AN: Sorry for updating late. Honestly speaking I forgot about this story, I just came across some of my old drafts and decided to continue it.

Hope you all enjoy it. And thanks for that one review, it was really appreciated, it's also the other reason why I decided to continue.

Here we go.

"Human speaking"

'Human thinking'

"Tailed beast or jutsu"

'Tailed beast thinking'

Chapter two: The beginning 2

The ANBU led Naruto through the winding corridors of the underground root base, the walk was a short one as Naruto's quarters were located close to Danzo's so that he could keep a close eye on him. A few minutes of walking and they were outside of Danzo's chambers. Naruto went in first, followed by the ANBU who quietly closed the door behind. Naruto and the ANBU bowed to Danzo as was customary for all members of root. Danzo was sitting behind his desk looking at some papers in his hands, seemingly immersed in the papers he simply waved his free left hand dismissing the ANBU who promptly vanished from the room, leaving Naruto alone in the room with the war monger.

Naruto had learned that in root no emotional was ever displayed, it was a dead place, even its colours were dead plain white and grey. He remained bowing as he silently waited for Danzo to finish his reading without showing the excitement that was going through his head. A contrast of the person he had been about a month ago, not a black and white type of contrast though, he was not yet emotionally dead just quieter than before. He had not gone through the emotion killing phase yet, he had just learned quickly to not talk too much.

Danzo finished his reading then put down the papers and motioned for Naruto to stand at ease, which he did, the war Monger then stood up and walked to stand in front of Naruto. In an emotionless tone he said " You have completed the first part of the training program," the blond simply smiled at this he just couldn't help it as Danzo continued with a small frown on his face due to the show of emotions " now it is time for you to go through the next phase."

Then he touched Naruto's shoulder slightly and Body flickered them to the training grounds of the base, a large rectangular room that was about 600 meters in length and 200 meters in width. Naruto was greeted with an amazing site of other kids that were a few years his seniors going through katas in such a uniform manner that it looked like a brilliant dance. All the kids were moving in perfect sync, throwing perfect punches, perfect kicks, doing perfect turns. An ANBU instructor was standing in front of them shouting out orders which the children followed without hesitation.

The excitement was getting unbearable at this point, as Naruto then realized that his next phase was learning how to fight. Finally, he was about to get what he wanted, the torture aside he knew that he had made a good decision coming here. Time to get real with this ninja business, but it seems that Danzo had other ideas he sensed the boy's thoughts and decided to shoot them down before he got over excited. "Naruto." he said to get the boys attention, Naruto turned away from the practicing bunch to his sensei. The man simply and casually told him " That is not what you are going to be doing," as he turned to the left side of the room where there was an ANBU seemingly just standing idle and finished " go to him, he is your next sensei for the next phase. He will teach you how to use your body, train your body, turn it into a weapon, a killing machine."

Then Danzo Flickered out of the room, seeing that he was alone Naruto walked to his new sensei gave a slight bow, didn't say anything, in root you never spoke unless spoken to. He straightened and stood at full attention, stiff and erect awaiting instructions. His sensei did not disappoint, training started immediately, Naruto was ordered to do some intensive workout in order to test out his limits then he learned the basics of martial arts. It was not as intense as it would have been if he was older but his results were outstanding, he did everything quicker and better than those people that were older than him, his stamina was on par with the kids that had been doing the training for months now and he had barely exercised before, just the usual running around kids did.

Naruto was happy, he thought that it meant that he had to do less work to do, but he was wrong, very wrong. That day Naruto had been allowed to rest after the intensive work out, but the next he did a more intense workout which used up less of his energy but was more painful than the one he had done the previous day. The next day also harbored a painful and exhausting workout, sit ups, pushups, laps, small weights and more. The workouts continued and their intensity growing with each passing day, making him stronger, faster and more flexible than any other kid his age.

