Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: So I know, another new story. But I REALLY LOVE this idea. This is an idea that came to me as I was writing the fourth chapter of my story Apprenticed to a Shadow. This is an ANBU Naruto story, but not by the more stereotyped standards that usually follow an ANBU Naruto story. This has a twist that makes Naruto half a weapon, half an ANBU, and half himself as the cannon him is. I hope you all like the idea, I love it a lot!

Sitting behind a desk in a grimly lit room, was Danzo Shimura. The room he was in, was under ground, and the permeating smell of earth that assaulted Danzo's nose never ceased to irritate him, he really hated these caves. But it was something he had to deal with.

A knock broke the perpetual silence of the room, before the door to the closed off room opened, one of Danzo's Root officers walking in silently, before setting a tiny rolled up piece of parchment with an unbroken seal down on his desk, good, the report had arrived, a report that would most likely be the key instrument to finally getting the Kyuubi Jinchuriki under his thumb, a tool that had incredible potential if he could only get him away from Hiruzen's watchful eye for a few months.

It was all a calculated risk, but it would surely be worth it. Right now one of Danzo's elite was on his way to The Village Hidden in the Clouds disguised as a friendly Konoha merchant interested in the prospect of setting up a trade agreement between himself and a prominent vendor who had ways of getting large amounts of the minerals found in the mines spread throughout the region.

It was all a cover to try and dig up as much information on the resident Jinchuriki. It had taken months to get an in with the vendor, who vouched for the faux Konoha merchant. But if Danzo could get solid facts on the Hachibi and that he was adored as some said, he could use it to get the Kyuubi Jinchuriki put into Anbu training.

The Hachibi Jinchuriki had been trained since a child, and he used the skills he was taught to prove himself to his village, leading to his complete acceptance of the villagers, and in some cases he was seen as the protector of the Hidden Lightning Village, and he was openly adored by the populace.

It was that adoration that Sarutobi wanted so badly for Naruto, and if Sarutobi allowed Naruto to be taken in for Anbu training, it would only be too easy to slip the boy into ROOT from there, and having the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails as a weapon was too tempting to pass up.

If he played it right, when his operative came back from his mission, Naruto would be shuttled into Anbu by the council alone, as the council had been growing in power as of late, as the too-soft Hokage let them do so. If it didn't impress Sarutobi, then the council was his next best chance, hopefully the report would be enough to convince them, as the very direct action would surely rouse Sarutobi's suspicion.

Sarutobi sighed as Danzo stood up to address the council, as if knowing that when the scared war hawk speaks to the council, he almost always stood up to speak ill of something that he had done, and to propose a different course of action, which Sarutobi almost always disagreed with.

Danzo waited a second as everyone gave him their full attention, "I would like to bring a matter before the council, regarding the Jinchuriki boy, Naruto. There are some things that I would like to share, about the Hachibi Jinchuriki in Kumo. On a mission to scout out the resident Jinchuriki of Kumogakure, an Anbu operative found out a few interesting facts about one in particular, Kirabi."

Reaching inside of the partial gray cloak that he wore, Danzo pulled out several pieces of paper, all of which had children's scribbles all over them. "These are drawings by a few children in Kumogakure, although crude, they depict Kirabi protecting Kumo from monsters and other things. Kirabi is adored by the children in Kumogakure, and revered by his fellow ninja as the strongest in the village."

Pulling photos out of his cloak, he tossed them on the table, while in different places and with different people, they all showed different Kumogakure ninja bowing to Kirabi respectfully as he passed by. "The general populace of Kumogakure adore Kirabi so much, due to the fact that he has proven himself as a defender of Kumo, and more than strong enough to do so."

Hiashi interrupted Danzo for a second to speak, "This is all great Danzo, but can I ask as to why this is being brought to our attention? Unless you have another agenda, and as to how this pertains to Naruto, this is not necessary to be brought up during a council meeting."

