A/N: OK, this is where I start throwing in the true changes that won't alter too much of the storyline early on. I don't know how many of you didn't think Danzo was believable but it's my take on the essence of Danzo. Many have demonized him, even though he is a man purely for the forwarding of the village. My version of Danzo is going to still have the shady past but that doesn't mean he is of ultimate evil in the Narutoverse.
Training Ground 7
The genin-hopefuls of Team 7 sat around the memorial stone with the boys leaning against the posts and Sakura sitting in front of Sasuke. "I wonder what Hatake-sensei is going to be like. Think it'll be hard?" A brown haired youth said as his bangs covered his forehead and started to shade his green eyes.
Naruto looked over to him as the other two just continued to be pensive at the revelation from the Academy about the special make-up of the team. "I think it'll be great. No way am I being held back now. I will totally be Hokage in no time." Chiisai just looked over and smiled as Naruto continued his rant. The sun was quickly nearing noon and the patience of the students was about to start waning.
Hokage Office
Sarutobi and Danzo stood inside the office as Kakashi appeared before him, one eye covered by his headband and prominent silver hair standing on end. "Kakashi-kun, I'm glad that you could make it. Now, the team that you are about to go meet, on time I might add, is going to be special. There are four members and they will be passing the genin test no matter what, but I still want them to undergo the test itself so we can see the amount of teamwork they can possess. They will undergo special training. They will be Team 7 in the public of the village, but on out of village missions and other special training tasks they will be Team 0. You will lead them on missions, but the three of us and a few other guest teachers every now and again will be the ones training them. They are waiting for you at Training Ground 7. You will test them after a brief introduction from noon until three, and then you all will meet us at Tobirama-sama's secret training ground to finish the night on some very special projects." Sarutobi breathed out deeply, releasing a plume of smoke, as he finished his explanation. Kakashi nodded his head as an interested glint appeared in his eye.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. Who makes up the team I will be taking?" Kakashi still had the glint to his eye, but the old men could just pick up on it with his bored body-language.
Danzo at this point stepped forward from the side of Sarutobi's desk. "You will be handling the testing of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Koguma Chiisai, and Uzumaki Naruto." He cleared his throat quickly. "They are set up to be a functioning frontline squad that will be able to handle all situations. We will better explain their situation when you arrive to the training ground." Kakashi nodded and shunshined out of the office towards the training ground.
Training Ground 7
Kakashi arrived to a scene that could only be described as bedlam. Naruto and Sasuke were locked in a struggle on the ground that was close to deadlocked. Sakura was being held back from jumping into the fray by Chiisai who was struggling as hard as he could to do so. Kakashi chuckled to himself and cleared his throat to get their attention. Both boys instantly jumped to their feet as Sakura calmed down. Chiisai eased himself between Sakura and Naruto to keep her out of arm's reach of the blonde. "Hello, kiddies, I'm Kakashi sensei and my first impression of you all is: you annoy me." His eye closed into an upside-down u-shape. The kids face-faulted and remained there for a few seconds before standing back up. "Well, let's start with some introductions."
Sakura quickly raised her hand and then spoke when Kakashi nodded her way. "Wouldn't you like to show us how first, sensei?"
"Ok, my name is Hatake Kakashi. My interests are none of your concern, my dislikes are my own, and my dream is to own every Icha Icha Special Collector's Edition in existence." He started to laugh to himself in a perverse manner while the students of Team 7 all looked at each other. "Now, you go first pinky."
Sakura sucked in a breath at the nickname but quickly started. "My name is Haruno Sakura, and I like…." At this point she looked over at Sasuke and squealed. "My dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto-baka. My dream is to…" She stopped and looked at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye and squealed again to the annoyance of all the boys around her. Kakashi motioned to Chiisai to go next.
"My name is Koguma Chiisai. I like training and weapons, I dislike not being able to train, and my dream is to become a top-tier jounin or ANBU." Kakashi eye-smiled at this and motioned to Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like being strong and getting stronger. I dislike idiots and people that will hold me back. My dream, no my purpose, is to kill a certain man and reestablish the Uchiha clan." Kakashi nodded but his thoughts were very far from positive in regards to this introduction.
"Ok, now you, Mr. Ball-of-Sunshine."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, training, and Sakura-chan. I dislike the time it takes for ramen to cook and the people that disrespect me. My dream is to become the best Hokage ever! Believe it!" Kakashi smiled and looked to the sky noticing that it was close to noon now.