His Daily schedule changed alongside the ever changing training. He started spending less time sleeping, resting and eating as his exercise time increased. His days started with rising early in the morning, awake through the whole day, short breaks for meals only, ending with sleeping late. Danzo showed up a couple of times just to monitor his progress, making sure that the weapon was coming along just fine, getting sharper and smoother with each passing day. Danzo was satisfied with the boy, he had grown quieter with time as he started fully concentrating more on his training and less on trying to be a normal boy. Danzo never said anything when he visited but Naruto could feel that he was doing better.

His training went on for weeks, then months, about four months. During that period Naruto changed in many ways. Naruto's body had grown bigger, he was inches taller, his muscles were firmer with less baby fat than before but the biggest change was not physical but rather mental. He had barely had any human contact apart from receiving instructions from his sensei and giving Danzo the reports of his progress this caused his social skills to start decreasing to a point where he barely talked at all. He now only talked when it was necessary just like any other ANBU in root. His general thought process was not really better than before just way more reserved, he barely showed any emotion, apart from the usual smile when he completes a part of his training.

After going through months of torturous training he had finally completed it, as he was resting in his room as usual after finishing the day's workout, someone banged on his door Bang Bang Bang, he already knew that it was ANBU since no one else was allowed any interaction with the Uzumaki, so without confirming who was on the other side of the door he opened it and just as he had thought there was an ANBU. The ANBU told him that since he had finished this phase it was time to go the next, and just like last time Danzo would tell him. The ANBU then escorted him to Danzo's chamber, but this time they found someone in the room with Danzo, the person sitting in a chair opposite Danzo his back to Naruto. Naruto could not tell if it was a man or a woman since the person had long black hair and his face was not visible from the back, the person's voice was also strange, it was a weird blend of both a human's voice and a snake but Naruto paid it no mind at all. He was here for Danzo and nothing else, the strangeness of the person would come after he received his new orders.

"…so I get children with bloodline limits in return?" asked Danzo. "yes." The man replied in his weird reptile voice. Naruto and the ANBU had walked in on a conversation between the two. They bowed in the presence of Danzo. Danzo paid them no mind as he went silent for a while, thinking about the deal that he had just made with the other man, he even brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose. A few seconds of contemplating and he was done, he had thought things through, if he agreed to this deal he would gain way more than the strange man.

Danzo then got up, the other man did the same, they each stretched out their right hands and shook hands, sealing the deal. The strange man turned around giving him a full view of what he looked like, what Naruto saw was rather scary, the man had shining golden eyes with a slit in the middle instead of a pupil like a snake, his skin was very pale, close to white and his abnormally long tongue was literally hanging out of his mouth. He was wearing grey garbs that looked like a robe that ended about shin high tied at the waist with a purple obi, with a long sleeved shirt under it with matching black pants which were bandaged at the ankles, the attire was finalized with black shinobi sandals.

Danzo then walked out from behind his desk and stood next to the strange scary man, he motioned for Naruto and his ANBU companion to stand at ease. Danzo then proceeded to introduce the man "Naruto," he said as his head nodded in the man's direction." this is Orochimaru, and he is your next sensei. your next and last sensei." Naruto was young but he was not stupid, he knew what had happened here, he had been traded to this Orochimaru person in exchange for other children with bloodline limits, but the funny thing of the situation was that he felt nothing. Maybe it was the time he had spent in root or the general attitude that people outside had towards him but he had started giving less shits about pretty much everything.

He did not even bother with acknowledging Danzo anymore as he was no longer of any significance to him, he turned to Orochimaru and bowed with a casual declaration of "sensei" coming from his mouth. Naruto couldn't care much at this point seeing as all he wanted was training, it did not matter who it came from, he just wanted to be stronger so that nothing can ever challenge him. Orochimaru just gave him a very weird grin full of sharp teeth, Danzo said nothing as usual just watched as things proceeded.

"You can take him now," Danzo said. "he does not have anything else apart from what he is wearing. I'll be expecting the children."

