over them. This man was Ao.

These two were both A-ranks and while Naruto was certain of his abilities he had no information on these two other than what was stated within ROOT's version of the bingo book*. However it was a good thing that he had no need to fight them. Pride slowly unsealed a scroll from his left shoulder which caused the two nin to tense up in expectance of an attack.

However all they got was a scroll being floated over to them thanks to a few drops of blood. They noticed that the scroll had the Hokage's official stamp on it. Ao made a handsign and activated his byakugan. It was a well-known fact that the official stamp for each kage had the chakra of said kage imbued within the ink. Luckily for Ao he had seen the young Yondaime's chakra with his stolen eye and was able to verify that this was indeed his stamp.

"My apologies ANBU-san. I was unaware that you were sent by Konoha to assist us in this war. However what I would like to know is how you knew that we were part of the rebellion." Ao inquired cautiously in case this was a loyalist ANBU that just happened to have killed the actual Konoha ANBU sent to help. After all he had never seen an ANBU with a pure black mask with red marks around the eyeholes.

"I knew that you two were with the rebellion because you are placed in the Bingo Book with a reward FROM Kiri of about 3 million Ryo each." Explained Pride in an emotionless tone caused shivers to run up their spines. The tone of voice that came out Pride's mouth was one that Ao and Zabuza had heard before however the tone did not fit the body. The nin before them looked to be at most 15 years old yet the tone of voice he spoke in was usually only heard form veteran nin who had lost their limbs, friends, and family during the war and no longer had any true will to live. They simply existed.

"A-anyways come with us so that you can meet our leader." Stuttered out Zabuza in an uncharacteristic stutter. All he got was an understanding nod from the boy. Seeing that was not going to receive any further response from the boy he and Ao turned west from their current position and began running at Chunin speeds thinking that they would need to hold back in order for the boy to catch up to them. Although their instincts told them that he was no boy and that they shouldn't underestimate him. For he was a monster in human skin. And kami have mercy on those that stood in his way.

In Konoha

Currently in the calm and seemingly serene village of Konoha all was calm. Civilians were up and about, buying groceries, selling tools, etc. The ninja were either walking through the streets or jumping on the roofs heading towards the Hokage tower. Nothing was out of the usual which was why Mito was currently going through her taijutsu katas with liters of sweat dripping of her body. She wore a simple white shirt with the sleeves cut off and black tight fitting shorts along with normal shinobi sandals. Her red hair was done up into a bun on the back of her head so as to not get in the way.

Her eyes were lit with a fire that would put Gai's and his unholy spawn Lee's flames of youth to shame. She could feel all of her muscles burning as though someone had poured melting candlewax on top of it. Yet she showed no signs of stopping. 'This pain is nothing compared to the pain Nii-chan had to go through because of our ignorance. I have to keep training and get stronger, how else am I supposed to find him and bring him back home?' thought Mito as she continued to train her body into memorizing her taijutsu katas so that they would become second nature.

She continued this for about another hour before she collapsed on the training field she was currently in. She stared at the clouds above her and felt tears stinging her eye. 'Nii-chan, where are you now? Do you hate us for how we acted around you?' questioned Mito to herself. After a few more moments of lying there on the ground she heard two pairs of footsteps begin to approach her.

"Yosh! That was quite the youthful training little girl! Especially for someone so young! Your flames of youth shine brighter than most twice your age!" yelled out a man clad in an all green jumpsuit along with bright orange leg warmers and with the Konoha headband around his waist. He had a black hair styled in the shape of a bowl with eyebrows that seemed thicker than his headband. And with was what could only be described as his mini clone.

The boy next to him was dressed in the exact same attire but was around her age and had a huge grin on his face that somehow seemed to sparkle. When her eyes met his she got lost into his black eyes that showed nothing but warmth and happiness. They reminded her of a summer's night. When he stared into her blue eyes he saw an ocean of turmoil flowing within her which only made him want to hug her and tell her that he would be with no matter what happened. Her eyes and hair reminded him of the sky slowly changing colors while the sun was setting.

After a few seconds they broke eye contact and looked away from each other with light blushes on their faces. Gai obviously noticed but decided to file it away for later. It took Mito a few seconds to realize that the strangely dressed man was still there and by how strong he felt he had to have been a jounin. So she decided to ask him a question.

"Who are you?" asked Mito not knowing of the horror she had just brought to the ANBU stationed nearby in order to watch over her.

"Yosh! I am Konoha's greatest taijutsu master! I am known the world over as Konoha's beautiful green beast! I am Maito Gai! And this is my star pupil Rock Lee!" exclaimed Gai as both he and Lee did the nice Gai pose with their thumbs up and their smiles blinding all. Not to mention the strange beach and sunset appearing behind them that seemed to be a genjutsu yet it was an unbreakable one at that. No one knew how Lee was able to create this genjutsu considering he barely had enough chakra to live.

Now the ANBU stationed to watch over Mito were seriously considering killing Gai and Lee just to save this village from EVENT MULTIPLICATION which was when Gai or Lee ever had kids. Howeve what they saw next made them want to commit suicide in order to stop themselves from facing the Yondaime's wrath.

"Sugoi! Where can I get one of those jumpsuits!" exclaimed Mito as she somehow no longer felt any soreness in her limbs whatsoever. Now this naturally shocked both Lee and Gai considering that the normal response they got was one of ridicule or fear as one tried to dispel their genjutsu. And the ANBU hidden in the trees were now crying as they began to aim one of their kunai at Mito in order to save her soul. However it was too late for both Gai and Lee had snapped out of their stupor and and hugged her with such a force that she felt a few of her bones cracking.