"Well, here it is for you guys. It's time for you to take the true genin test. Most likely all but one or two of you will fail and be sent back to the Academy. You have three hours to try to get one of these bells." Kakashi held up three bells before the genin hopefuls and tied them to his belt. "Come at me with the intent to kill if you want to pass. You have three hours. Go!"
At his mark Sasuke and Sakura instantly disappeared into the woods that made up the training ground. Naruto made to stand in front of Kakashi when Chiisai stopped from his jump and grabbed Naruto by the back of his orange jumpsuit. Chiisai readjusted his legs and jumped, trailing Naruto behind him. Kakashi eye-smiled and pulled out an orange covered book and started to walk nonchalantly into the deeper woods of the training grounds.
Chiisai looked at Naruto behind one of the screens of bushes as they both sensed Kakashi leaving the direct vicinity. "Hey, chill, we got to have a plan if we are going to take him on. We should probably get the other two to help us."
Naruto nodded his head. "I know, but I want to beat him into the ground. I bet I could do it."
"No, Naruto. He's the one that's supposed to be training us. If one of us could already beat him by ourselves then what good would him training us be?" Naruto nodded once again and they both took to the tree limbs and jumped towards where Chiisai could sense Sasuke was at. "We got to get Sakura at least if Sasuke disagrees. We'll make a plan and then try it out in an hour, wait for his guard to go down some."
Kakashi kept track on how the chakra presences of two of the genin went towards where the others were. At each juncture, the two presences continued on alone and Kakashi continued on reading until he felt one presence land in the clearing across from him. He nonchalantly lowered the book from his face and noticed Sasuke's perturbed look at the lack of concern Kakashi was showing towards him. "Want something?" This question seemed to spark something off in Sasuke and he jumped into the air as he started a chain of hand seals and took a deep breath.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" A fireball that was easily about four feet across careened from Sasuke's mouth towards Kakashi. Kakashi set his book back into one of his vest's many pockets. The fireball seemed to engulf Kakashi and Sasuke landed with a smirk until the smoke dissipated. A charred log was all that remained in the center of the burned out crater.
"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu" Kakashi's hands emerged from the ground and grasped Sasuke by his ankles. Sasuke all of a sudden was buried up to his neck underground and Kakashi appeared from the ground right in front of Sasuke with his back facing him. "You have a lot more to learn with that technique. You can never let your guard down in front of a superior enemy." Kakashi then took out his book and continued towards the other remaining singular presence.
Sakura was wandering the outskirts of the clearing when leaves started to swirl around her and a barely perceptible whisper of "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu" entered her ears. She looked around and didn't notice anything as she sprinted towards the nearest stand of trees. She looked around her and she breathed heavily. A rustle to the right of her caused her head to snap in that direction and Sasuke staggered from behind one of the trees with kunai and shuriken sticking out from all over his torso. Sasuke then collapsed onto the ground and gave out a rumbling sigh before his body seemed to permanently freeze into the beginning stages of rigor mortis. Sakura then screamed and fainted, falling backwards and hitting her head against the tree she had been leaning against. Kakashi appeared from the treetop above her and then used ninja wire to tie her against the tree.
A kunai sliced through the air just in front of Kakashi as he turned away from the tied up Sakura. A set of shuriken then flew through the stifling air and hit all of the loops of wire that had tied Sakura. Four copies of Naruto then jumped from the bushes in front of Kakashi and bull-rushed him as Chiisai dropped from the treetop to pick up Sakura and spring back towards the bushes that the Naruto clones had come from. Kakashi looked at each of the clones before he went to punch one of clones and it broke into a cloud of smoke on contact. "Now that was something that I wasn't expecting." Kakashi whistled and finished the other three clones in quick secession before chasing after the three grouped presences that were quickly heading for the last presence.
Kakashi landed in the clearing to see Sakura laid out next to Sasuke as Naruto was digging him out. Chiisai stood in between him and the furiously working Naruto. "Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Earth Style: Fist Rock Technique)" was heard from Chiisai as he submerged his hands into the ground in front of him and a small layer of clay covered his fists and he rushed towards Kakashi.
Naruto looked over his shoulder and then stopped digging momentarily to put his hands into a cross-shaped hand seal and announced "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu". Five copies sprang into existence and flanked alongside Chiisai as he charged towards Kakashi. He turned back to Sasuke and soon had the earth around him loose enough that Sasuke was able to wriggle free from the ground.