"Pleasure doing business with you." The snake man said.

Then the ANBU next to Naruto moved so fast that he did not even see it, he got a tap to the back of the neck and everything went black.

/On the other side of the village/

The sandaime sat in his office thinking about a certain blonde haired child that has been missing for about five months, the child had just disappeared without a trace, something that is impossible for a five-year-old person. There had obviously been greater forces at work in that situation, it's just that he had no lead at all on the issue, he had his suspicions but those are nothing if there are no leads to follow or evidence to present against them. His number one on the list of suspects was Danzo, the man had been quiet since the child had disappeared and considering that he had always been going on and on about the boy could be trained to become a weapon, the silence probably meant that he had either gotten what he wanted or he knew what had happened and he was satisfied. Yet as much as he knew that Danzo was involved, there is nothing that he can do until a lead is found.

At this point the sandaime had given up on searching for the child, it had been a long and painful ten months, continuously thinking of how he had been unable to keep the child safe, thinking that no one would make a move on him in the middle of a ninja village, but he had been very wrong and stupid. Jiaraiya had not been told about the boy's absence yet, to avoid a major shit storm from hitting Konoha because Jiaraiya would lose it, he would probably lose control looking for the kid just as Kakashi had done when he gotten frustrated.

Kakashi had been leading the search operations for the boy, but even after looking everywhere in Konoha they had found nothing at all, not even a whiff of his scent. Kakashi had gotten so pissed by the situation that he had almost Chidoried a civilian man that had been celebrating the absence of the kyuubi jjinchuriki in broad daylight. Lucky for the man Gai had been with Kakashi and had been able to hold him back before anything irreversible happened, but the man got the message and ran for his life. The dog ANBU had then Flickered to a training field and obliterated everything in it using the most destructive jutsus in his possession before passing out due to chakra exhaustion.

In his rage Kakashi had managed to destroy a whole training ground, considering that he was only a jounin, then Jiaraiya would probably destroy the village. So Jiaraiya would not hear about this until everything was way calmer and there were more viable reasons for the boys vanishing. However, there was a problem with that plan, Jiaraiya would be reporting in in about six months, meaning that the boy should be found in that time period or at least a live trail within the next six months, considering that they had been unable to unearth anything in fix months it was highly unlikely that they would find anything.

The chances of not uncovering anything were high but this is the ninja world, anything was possible regardless of how unlikely it was so the sandaime had thought of a method to devote some resources to the search without upsetting anyone in the village. He had just signed a mission that was investigating the kidnapping and disappearances of special children in the of the land of fire and its neighboring nations to find out why and where the children were going, but in truth the whole point was to find if there was any link to Uzumaki. The mission would be carried out by some of the most trust worthy ANBU that he had in his ninja ranks, those ninjas were currently on their way to the office, they had all just been informed of their new missions. The mission would last exactly six months, just enough time for any possible leads to pop up before the toad sanin returned to a village without his godson.

The ninja taking this mission were prepping and are to report to his office in an hour, which meant he had some free time between now and then, he could squeeze in some tobacco. Putting some into his pipe and lighting it he took a few puffs and then started daydreaming, thinking of a better world, a world where none of this had happened and little Naru was okay.

/Memorial stone/

A Dog masked ANBU with gravity defying hair was standing there, lost in thought, contemplating all his failures in life, how he had lost everything only to gain one, his sensei's son. Then he lost that too. He had failed to hold everything that he had ever loved, starting with his father, his team, his second father and mother, and now finally his little bro. it seems that all that he holds dear in life is destined to break, even those not bloodied by the dark shinobi world yet.