"Yosh! Someone else that is able to understand the youthfulness that are green jumpsuits!" cried out Lee as tears of youth began flowing down his cheeks. They continued this for a few minutes before finally letting Mito go and breathe.

"Yosh! Since you obviously see the youthfulness in green jumpsuits and have bright flames of youth how would like to be my apprentice along with Lee!" yelled out Gai enthusiastically. At the sound of this Mito's face visibly brightened. She had been paying attention to his earlier introduction and knew that it would be foolish of her to deny the apprenticeship.

"I-I'd love to be your apprentice!" stated Mito enthusiastically as she hugged Gai and Lee causing the genjutsu to form.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"MITO!"

"LEE!"

This unfortunately went on for a while causing the ANBU to foam at the mouth and fall from their respective hiding spots. They would have no memory of this ever happening due to their brains locking away the memory deep into their subconscious to protect their sanity. And thus the third Gai was born. However in her later years very few men would complain about her green jumpsuit.

With Menma

Menma was currently doing what Mito had been doing minutes ago. He could be found in a random training ground drenched in sweat practicing his kenjutsu katas. He was wearing a short sleeved red shirt with white shorts. He was using a simple wooden sword instead of an actual blade since he had yet to earn one. His mother stated, "A master of kenjutsu is able to cut through a tree with a simple wooden sword without breaking said sword." Which translated to, until you can cut through a tree with a wooden sword and not break your sword you will not get a true blade.

So he trained for hours on end improving upon his skills with a sword and at the end of every session he would slash at a tree and at the end of every session he would need a new wooden sword. However with each attempt he made he would notice that the cut he made would deepen ever so slightly.

The sun was about to set which told Menma all he needed to know. It was time for today's attempt. He approached the tree before and stood three feet away from the trunk. He stood with his blade held with both hands held at a slight angle towards the tree. His left foot stood in front of his right by a small margin. He closed his eyes and focused on the surroundings that lay before him. He could hear the fluttering of wings and drops of dew falling of the leaves of the trees. Suddenly he snapped open his eyes and rushed forward at mid-genin level speeds and slashed through the tree. He ended about 4 feet past the tree and when he looked at his wooden blade….it was broken.

With a disappointed sigh he went back to the tree and examined the cut made by his swing. He then compared it to the one on the tree right next to it and saw that it was about a centimeter deeper than the one from the day before. A smile tugged at the edge of his lips at seeing his slow but noticeable progression. With that he began to walk back home with the broken blade at hand never noticing the ANBU with purple flowing hair staring at his body with interest before she disappeared in a Shunshin. It seemed there was someone worthy of being her apprentice after all.

Back with Pride

It had been 10 minutes since he had begun following the two rebel nin before he saw what could only be described as a very thick cloud of mist that covered a few miles of woods. The two nin leading him then stopped and motioned for Pride to come closer. Once Pride was within arm's length he felt an arm gripping his shoulder which he very nearly reflexively cut off with a blood kunai.

After assessing that Zabuza meant no harm he caused the blood to dissipate and simply seem to mix with the open air. He then felt Zabuza's chakra enter his chakra coils and suddenly the mist disappeared which he quickly realized was a genjutsu. The genjutsu was one so obvious that it would be overlooked by any enemy simply because they would overestimate their enemy's creativity.

However Pride also noticed that while being rather ingenious the genjutsu was also extremely foolish. Even though Yagura and his men didn't know this was a genjutsu they would still suspect the large and thick mist that suddenly appeared to be part of the base's defenses. At which point all Yagura would have to do is activate his tailed beast cloak and fire a miniature version of the Bijuudama and that would be the end of the rebels. Or at least the majority of them which would mean victory for Yagura and his loyal followers.

Pride decided to inform the rebel's leader of their rather hazardous flaw. After walking for a couple minutes, Pride noticed how low the morale was amongst the troops and useless most of the tools his age and slightly above were. Had they been so foolish as to think that they would not need to have child soldiers participate in the war and hope for a lucky break?

Pride truly did not understand human morality nor human emotions. After all what use does a monster have of morality or of any emotion?

"Through here. I must warn you though, our leader is rather busy so I recommend that you make your message short and straight-forward." Advised Ao as he opened the door to their base of planning. When Pride entered he saw a burnt orange haired woman with sea foam green eyes. She C-cup breasts along with a nice pair of hips and a firm ass. Her hair reached all the way down to the middle of her back with her right eye covered by her hair. She wore tight black ANBU clothing with grey armguards and grey shin guards. She also had a katana strapped behind her (like how Sasugay had his sword in Shippuden).

She was currently looking over a map of Kiri when he had walked in. He simply stood there in silence waiting for her to acknowledge his existence. It wasn't long before she noticed that there was an extra pain of lungs occupying the room and decided to look at the person in front of her. Or rather the child in front of her. From what she could see he was from Konoha if the scroll he had in his hand said anything and that he was at most 15 years old.

"Who are you, what are you doing here, and why did you not speak up earlier?" demanded Mei as she placed her hand on her hip.

"My codename is Pride, I was sent here by my master in order to assist you and your group in defeating the current Mizukage, and finally I did not speak up earlier because it is not a tool's place to speak unless they are spoken to." Replied Pride in order his normal emotionless voice which sent shivers up Mei's spine as well since his voice did not fit with the body. Especially due to the distortions caused by the mask. That's when she noticed what he had just said.