Chiisai connected a glancing blow off of Kakashi's guard that caused the clay that made up his technique to break off of his fists. He jumped back as the real Naruto jumped forward with Sasuke quickly behind him. Naruto quickly took a breath then shouted, "Futon: Shinkuha (Wind Style: Vacuum Wave)". He started to spin but ran out of breath before he could rotate more than just a half turn to cover the area in front of him. A disturbance in the wind showed that a wave of it was quickly headed towards Kakashi. It started to mildly cut the leaves that were caught up in it before another yell joined in.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" Sasuke quickly breathed out another fireball that merged with Naruto's slower wave of wind and a firestorm quickly erupted towards Kakashi.
Kakashi quickly weaved through a series of hand seals and said, "Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall)!" A ten foot tall wall of hard rock sprung up in front of Kakashi before the earth and fire wave surged into it from the other side. Kakashi heaved a sigh of relief after the wall crumbled. He looked up at the sound of an alarm going off quickly overtook all of their hearing, including the recently roused Sakura. All of the genin looked dismayed and started to trudge passed the eye-smiling Kakashi before he cleared his throat. "You all pass, my cute little genin."
A shared shout of "What!?" drowned out anything that he might of said. He looked at them before motioning for them to follow him. He led them back to the three original wooden posts where they had started. They all were short of breath by the time they made it back and leaned against the posts. Kakashi moved in front a little further before tracing something on a smoothed-out, polished, black stone that stood proudly in the entrance of the training ground.
"This is the killed-in-action memorial stone that all ninja of this village that have died for us are remembered upon. It is a high calling to be put here, but not everyone is meant to be on it. The key to this test was simple: those who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash. You all tried to take care of yourselves, but you all looked for ways to make sure the team would have made it through by working together, so you all pass. Now follow me to the area where we will be training and you will be told of why this team is set up in such a special way."
Hokage's Office
The glass ball on the Hokage's desk went blank. Sarutobi and Danzo just exchanged glances after watching the test unfold before them. Disbelief hung in the air and the old men that shared the same feeling couldn't bring themselves to speak quite yet. A knock came at the door and Danzo quickly strode over to open it. A tall man stood in the doorway as it swung open. The man's shorter black hair swayed in its spikes from the cross breeze going through the office. A lit cigarette trailed smoke behind him and started to mingle with Sarutobi's pipe smoke as the man stood at attention before the desk. "Welcome, Asuma, what is it that I can help you with?"
Asuma followed Danzo's movements as the old war hawk walked back to the desk from the doorway. "Hokage-sama, the testing for Team 10 and Team 8 are complete. Kurenai-san sent me ahead since I was already on my way here. May I now have the reasoning on why the tests were rushed ahead this year?"
Sarutobi sighed deeply and took another drag from his pipe. "Danzo-san and I are going to be slightly more active with this batch of genin. War clouds the horizon. We don't know exactly what is going on with all the other nations, but we do know that the next great shinobi war is not far off. Team 10 is to be trained to take the place of the previous Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They are going to fulfill the new role for needed intelligence gathering, subduing the enemy, and a frontline support role that their fathers played in the Third Shinobi World War. Alert Kurenai that Team 8 is going to be undergoing more than just tracker training. They will also receive instruction in fore-guard and rear-guard training so they can better set and disabling traps while keeping a group safe from attack coming from ambush or pursuit."
Sarutobi Asuma took a second to process this. "Are we the only two teams that passed their students?" His perplexing was interrupted by Danzo's cane coming into contact with the floor as Danzo made to take a step forward.
"No, Team 7 has also passed under the tutelage of Hatake. They will be undergoing a special training regime to fill the role of a frontline assault squad. They will be more under wraps then the other two squads." Danzo wasn't willing to share any more than that and Sarutobi nodded his head to the explanation. Danzo smiled at the confused look on Asuma's face as he started to walk out of the office. "I believe it is time to head for the training ground. Certain ANBU operatives have already arrived and set up the place with safeguards so that we can finish training for the evening with Team 0." A shunshin quickly enveloped both legends as they quickly made their way to the secret location that the genin were being led towards the area.
Tobirama Training Ground
Kakashi quickly followed the genin down an earthen stairwell that dived deep from the ground above towards an artificially lit cavern with a small stream running from the upper left of it following the contour of the wall down and out along that same wall. His sense of where they were exactly was thrown off by how the stairs carried them down. It had leveled out several times only to twist and dive again away in several different directions.
The opening of the cavern was massive and the genin looked upwards to the ceiling in awe at massive tree roots that lined it. The sound of a throat clearing snapped the children's attention back down. Kakashi nodded to the two men standing there with several ANBU operatives kneeling behind them. The genin and Kakashi snapped to proper attention stance as Sarutobi stepped forward. "Today, you have become genin that will shape the future of Konoha. You will be drilled relentlessly into the ground to become the elite of your upcoming generation. This will not be the traditional genin training program. You will submit yourselves wholly to the operations of this village. You are no longer children and will not be treated as such. Uphold yourselves with pride." Sarutobi stopped his speech as Danzo stepped forward and looked for permission to speak.