Danzo nodded his head, "And I have a reason. For what I am about to propose, I would ask the civilian councilmen and woman to leave the room, under act 36, stating that when discussing information pertaining to the security of the village, only shinobi of Jounin rank or suitable status be present."

There was an uproar from the civilian council at this, they were outraged at being asked to leave for anything, no matter what it was. Clearing his throat to garner attention, Sarutobi spoke up, "As it is, Danzo-san is justified in the matter if he believes it pertains to village security and should be taken as serious information. I will have to ask you all to leave, you are dismissed."

Within a minute, the civilian council had cleared the room, grumbling about it all the same. "Now Danzo-san, what could be so important that you would invoke an act not used since the third shinobi war?" Sarutobi was weary of whatever it was that Danzo had to say now, the way he was behaving was strange to say the least.

Danzo bowed his head to Sarutobi, "I believe that Naruto should be trained in Anbu effective as soon as possible. While an extreme measure for one so young, I believe that it is in both Naruto's, and the village's best interests to begin to train Naruto as soon as possible. The Hachibi Jinchuriki was trained since a young age, and I learned he has complete mastery over the Tailed Beast inside of him. Such a thing is unheard of, and every shinobi regards him as the strongest ninja in the village."

Danzo stopped for a second to scan the other people in the room, 'Good, everyone is paying rapt attention, my little stunt with act 36 got their attention.' "Such power is at his disposal, that I do not think that anyone in Konoha today has the power to defeat such a man. He is a powerhouse with unequaled power, and we have to train Naruto to match, if not best this man in a fight if it ever came to war between our two nations. Kirabi is a huge threat, and we have no one who could fight him one against one, and Naruto is the only chance that we have at doing that."

Sarutobi raised a hand to stop Danzo, "I thought that we had already spoke of this, I do not think that it is wise that Naruto be trained as a weapon Danzo, such attempts like this have always failed horribly for Konoha, and it would be unwise to try such a thing again. While Kirabi does pose a threat, Kumo has done nothing to pose as a threat to Konoha, in fact there is a political party from Kumo due in the village any day now to begin talks of a sturdier treaty between the two of us."

Danzo knew that Sarutobi's argument held sway with the other shinobi council members, "While he would be going under immense training, Naruto would have a chance to prove himself to the general populace of the village. The majority of the village uses Naruto as a scapegoat against the pain and anger they hold towards the Kyuubi. Kirabi is a hero in his village, would it only be fair to try the same for Naruto?"

There was a flicker of doubt in Sarutobi's eyes now, 'Yes, come on you pacifistic old fool! The village needs Naruto as a weapon, the other shinobi nations are training their Jinchuriki left and right, just a short few years ago Suna created a completely unstable weapon out of the Yondaime Kazekage's son, meanwhile we sit with ours sitting as the most hated person in Konoha.'

For a second, it seemed like Danzo's argument was about to persuade the Hokage, before the elderly Hokage steeled himself and spoke up, "Either way, it is too risky to make a weapon out of Naruto, I believe the right thing to do is wait."

Danzo bowed to the Hokage as he adjourned the meeting, and as he left the council chambers, he was deep in thought, 'I lost the argument for now, but Hiruzen was tempted by the idea, I only have to wait now for something to tip him in my favor.'

Little did Danzo know, the opportunity he was looking for was only too soon going to be dropped in his lap not even a week later. As it turned out, the diplomatic convoy from Kumogakure was nothing but a front for a mission, to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata, daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi in an effort to steal the Byakugan and breed their own doujutsu-wielding clan in Kumo.

There were very many serious repercussions that followed, as Kumo quickly denied any attachment to the attempted kidnapping, and seeing as the civilian diplomats knew nothing about the mission, even interrogation by Inoichi Yamanaka was useless, and seeing as how Hyuuga Hiashi killed the would be kidnapper upon discovering the deed, there was no evidence to trace back to the actual village.

The issue was escalated further as the Sandaime Raikage claimed for reparation due to Hiashi killing the man. The Raikage demanded the dead body of Hiashi, and claimed that unless they received his body, Kumogakure would declare war on Konoha.