"What do you mean by tool?" asked Mei trying to ignore the foul sensation tugging at her heart at the moment Pride called himself a tool.

"I was trained to follow any order given to me and to cast off any useless accessories such as emotions. Emotions interfere with one's judgment so they were removed during my training. I am but a tool to be used by my master. I have no personal opinion nor feelings on any matter. I simply exist to follow orders, nothing more and nothing less." Explained Pride without any emotion or feeling whatsoever. His voice unnerved the hell out of her while also making her feel sorry for him and the horrors he must have gone through to have lost his emotions. To have lost what made him human.

'He's right. The way he is now his nothing but a tool. After all what is a human without their emotions?' though Mei while feeling her heart reach out to the poor boy in front of her. However, she quickly crushed that emotion since now was not the time for her to feel bad for the boy. She had a revolution to run.

"Where is the rest of your squad?" asked Mei thinking that there was no possible way that Konoha would be foolish enough nor arrogant enough to believe that a single ANBU could help change the tides of a war no matter the age of said ANBU or the clan they hailed from. The brat could be a fucking Senju and it still wouldn't make a difference.

"I am all that was sent. Hokage-sama thought it best to only send me instead of a full team of ANBU." Answered Pride.

At this piece of information Mei's eyes widened. Konoha had sent in a single soldier to fight against an army and a jinchuriki who had complete control of their biju and was at Kage lev el strength?! And not only that, but the soldier was a mere brat who didn't even care that he was sent on a suicide mission with less than a zero percent chance of survival!

"How the hell are you so calm about this?! The outcome of this mission for you is most likely death and yet you don't even give a shit!" yelled out Mei unable to comprehend the being in front of her. "Tool or not, you should at least feel something about being sent off to your death!"

Pride merely tilted his head to the right ever so slightly. If it had been in any other situation then Mei probably would have glomped him while yelling ,"Kawaii!"

Pride was confused at this point. Why did this woman care if he lived or died? He was just a weapon of destruction. Why should it matter if he went to his death? Tools die every day so why should this be any different? After all he wasn't just a tool, he was a monster. And monsters don't deserve to live.

"Because….monsters don't deserve to live. If I should die today then so be it. Tools perish in battle every day, does it really matter if I should die? And if I do die then that simply means that I was a useless tool and that I had every right to die." Said Pride before politely motioning for her to read the scroll that was on her desk. Seeing that he truly believed that his life was unimportant and that his death would be of no consequence Mei simply gave up on trying to make him think differently and simply began to read the scroll he gave her. After all it would take a lot more than a few minutes of arguing for her to make him see that he wasn't just a tool. However that was time that she nor him had at the moment.

As she read over the contents within the scroll she could clearly see why Konoha decided to help the rebels with the war rather than the loyalists. Their first condition was that should the rebels win the war then they would sign a treaty with Konoha stating that they would become trading partners and in times of war with another country Kiri would side with Konoha and vice-versa. The second condition was Kiri would not place the operative that Konoha sent to help them in the Bingo Book. The final condition was that once the war had ended and that the rebels had won with the assistance of the operative for Konoha that Kiri send at least two children with separate bloodlines to Konoha. The gender of the two children was unimportant so long as they could produce offspring.

Overall the terms to the contract was not unreasonable. In all honestly Mei had to admit that she would doubtfully get a better deal from any of the other hidden villages mainly because the other villages would send an entire army instead of a single man. With a heavy sigh Mei decided to agree to the terms listed previously. However a thought popped into her mind.

"So then Pride, what exactly is your role supposed to be in this war?" asked Mei with genuine curiosity. She needed to know if he would listen to her or if he already had a pre-existing set of orders to follow from his 'master' as he puts it.

"I have been ordered to act upon your orders until I either die or until this war is over and there is a new Mizukage ruling Kiri. During that time I will follow whatever order you ask of me as long as it does not affect Konoha or my master in a negative manner whatsoever." Replied Pride in his distorted and emotionless voice. She might not be able to see his face but Mei could easily picture a blank face looking at her with dead eyes. That image alone unnerved her to no end.

"Alright then. While you may be of ANBU ranking over there in Konoha, I still need to know what your abilities are and what ranking missions I should send you as well as what kinds of missions. There are two types of missions as of now. The first type is raiding and the second type is supplies. The first type would include going to loyalist bases and taking control of them so that we may gain not only strategic points of defense but also strategic locations where we can receive supplies and what not. The supply missions are where you have to do mission for other villages or complete bounties in order for the rebellion to receive funds and more supplies. Depending on how you do during the examination will determine what mission type you receive. Understood?" asked Mei once she had finished explaining everything Pride currently needed to know in order to temporarily live with them. After receiving a simple nod as her response she told him to follow her which he did with no questions asked.

A few minutes later

Mei, Pride, Ao, and Zabuza had just arrived to an open clearing that was surrounded by thick mist but inside of the clearing there was no mist to impair the senses. The clearing itself held low cut grass along with a large body of water which Pride assumed was placed there in order for the rebel nin to practice their repertoire of water ninjutsu.

"Alright now that we're here you'll have to spar against both Zabuza and Ao at the same time and depending on how long you will determine the rank you get from me. Understood?" asked Mei as she allowed a smirk to adorn her face. While she would never outwardly say this, Mei enjoyed watching people get their asses kicked especially when she was the one kicking ass.