Danzo waited till Sarutobi granted permission to speak. The children were weary of the battle scarred veteran of all three Shinobi World Wars. "Waiver of custody was sent to Ms. Haruno's residence. Your father, the proud shinobi that he is, already agreed to the terms of this training and there is no longer a home for any of you beyond this training ground. Two of you have already experienced the demands of shinobi life through interaction with true shinobi. One other through the loss of family to the lifestyle. I hold no remorse over what you all will experience from today onward." Danzo paused as the children-soldiers bowed their heads. "You will reside here with the intent to rise through the ranks. You will live together, train together, and serve together. Each will have their focus diverted to what will better serve the team and the village. Weapons skills will be handed down to you all from those that have better training in them. Chakra natures will be found by this evening along with the first training exercise in your careers."
Awe crossed all the faces that were looking at Danzo and Sarutobi. Kakashi was even awed by the pure fact that this was one of the few times he had seen the hardened war-leader in both of these men before him. Pride swelled within the chests of all those within hearing, not through personal pride, but pride that the village would grow to even greater heights through what they would endure here in this hidden training ground. Sarutobi moved forward to stand next to Danzo once again. "You all will be trained by Hatake Kakashi, but there will be other teachers as well. Shimura-san as well as I will also have a heavy presence in the training of you four. You will be Team 0 in this training ground and on missions. In the public you will act and behave as Team 7 only in the presence of the village populace. Now step forward and pick up your masks that you will bear with you from this day forth."
The genin stepped up to a table that had been off to the right of the village leader and his councilor. A name plate stood before each mask that resided on the table. Naruto bounded over first. His name was displayed before a red oni-mask that bore a striking resemblance to the full face masks that he had seen a samurai wear once when they had passed through Konoha during a festival. The other masks were also quickly picked up by the others: black for Sasuke, a forest green for Chiisai, and a navy blue for Sakura. All bore a resemblance to samurai masks only with even more pronounced devilish features around the mouth, lenses covering the eyes, and a hood to cover each person's hair. "This is so awesome!" Naruto's declaration came out slightly muffled by his mask. "Do these masks mean anything special?"
Danzo answered Naruto's question with an almost deadly calm, "These masks are made out of a resilient metal and clay substance to take a large amount of damage. The lenses and hoods help conceal your true identity with seals to be slightly resistant to weather and genjutsu. All they mean though is that you are now personal apprentices to me, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Hatake Kakashi."
Sasuke spoke up at this point in time, "What are we supposed to train in tonight?" Sounds of agreement to the validity of the question came from Sakura and Chiisai.
Kakashi quickly added in, "And what are the areas that each of them will be training in so that I know who will be having the first training session with me?"
Sarutobi took this as his cue to clear up any confusion on anyone's part. "Tonight we will train in weapons and find the best fit for each of your styles through sparring. We will also look at what elements each of you are primarily geared towards. Naruto, you will be trained as the ninjutsu battery of the team with a lesser focus in taijutsu, weapons, and possibly fuinjutsu. Sasuke, you will have a heavier focus in genjutsu while having a secondary focus on ninjutsu supplemented by weapons and taijutsu. Chiisai, you will have a focus in taijutsu along with a focus in weapons, trap making, stealth, and from observed test scores sensing chakra presences. Sakura, you are the most integral part of the squad. You will have a heavy influence in genjutsu and medical ninjutsu so that the squad can better operate as a whole. You will also have a glassing over in the areas of weapons and taijutsu so that you will not be vulnerable to enemy attacks." Each of the genin looked at each other with confusion at all the areas the team would be trained in.
Tobirama Training Ground- Midnight
Naruto, Chiisai, Sasuke, and Sakura sat slumped on the ground as the Hokage stood above all of them. Danzo and Kakashi sat over against a table loaded down with weapons that had just been used to test and try to the styles of the new genin. Naruto had the most energy left out of the genin but that wasn't saying too much about his current chakra levels. Sakura's eyes were already drooping and Sarutobi had to clap his hands to make sure she was in the land of the conscious as he got ready to speak. "Ok, I think this is rather interesting that you all have a different style of flowing through the stances you all were taught. Sasuke and Chiisai, you two are heavy hitters that concentrate on blocking strikes in order to turn them against the person who threw them. Sakura, I know that this training session was pretty rough, but you did well in dodging and evasion. The only problem is that your hits don't have any power behind them. Naruto, you live up to your unpredictable nature. You can dodge and block, but you use every advantage to strike from any area you can reach. Now, go select the weapons you feel fit you best and I'll judge how you did. Sakura, you go first."