He was remembering how he Obito had died due to his carelessness on that mission, all that had happened because he had been unable to be vigilant and strong enough to keep both his team mates alive in place of his sensei, then he was seeing his hand plunging through Rin's chest, the pain clearly etched onto her beautiful face as he took her life away. His head was now swimming with the pain of loss, his next sight was watching his father take his own life after failing his mission, he watched as the blood poured out of the large gash on his stomach that was exposing his innards, now his head was pounding with the pain. Then his sensei and his wife were next, he had not even seen what had happened as he had only seen their bodies in the casket during their funerals.

His mind naturally went to the recent event, Naruto, his sensei's son. He had absolutely no clue as to what had happened to the child, he had simply disappeared off the face of the earth. At least he had known or seen what had happened to the other people that he had ever thought dearly of, but he knew nothing about Naruto's issue. His head could no longer handle it, his mind started shutting down, some water could be seen dripping out from under the ANBU mask. Tears.

His mind was losing it but before everything could descend into madness he thought of the new hope that had been presented to him.

The world seems to not be as cruel as he had originally thought, he had been given a second chance to hold onto the last living piece of importance in his life, the sandaime had just given him an investigation mission alongside all the resources that he needed seeing as it was an S-rank mission. The sandaime had laid it out as if it was an investigation but Kakashi was too smart for that, he knew all about looking underneath the underneath otherwise he would not have survived this long in the shinobi world or manage to become a jounin at the tender age of thirteen. Officially it was an investigation but unofficially it was nothing of the sort, it was a smart ploy to get highly qualified ninja for the search without upsetting anyone or arousing any unwarranted suspicion.

It was his one and only chance at getting Naruto back and he would take it with both his hands if he had to. He had been ready for the mission the moment that he had been notified of it, all the gear that he would need for the mission was currently stored in his storage scrolls hidden around the numerous hidden pockets on his uniform. His ninjato firmly strapped to his back, shuriken and kunai holsters on his on his thighs and the most important thing in him right on his face, his mask, Dog.

All he had to do now was wait for the designated time then it was game time. Actually it was time now.

Dog went *poof* and there was no one in the training ground.

/Uchiha compound/

Weasel was currently packing his ANBU gear into his scrolls and pockets, getting ready for the upcoming mission. He was doing everything and a systematic and dignified manner like was supposed to be done by all Uchihas, he was packing kunai only at a time, then shuriken only, exploding tags and so on. He was all stiff and proper on the outside but his inside was nothing like that, his ninja instinct was telling him that this would not be an easy mission at all, if it was someone telling him that he would have scoffed and ignored them but his instinct was something else entirely. It was never wrong.

His instinct was going haywire and so was his excitement, this was the type of mission that made legends, a mission that could lead to uncovering some major plots that could possibly destroy the integrity of Konoha as a ninja society. Finding out who was behind the disappearance of talented or special can make a name for yourself even in ANBU the one place where names were technically a taboo.

However, most of the excitement had nothing to with becoming a legend, the majority of the excitement was coming from knowing that he was going to fight some very skilled ninja. He also knew that this mission was another attempt to look for the kyuubi host and he also knew that if the boy had been kidnapped for real and the kidnapper had left no trail to follow then they were incredibly skilled. Thus the high probability of going against some very powerful individuals. He grinned behind his mask, this was the perfect opportunity to get some good techniques that were not from the leaf.

It was time, he finished his packing just as his prepping time ran out, then just like a certain Dog he went *poof* leaving no trace been there in the first place.

/ANBU HQ/

Tiger was in the briefing room, hands folded back leaning against the wall and eyes closed. Quiet like he always was. He was thinking about how he was going to help other children that were unfortunate enough to get kidnapped by missing nin just like he had been once. Of course he would also get to help the missing blond if destiny allowed. He, like the other ANBU in on the mission was not stupid, he knew the real mission and what it entailed, it was all for the blonde boy.

He was quiet on the outside but he was anything but calm at that point, the mission details were making him emotional, as a social infant he didn't even know what he was feeling but he didn't like it at all. It just felt bad. He was remembering the shit that he went through when he was a captive and a lab rat in one of Orochimaru's secret bases. Those days were the most terrifying days in his whole life, he still had nightmares about it and he was an ANBU, a very dangerous one at that yet the experience still gave him nightmare years after.