Of course Pride showed no discomfort or any signs that would mean that he disagreed with her judgment because he didn't disagree with her. However, both Ao and Zabuza believed that this would be too unfair of a test for the brat. Both of them together could take on an entire squadron of ANBU and come out on top yet here was their leader telling them to fight against a single ANBU who was probably less than 15 years old.

"Mei-sama/-chan! You can't be serious! There is no way that the brat will be able to handle the both us working together! That's basically suicide!" yelled both Ao and Zabuza in synchronicity while Pride simply stood there in his unique taijutsu stance. Actually when they went back to look at him they realized one thing. He wasn't there.

This immediately got both of the Kiri-nin to shut up and watch each other's back as they looked around for the boy's location. Zabuza's right hand was reaching for his sword while his left was forming the handseal used to summon up chakra. Ao had activated his byakugan and had drawn out two kunai whilst imbuing them with chakra in order to reinforce them. Mei simply sat down on a large rock with an amused expression on her face.

Soon minutes went by and nothing happened. Both Ao and Zabuza were starting to lose their patience although it seemed Zabuza would lose his first. It seemed as though Zabuza's rage was a hairs away from snapping. That is until a random tumbleweed passed by even though it was obvious that there is no logical way for there to be tumbleweeds growing in Kiri.

"YOU FUCKING GAKI! GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT US LIKE MEN BEFORE I DECIDE TO REMOVE ONE OF YOUR LIMBS THE MOMENT I FIND YOU!" yelled out Zabuza in absolute fury as her swung his sword around causing several gashed to appear on the ground before strangely shimmering out of existence.

That was when Ao's eye widened in realization. 'Tumbleweeds do not grow anywhere remotely near this location and there is no way that when one scratches the ground that the ground simply heals itself! At least back in my day that never happened. Genjutsu!' though Ao before he immediately disrupted his chakra flow and then threw one of his kunai at Zabuza's right thigh. Or at least he tried to. His entire body minus his head was covered in what appeared to be…..black blood. However the strange substance was stronger than any hold or rope that AO had ever been tied in. He then noticed that his weapons were all gone from his person including the ones hidden in some rather 'hidden' parts of his body. Zabuza was in the same position except he was still in the genjutsu.

When Ao looked forward he noticed that Pride was standing in front of them both with black scabs on his wrists. He also noticed that there were several different kinds of weapons surrounding both him and Zabuza in various locations which if hit, would be fatal. Ao turned several shades paler at this realization. Because they had both underestimated the boy simply because of how old he looked they had lost within the first few minutes of the fight if you could even call it that.

Mei was looking at the peculiar scene before her with slight amusement and disappointment. On one hand she was laughing her ass of on the inside seeing that both Ao and Zabuza had their asses handed to them by a kid. However on the other hand she was disappointed that she was unable to witness the boy's full capabilities due to his quick and deadly manner of winning the fight. She noticed that Pride was slightly out of breath probably from the amount of blood he was forced to use in order to hold down both of his ooponents and then the amount used to create the dozens of weapons floating around each of the two Kiri-nin. He had to have at least lost a gallon of blood.

Noticing that Ao had finally snapped out of the genjutsu, Pride decided to release the genjutsu in order to awaken Zabuza. The moment Zabuza opened his eyes he began cursing like a sailor and calling Pride several demeaning names that would have made a Kage lose his cool simply because he used a genjutsu to win the fight.

"YOU FUCKING COWARD! USING GENJUTSU TO WIN A FIGHT! FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" yelled out Zabuza in pure uncontrolled rage until Mei was surrounded by a deathly aura which scared the living crap out of both Kiri-nin and actually caused goosebumps to travel across Pride's spine.

"Zabuza-kun~ Shut up or I'll kill you." Stated Mei in a sing song voice with a smile that simple reeked of bloody murder. A huge oni appeared behind her with a huge knife and plate in its hands. Licking its lips in preparation for its upcoming meal. Zabuza clearly did the only intelligent choice and decided to shut up before he became lunch. And just like that Mei did a complete 180 and was completely happy again.

"Now then while I was hoping for a more informative result from this spar I guess it will just have to do. So from now on Pride-kun, I'll have you doing both raiding and supplying type missions. Considering what I've seen I'll only give you B-rank missions for now but the sooner I know your full capabilities then the sooner you'll be able to take higher ranking missions." Stated Mei hoping to get the boy to try and show off any tricks he might have up his. However to her disappointment all she got from the boy was the ANBU style bow showing his understanding.

"Now then since I currently have nothing for you to do in terms of missions you may go wherever you please as long as it is within the camp." Said Mei with a sigh of exasperation. Not only had she not learned much about the gaki but now she had more questions than she had started with. With a quick shake of her head, Mei temporarily banished these thoughts from her mind long enough to see that Pride had yet to move from his current location.

"Ano…you know you can go now, right?" asked Mei, confused as to why the gaki hadn't left already in order to inspect the rest of the camp he had yet to witness.

"No, my orders were to participate in this war on the side of the rebels and that whenever I was not in the midst of a mission I was to be at the side of rebel's leader in order to protect them." explained Pride in his drone like voice. A sigh was released from Mei's mouth before she decided to concede and simply began walking back towards her tent while sending Ao and Zabuza away for the rest of the day. It was going to be a long day for her if she continued to try and get Pride to show any sort of emotion.