Sakura looked at the table as she approached. Her head was spinning slightly and her hand was shaking as she reached out and grabbed the table to steady herself. "I don't know maybe the basic kunai and shuriken?" Danzo shook his head and pushed forward a bundle that was wrapped in leather towards her. Sarutobi saw it and nodded.
"Ah yes, unroll that for us please." Sakura did as instructed with the roll. The leather was supple and easily came to display a case of senbon held in loops with a pair of spiked brass knuckles lying in the middle. "Those should fit in well. While you do hold impressive aiming capability with kunai, the senbon is more accustomed for a medic nin so that you can better target vital nerve clusters. The brass knuckles will also give your taijutsu the added punch that is needed. Sasuke, your turn."
Sasuke moved forward and passed Sakura. He reached out and quickly picked up a ninja-to that was in a red lacquered sheath. He went to walk back to his place in line when he was stopped by Sarutobi's voice. "That would otherwise be a good choice, but you did better with a different type of sword." Danzo picked up a long handled blade that resided in a black sheath with no hand guard. He unsheathed it and the blade ran long and straight until it hit a point. "Sasuke, you are more suited for the chokuto than anything. Its straight edge sits well in the rigid stance that you use derived from the Uchiha's interceptor style."
Chiisai stepped forward at this point and, as steadily as he could manage, grabbed a three section bo staff that he quickly leaned against to keep himself upright. "Good, Chiisai, that weapon, while being my personal favorite, is one to aid those that started with a basis in taijutsu so that you could open up space for yourself to use heavier moves or ninjutsu. Naruto, it's finally your turn."
Naruto quickly ran to the table and surveyed the table. Nothing caught his eye the first time he looked over the table but he quickly tried to reach for a longer katana when a cane hit the table in front of his hand. Danzo looked down at Naruto with a grim smirk and Naruto's mind instantly snapped to the villagers that had been ignoring him all his life. Danzo went to speak and Naruto looked back into his face. "Uzumaki, you have a given talent with a blade, but a katana has never been a great weapon for those that are unpredictable like you are. I believe a blade will suit you though. We'll see for sure after we test chakra natures in a few minutes." Danzo then leaned down over the table and grabbed two scabbards that were strapped together so that they would rest on the small of someone's back. "These should work for you." Naruto nodded and took the first blade from its scabbard and looked at the structure of it. It went straight for a good eight inches before it started to bend and curve towards the front of the blade so that the heavy point was closer to the hand than if it had been straight the whole way. "That is a kukri knife that some monks have come to favor and I think will suit you well."
Naruto then was ushered back to where the other three were seated as Kakashi reached into a pouch of his jounin vest and produced five slips of chakra papers and handed one to each of the genin and held one up in his own hand and explained how it worked. The kids watched blearily from half-lidded eyes as they saw his paper start to crumble before flakes turning to ash and another section turned to a fine dust. Sasuke was the first to pump chakra into his sheet of paper. His paper crumbled and murmurs broke out between Sarutobi and Danzo that the kids couldn't understand. Sakura went next and her paper soon became damp. Chiisai was pumping chakra into the paper when it quickly broke into dust as it crumbled. This caused another round murmurs to break out between Sarutobi and Danzo. Naruto held his paper up and it split into two separate pieces. Danzo smiled and nodded to something Sarutobi whispered to him.
Kakashi then picked the four up off the floor and started to usher them towards a rock wall that was towards the back of the room. "Ok, kiddos, the bunks are back behind here. We will be up at 0630 for morning stretches and each of you will be doing your first training session with the appointed sensei of the day." Kakashi listened to their mumbled complaints and chuckled to himself as he made to leave the training ground.
"Don't forget, Kakashi, you have to be on time from now on. Unless, you would rather go with the bunshins that will be doing D-rank missions that would originally go to Team 7." Sarutobi's voice carried across the training ground in a sing-song manner. Kakashi's shoulders slumped and Sarutobi's laughter was quickly heard as it followed Kakashi's dejected form up the first flight of stairs.
A/N: Ok, this wraps up the first look into what will be going on. I think it would be interesting to see what you guys think I am going to be giving Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto as a second element. Yes, they will have two elements, but no they're only going to know a few lower-tier jutsus for each element. Actually training beyond the ability to know the first few steps for each element is going to take a while to get here. Oh, and in case I forgot, I don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.