Thinking about it made him shudder, he just prayed to kami that boy should be far away from that snake of a man, that demented snake sanin.

He really felt for the kid, he knew personally what happened to unprotected special children, they were either kidnapped for some sick man pleasure or to be trained as personal military. Hopefully it was the later, because at least his mind would still be there unlike the first one. He was going to do everything in his power to find the kid, every ability that he had he was going to use.

While Tora was deep in thought, so was the other person in the room, Hebi, snake. Anko Mitarashi was also thinking along the same line as Tora, since she was the ex-student of a mad snake that had used her as an experiment she also felt for the boy. She too was going through memory lane, thinking about all the nasty things that had happened to her while she had been Orochimaru's captive, although she could not remember everything because her psyche had collapsed because it had been unable to handle all the pain she was experiencing, out of the mash of memories she could still remember pain, a lot of pain.

Although Anko and Tora were having similar thought, their thoughts had slight differences, Tiger was only thinking of helping out as much as he could while Anko was thinking of the same with a slight twist, she would participate full heartedly hopping to somehow find the ass of a snake that had used her as a guinea pig. Their thoughts were like two parallel lines, going the same direction but on totally different planes.

In this mission she would do all that she could to find and protect the boy from the evil clutches of the bastards that had taken the boy, that's if he was taken at all, while hunting a snake. Tora would also go out just to save a child in a bad situation.

They were quiet for a long while, thinking, then it was time. A *poof* and a second later the room was empty.

/Sandaime's office/

The sandaime put out his pipe, it was time to send out Naruto's search team. He signaled his ANBU guards to leave the room, this was a high ranking mission, which meant top secret. All the presences in the shadows in the room vanished immediately leaving him alone. Then there was a *poof* an instant later and his loneliness ended there, four new presences had just entered the room.

It was time to deploy the team that would be searching for young Naruto.

The smoke cleared and there in front of the sandaime stood four ANBU, four shadows, highly qualified hunters, assassins and guards. They dressed just like the rest but that was to simply follow protocol. These were not just some regular ANBU, the ones standing in front of him were a tier above the regular, they were young yet dangerous even to the veteran shadows. There was Sharingan no Kakashi, Uchiha Itachhi the rumored prodigy of the century, Tenzo the holder of the Mokuton and Anko the snake mistress. Respectively Dog, Weasel, Tiger and Snake.

The sandaime had picked a team that he knew had good reason to throw in their very best into it, Kakashi was going to save his last remain family, Itachi was going to serve the village that he loved, Tenzo was going to be the hero that was never there when he needed one and Anko was going to look for any possible connections between that Naruto's case and the snake. They each had a role to play in the mission, Dog was looking for young Naruto, Tiger was going to look for the other missing children, Snake was going to hunt another snake and Weasel was the all rounding back up. A team that would cover the original and hidden objectives during the operation.

It was time for the speech and the sandaime never disappointed, he didn't even get up from the chair he just spoke in a calm tone. "You four already know how important this mission is," paused to make it a little more dramatic then continued "and you know what is at stake if this mission fails, do not fail me. None of you have ever failed me, don't start now. The leader for your team is Inu, he will undertake all responsibilities. You have four months to complete the mission." At this point he stood up and turned to look out the window.

"I want all objectives complete, bring our boy and the other children back and the snakes trail. I wish you the luck on this because you are going to need it." Then he turned his head only to look at the from the side of his eyes. "As of this moment I declare you team K.I.T.A, deploy!".

AN: I tried my best on this, don't know if it satisfied, give me a review so that I can improve it. I also don't really mind criticism so you can bring that out too, it will only help me get better. Oh and don't give me rude reviews, if you do make sure that you are a guest or anonymous coz I will respond. Thanks for reading .