The Next Day

Mei had just opened her eyes and noticed that she was inside her tent sleeping. It had been a week since she had had the chance to do so since she usually passed out from exhaustion inside of the tent designated to be her 'office'. She got up and began her routine morning stretches and after that she decided to change into a clean pair of her standard clothing before stepping outside of her tent.

The moment she closed her tent behind her she saw the Pride had been standing watch beside her tent. 'Was he there all night?' thought Mei in slight worry wondering how long until the poor kid crashed.

"Ano…Pride were you standing outside my tent the entire night?" asked Mei, her seafoam green eyes shining with worry for the kid.

"Hai Mei-sama." was the only response she got out of the boy. Of course this irritated her to no end she decided to first find answers to her questions before she took out her irritation on one of her other shinobi.

"Why did you that? You should have gotten some sleep last night! Especially since you fought both Zabuza and Ao yesterday and have a mission today!" exclaimed Mei angered at the boy's uncaring demeanor and worried for the boy's health. 'He's so much like..NO! Snap out of it Mei! He's not him and you know it! Now stop living in the past and focus!' thought Mei as she violently threw away her thoughts of him and focused on the one in front of her.

"I do not require sleep. During my training I was given the ability to no longer be able to sleep. My master believed that I would be able to work more efficiently if I worked/trained with as few unnecessary stops as possible." Explained Pride causing Mei's eyes to widen in shock and understanding. Now it all made sense. His blood being black along with his ability to control it so gracefully. Not to mention his emotionless and ability to go without sleep. There were only to people she knew of that would dare do such a thing to a child. Orochimaru and Danzo.

She knew it had to be the both of them together because Orochimaru was the one who knew how to perform such experiments but preferred to have those he experimented on keep their emotions. After all how else would that pedo-snake sannin be able to get off without his victims showing their fear and anger and despair? No it had to be both Orochimaru and Danzo working together.

She couldn't help but give Pride a hug which she noticed caused him tense from this foreign kind of contact. This only caused her heart to ache reach out for this poor gaki even more. He was so young yet he was probably stronger than most people twice his age. He called himself a tool because in all rights he was one at this point. However while she despised Danzo and Orochimaru for what they did and hoped they burned within the deepest part of hell with all those whom they've wronged standing above them bringing down punishment upon them, she knew that what they did was necessary. Sometimes in order to defeat to monsters you have to make your own. And here was Danzo's monster. Here was Danzo's pride and joy. Here was the Pride of ROOT.

If it were any other moment Mei would have laughed at the irony. An emotionless shinobi named after one of the most common emotions felt by any living thing. At least now Mei knew that she wouldn't have to worry about Pride too much. After all only the most promising survived ROOT.

She released Pride from her embrace and began to walk towards the strategy tent. After walking for about 3 minutes they arrived at the tent where Mei sat down and began looking through the bingo book to see who she could send Pride after for a sizeable bounty. After flipping through the pages for a couple moments Mei finally stopped. A huge grin snaked its way onto her face, threatening to split her face in half. She had just found the perfect match for Pride and if all went well then not only would Pride become more powerful but the rebels would finally have a small edge over the loyalists.

"You are to find and kill Aoi Rokusho as well as retrieve the legendary Raijin no Ken from him. If you succeed in doing so then the blade will be yours and when this war is over you can still keep the blade. Do you accept this mission?" asked Mei as she began drooling over the all the possible victories they could achieve with Pride wielding this legendary sword. While she could have any of her other 'more experienced' veterans wield this blade, she felt as though Pride would be able to wield it most effectively.

"Hai Terumi-sama." accepted Pride before he grabbed his bingo book out of one of his various well placed seals and circled Aoi's picture, closed the book, and began to head out. However before he could leave the tent he was called back his temporary master.

"Wait. Before you leave I will need two things from you in order to ascertain that when you return it is truly you and not an enemy imposter. First I wish to see your face and second I would like to know your true name. This way if you do fall in battle or one of the loyalists decides to henge into you before you return, I will be able to tell the difference and proceed accordingly." Explained Mei with a small smirk on her face at the chance of being able to uncover what he really looks like. This would be the first step of her plan to get the boy to once again unlock his emotions and see life for what it really was and not for what he believed it to be.

"Of course Terumi-sama." replied Pride as his hand reached for his mask but stopped a few centimeters in front of it. He then proceeded to hover his hand in front of his mask with his palm facing his face. At first it seemed as though nothing was happening until the mask began to mover as though it were a gelatinous substance. Before long what was once Pride's mask was now a black liquid that covered his hand like a glove. The moment Mei laid her eyes upon Pride's face she gasped in surprise and in horror.

The boy had long, black, slick hair which reached a little bit past his shoulders. His ears were like those of a fox, covered in black fur. She saw the two fangs that poked out ever so slightly form under his lips. His skin was a sickly grey and the area around his eyes contained dark circles signifying a lack of sleep. However when she finally looked into his eyes that were as red as the blood that flowed through her veins with slits as dark as the blood that flowed through his, she saw no life. She saw no emotions. She saw only….emptiness. Pride was right. The moment she looked into those empty red eyes she knew that he truly was just a tool at this point and what truly horrified her was the fact that someone had the stomach to do this to another human being. She had to refrain herself from vomiting in front of him lest she wish to have him believe that she was disgusted with his existence rather than disgusted with what had been done to him.

"N-now your name." stuttered out Mei as she attempted not to stare into his eyes.