An emergency council meeting was called, with the added members of the Hyuuga clan council as well, to discuss the best course of action. The majority of the civilian council vouched that Hiashi be given up, to avoid war. The downside of the course of action was that it would still give Kumo a set of Byakugan eyes from Hiashi's body.

It was the only course of action that the council saw that could avoid war, as Konoha's forces had been severally weakened not four years prior by the massive loss of life during the Kyuubi attack. And as it stood, the threat of Kirabi was brought to attention as well, as the Sandaime and the rest of the shinobi council realized that if Kirabi was as strong as suspected, then Konoha would have no one to match up against such a man. Oddly enough, it was Hizashi Hyuuga that proposed another solution, to give Kumo the dead body of himself, Hiashi's twin brother instead.

Hizashi was branded with the caged bird seal, meaning that when he was dead, the seal would destroy his eyes, and Konoha would not lose the Hyuuga clan head, while still not going to war. If all went correctly, then Kumo would not be able to do anything about it, as the brother of the Hyuuga clan head was still a very steep price to pay.

But even though the brother of Hiashi Hyuuga was going to die, it was not the most noteworthy thing to come out of the whole conflict.

Standing in the Hokage's office, Danzo was delighted at the turn of events. 'With the whole scandal with Kumo, Hiruzen has had to see that Kumo is a dangerous enemy, especially Kirabi. If he has called me here for what I think he has, than all of my effort will come to fruition soon.'

Sarutobi was staring at Danzo, as he thought his decision over in his head, 'This is going to be a big decision, I am just not sure if I am making the right decision for Naruto. I know this is the best decision for the village, but how would Minato feel if he knew I was sending his kid into Anbu? But the threat of Kirabi from Kumo is too much to be ignored, and the council is pushing hard for this.'

Danzo broke the silence between the two, "So I take it that this means that Naruto will be going into Anbu then? With the recent threat from Kumogakure, I know you must realize how valid of a concern that Kirabi is to the village."

Sarutobi stood up from his chair to face away from Danzo, "Yes I see that now, and as much as I do not approve of this, I believe it is the only thing that can be done, with how hard the council is now pushing for it."

There was another question that Danzo had to ask, "So if this is your decision, why bring me here to tell me, and not at the council meeting?"

Sarutobi stiffened for a second before replying, "I want you to have a hand in his training. My plan is for him to receive training from yourself, myself, Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Gekkou Hayate and lastly, Maito Gai. I am going full out on Naruto's training, and pulling all of the stops."

Sarutobi stopped to turn and glance at Danzo, to see him still standing quiet, "As I am sure you can tell, I am giving Naruto a wide range of sensei to balance his training. Kakashi will be his ninjutsu sensei, Gai his taijutsu sensei. Hayate is the resident kenjutsu specialist in the village, and so Naruto's kenjutsu training will fall to him. Itachi will be training him in genjutsu, as he is more likely than not the best genjutsu user in the village. It is also likely that Naruto and Itachi could relate to each other, as both are being raised as weapons for the village."

"And while your methods may have been extreme, your results in the prior ROOT Anbu cell showed you are a great behavioral training specialist. I am giving you the task of training Naruto behaviorally. You will teach Naruto to control his emotions, and think like an elite ninja. However, you are not to go nearly as far as you did with your ROOT operatives, I know your operatives had their uses, but what we need from Naruto is a symbol of the village's strength, not a mindless weapon to be pointed wherever we would wish."

Danzo nodded his head, 'Perhaps I will not be able to get Naruto in ROOT with all of these different sensei, especially if Hiruzen himself will oversee parts of his training.' Walking over to the window to look down on the village, Danzo questioned Sarutobi, "And what is it that you will be training Naruto in Hiruzen?"

"It is simple enough, I will be training Naruto to love and respect the village. While training him in a few things here and there, I will instill in him a deep love for this village, because if we do not ensure that Naruto has close ties to the village, he could become the village's destroyer rather than our savior."