"My name is Pride." Stated Pride emotionlessly. Once again Mei's eyes widened in surprise. Had the boy not only been robbed of his emotions but also of the name he was given by his parents at birth?

"I was asking for the name you were given at birth by your parents." Explained Mei in further detail hoping her previous assumption was incorrect.

"…My parents are non-existent. I am an abomination. I was born from a mixture of the flesh of man and the chakra of a monster. The one's that gave birth to me viewed me with fear and separated me from those that would be considered as my siblings. After one day I realized that I was not truly their son. I realized that I was the death of the son they would have had and the birth of the monster that took its place. Therefore I am unworthy of taking up the name of their dead son that should have come into this world in my place." Explained Pride showing no emotions yet it seemed his body betrayed him in a manner so slight that Mei nearly missed it had she not chosen that moment to look into his eyes.

The eyes that were once filled with nothing were now showing an emotion that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. The basic emotion that all beings in this world experience at least once before their brief existence is ended. Sadness.

"However if you truly wish to know the name that I went by during my time with the family whose blood I once shared I will tell you. The name was Naruto." And with that Pride placed his mask upon his face once more and left Mei alone with her thoughts.

There was nothing but silence within Mei's tent before she quickly dashed towards the trash bin that lay at the end of the tent and promptly threw up in it. For the next few minutes that was all she did. When she finally stopped releasing the contents of her stomach all over her trash bin she noticed that her cheeks were wet. Throughout the entire time she was vomiting she had been crying for the child. She knew he was young but for him to have had his childhood taken from him, to have his life ended before it truly began. How he was right now was not living. It was barely even existing. She could only imagine how much pain he had to have suffered and how many experiments he had to undergo to become the weapon he was today.

However her mind clicked when she remembered him say Naruto. She remembered hearing that name before and thought it was something of importance. For Pride to have given her his old name meant that she could now figure out who he was before ROOT. She felt compelled to help him regain his humanity. So with that a fire burned in her eyes that would not be quenched, not even by the Niidaime Hokage's legendary Suiton Jutsus. After all she knew all too well what it was like to be a weapon. And she would be damned if she didn't find some way into what was left of his heart.

With Pride

The moment Pride had exited from the main tent he created 2 blood clones effortlessly. The first blood clone he directed to stay within the rebel base and to keep watch for intruders. The second blood clone was sent to shadow Mei-sama to make sure nothing happened to her while the original was gone. Thanks to Pride's bloodline he was able to create blood clones with little to no expense to his chakra reserves.

Now after he created those two blood clones, Pride created 3 shadow clones which he then instructed one to work on chakra control, one to work on his bloodline's control, and one to work on mastering jutsu's that he has learned. Of course these clones would eventually run out of chakra, but once they do Pride will simply create 3 more wherever he is cast a genjustu around them and give them similar instructions.

The jutsu's he gave the clone to master were Raiton: Raiju Tsuiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang), Katon: Goenkyu (Fire Release: Great Blaze Ball), and Futon: Shinkugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere). First he would have the clone successfully perform these jutsu without yelling out the name. Then he would gradually use less and less handsigns for the jutsu until no handsigns were needed for the performance of the jutsu. In doing so this would not only increase his chakra reserves though the amount of chakra spent in performing such attacks but also improve his already impressive chakra control by molding chakra without the help of words or handsigns. Now obviously the shadow clone left for working on his bloodline would be unable to bleed so Pride left that clone two scrolls filled with 20 liters of blood each. This is approximately the same amount of blood there is in 4 average human adult males.

Once he had given the clone the blood Pride proceeded to head in the direction of where Aoi was last seen with the Raijin. The border between Iwa and Konoha which was approximately a minimum of a 2 day run from Kiri if one were to stop to rest along the way. Pussies.

28 hours later at the Iwa-Konoha border

Aoi had just finished a random bodyguard job from a random Iwa crime boss that required the skill of an A-rank nin. Of course while the bingo book listed him as A-rank, without the Raijin, Aoi was no better than a B-rank nin. He finished the job about 3 hours ago and would have left earlier had it not been for his body's insistence upon a powernap.

Currently he was simply walking through the woods with an air of cockiness permeating the air around him. Of course that was all changed when he was suddenly struck by no less than 7 senbon to both his left and right shoulders. While not causing incredible amounts of pain, Aoi immediately noticed that these senbon where placed in such a way that he was unable to reach for the Raijin strapped across his back. So with no other choice he quickly sprinted forward while grabbing two kunai in the reverse position and turning back towards his opponent. What he saw astounded him and humiliated him.

Before him was a boy no older than 15 clad in ANBU uniform with a mask that caused waves of terror to flow through his entire being. When he stared into the holes meant for the eyes all he saw was…darkness. There was no light shining within those eyes only emptiness. An emptiness that threatened to consume anything within its path. And right now, realized Aoi, he was in its path.

"Aoi, stealer of the Raijin, my master has ordered me to take your life and if at all possible the very blade that has made you so famous." Spoke out Pride while adding chakra to his voice in order to mask his voice while simultaneously giving him a cruel and frightening voice which made ghastly shivers crawl up Aoi's pathetically weak spine. His entire existence was telling him to run away as fast as he could for as long as he could and not turn back even once! However because of the arrogance that Aoi had built up from the years of being feared because of the blade he held Aoi stood his ground and prepared his two lightning enforced kunai for a fight.

"L-like a brat could take my life! Even without the blade of the Nidaime I am still powerful enough to deal with a brat such as yourself!" roared out Aoi as arrogantly as he could despite the uncontrollable tremors his arms were exhibiting before him. 'I'm TREMBLING!? Fuck this! I'll kill this brat for making a fool out of me!' the foolish missing nin thought out in outrage as he forced more chakra into his kunai causing the blades to radiate ferociously with random sparks of electricity being released every second.

Aoi quickly sprinted towards Pride with both blades at his sides at a speed that caused him to look like a flash of lightning racing across the floor to those without at least chunin level training. Unfortunately for him however, Pride was by no means a mere chunin level ninja. It would seem as though Aoi would learn that such reckless actions would have horrendous repercussions. Just as he reached his enemy, Aoi swung the blade that was held within his right hand in an attempt to cut his opponent in half. Due to his speed after perfrming his swing not only was there a flash of light as he swiped but he continued on past Pride and finished a couple yards behind him.

'I did it! He's dead now! HAHAHAHAHAHA!' Aoi laughed maniacally inside of his mind before turning around in order to admire his handiwork. However what he saw was far from what he thought to be true. Pride was facing him without any sign of injury! However Aoi's entire arm was soaked with Pride's black blood. Wait….BLACK!?

Before Aoi could do anything about the black blood completely covering his arm, Aoi lost his arm. His arm was not ripped off nor was it cut off. No the arm was completely and utterly crushed into the blood before completely absorbed. The blood condensed and condensed further and further while the arm was still attached until the pressure was too great causing the flesh to pop like the surface of a balloon. However at the speed at which the blood had condensed around the arm was so frightening that the friction between the black blood and the muscle fibers that connected Aoi's shoulder to his arm were immediately cauterized removing the possibility of death by blood loss. Not only that but due to the sheer velocity at which this was done, Aoi felt no pain from the loss of the limb which in and of itself was quite possibly the most dangerous factor.

If he had been able to feel the pain of the loss of his limb then he would have been fearful of Pride and his bloodline. However sense pain was removed from the equation so was most of the fear that Aoi would have felt from his lost limb. Instead this fear was replaced with anger and arrogance. Anger because he was injured yet arrogance because he thought that he was invincible since he felt no pain from the serious wound. His instincts were then unreliable since they were torn between flight and fight.

So Aoi clearly did the most illogical move he could have done in such a position. He yelled out his intentions to the enemy.

"You bastard! You think that taking an arm will change anything! Hell, I didn't even feel it! That's how we-" was all that Pride let Aoi yell out before finally ending his life. The blood kunai still lodged into Aoi's back had never left. Pride simply decided to 'play' with his target for once since he had recently read about how some ninja 'play' with their opponents before killing them. Pride found it to be illogical and a waste of time. So he simply caused the kunai he placed on Aoi to expand into giant balls with spikes. Needless to say Aoi's body was completely destroyed and all that was left was his blood which was now currently being absorbed into Pride's.

The Raijin lay on the ground completely untouched and unharmed. Pride went to grab the blade however the moment he came into contact with the legendary blade a chain reaction was triggered. Almost immediately Pride's blood, without him willing it, covered the Raijin and absorbed it before returning inside of Pride. This of course surprised Pride since he was not aware that his bloodline would react in such a way with the Raijin however rather than panicking he decided to try something. He released a small amount of blood and was going to morph it into the Raijin before something even stranger occurred.

Pride followed a gut feeling which he thought had been removed from himself and had his blood form a sort of oval disk that seemed to be both liquid and solid. He reached inside with his right hand. After a moment he was able to grasp something. A hilt!

He drew the blade out of the blood and what he saw was not the Raijin. No..it was something entirely different…and new. The hilt was a dark reddish black, not unlike dry blood, covered in what seemed like black bandages. The bandages looked worn and faded as though they had been through countless battles, numerous wars, and dangerous encounters. The sword had no guard so there was an immediate transition from hilt to blade. The blade looked to be completely filled with vitality. The dull grey surface somehow shining in the darkness with an edge so sharp that by merely coming in contact with the surface Pride's skin was cut through. Upon closer inspection Pride realized that the edge was not smooth but rather it was serrated with miniscule protrusions that numbered well into the thousands of same shape and size and one side of the blade.

Pride recalled that when the Raijin was fed chakra, the chakra would naturally be converted into lightning chakra which was then channeled through the hilt and into the formation of the 'blade'. What Pride received after pouring small amounts of chakra is that the blade would glow a nearly unnoticeable white. However the blade was not only thing affected by the input of chakra. Pride's blood which still lay on the ground and formed his clothing began to glow the same shade of white. Upon further investigation Pride deduced that due to his absorption of the Raijin, he was able to gain at most Jounin level control over lightning. When he used the lightning chakra his blood projectiles would move faster and also damage the nerves of the enemies more efficiently. Pride himself would also move faster and hit harder than before. His sword would cut deeper, easier, and from a longer distance if used correctly.

Quickly realizing that he was wasting his master's time, he returned the blade to what he had now dubbed as the Blood Portal and sped towards the rebel base in order to turn in his mission report and possibly receive his punishment for causing what was once a legendary weapon to become useless to all but himself.

6 hours later

Since Pride had continued channeling the lightning chakra through his body he had been running at ANBU level speeds cutting his travel time in half. At least it would have had he not come across an ANBU team of three that were clearly loyalists to the current Mizukage.

"You there! Where do you think that you are going!?" asked the now identified leader of the group. He had no identifiable weapons on his aid person so Pride assumed that he must have seals either on his clothing or his body meaning precautions would need to be taken. The same was said for the other two of the group. \

Rather than use words, Pride decided to speak with his actions. He quickly cut deep into each of his arms using his blood from the inside out and swung his arms out quickly into the air. Before either one of the ANBU could stop him there were hundreds of drops of blood all around the field. Of course the ANBU were confused by this until they noticed that none of the drops of blood every hit the ground or any of the trees. They just floated in the air and glowed a ghastly white.

"RUN!" yelled out the leader as they all spread out trying to escape from this strange ability. However the moment they separated from each other was the moment in which Pride attacked. He rushed forward for the leader while his blood went after the other two. Pride quickly created a Blood Portal and grabbed his sword. Of course the ANBU in front of him had only two kunai to assist him against the blade however they were revealed completely useless.

Pride simply used his newly acquired blade and cut right through the kunai and left a large gash in the ANBU's chest. Before allowing him to fall to the ground, Pride then used his momentum to roundhouse kick the ANBU in the neck sending him to ground at Chunin level speeds. Upon impact a huge crater was made with the ANBU at the center.

Pride stood above him with the blade in hand glowing a shimmering white As the ANBU looked up from his position unable to move his limbs he saw a being covered in white that was birthed from the darkness that exists in the world of man. He saw the light that covered Pride take on a crimson hue until all that was left of the white energy was a memory. A memory that was eradicated once Pride separated the nameless ANBU's head from his shoulders and destroyed the body.

He created two shadow clones to look for the other two ANBU. He then noticed just how powerful he had become. Before he having absorbed the Raijin he would have had no chance against the ANBU he had just faced, but now, he was able to move faster and strike harder. He now had new limits to test. Which also meant that he had new limits to break. He would have to inform Danzo-sama of this once he returned.

8 hours later

It's been several hours Pride had encountered the Kiri loyalist ANBU and retrieved the Raijin along with Aoi's head inside of a scroll in order for the Resistance to receive the bounty. Of course throughout his trek back to camp, Pride had been using his vast chakra reserves to fuel what he had now dubbed as Raiton: Kaminari Steppu (Lightning style: lightning step) which while not taking as much chakra now as it once did during the initial 2 hours still consumed an amount of chakra that Pride considered to be unnecessary. He would soon remedy that with increasing his chakra control and increasing the size of his reserves. He would also improve upon this new ability of his so as to become much faster so that with a single step he could move faster than what the enemy's eyes could follow.

Within moments he arrived at Mei's tent and walked inside only to find an unusual sight lying before him. In front of him were three young children each around the same age as each other and roughly 1-2 years younger than Pride himself. When he entered the room they faced him with apprehensive and hesitant looks on their faces.

Immediately Pride began investigating them using his eyes and his brain which at this point in his training and education was able to rival an average 10 year old Nara. (In this story all Nara's are geniuses and a 10 year old Nara is roughly as intelligent as an 18 year old civilian in our world.) The boy on the right had snow white hair with two read dots on his forehead. His hair was parted to the sides and ended around his neck. He had green eyes gleaming with curiosity hidden behind slight apprehension along with a pale skin tone. He looked to be malnourished along with his 'apparent comrades'. This boy was clearly from the Kaguya clan if the hair and the marks on his forehead were any factors.

Next to the Kaguya boy was what appeared to be a female with long black hair and frightened brown eyes. This child also seemed to have a pale skin tone and was clearly malnourished. Most of her body was hidden behind the Kaguya boy with her head sticking out to look at Pride.

Finally is the female on the right with long blue hair that was straight in the front but was in a spiky pony tail in the back. She was the only one of them that was not malnourished yet still had a pale tone of skin. She seemed to be wearing what was normal for Kiri civilians to wear. Her eyes were as black as the night yet held a determination that reminded Pride of Danzo-sama for some reason.

"Who are the three of you?" asked Pride with an emotionless tone that had an edge so sharp that if they answered incorrectly they would be killed.

"My name is Kimimaro Kaguya. The girl hiding behind me is Haku Yuki and the one next to me is Guren no last name. What's yours?" replied/asked the now identified Kimimaro as he inched closer to the 'cool' ninja in front of him with an innocence that only a child of that age could possess.

"My name is whatever my master decides for me. For the past few years my codename has been Pride." Answered Pride without any hesitation.

"Ah! I see you've met your new students Pride!" exclaimed Mei with a joyous voice seeing that Pride had finally returned from his mission impressed that it had only taken him a little under two days to accomplish it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I think I'll end it there for now. Now don't you worry! I know I have fallen behind on my stories by an immense margin and to be honest to me that is unforgivable. Now I know asking for your forgiveness will be pointless so I will simply improve the speed at which I produce these chapters however now that a new semester is about to begin and now that I have added two more classes unto my schedule I fear as though these chapters will continue to take large amounts of time to be released.

Also once I get further into this story, probably chapter 3 or 4 maybe even as late as chapter 5, I plan on creating an event which will cause this story to not only continue in the Naruto universe but as well as several other universes that may or may not be restricted to the world of anime and manga. Now this will create more stories that I will write which will mean fewer updates per story within a specific amount of time but I hope you agree with me that this will be worth it. So please either comment or PM me your ideas on which worlds I should have Pride, a.k.a. Naruto get stuck in. Also feel free to ask questions!

Don't forget to follow, rate, and review!

Sayonara!