Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. There I said it.
"Human talking"
'Human thinking'
"Demon or Summon talking"
'Demon or Summon thinking'
Jutsu will be underlined
Naruto always thought that when you were about to die you were supposed to have some kind of epiphany. That night all those years ago a million thoughts crossed his mind and a rage he had never felt manifested itself in his heart. But now despite all his training and emotional conditioning (incomplete emotional conditioning) he felt something that, while he was familiar with had never experienced to the degree he felt looking at the kunai embedded in his chest.
Fear the likes of which he had never known gripped his heart making him do something that he had never done. Naruto froze, but as the assassin ripped out the kunai and prepared to stab him once again she suddenly whipped around and deflected two incoming shuriken. Ting! The sound of the first shuriken and kunai meeting woke him from his fear induced stupor. Ting! The second shuriken spurred him to action. Channeling chakra to his fist he swung at his assailant's face, unfortunately she sensed the spike in chakra and dodged nimbly out of the way.
Appearing next to him in a shunshin (a technique Naruto taught him) was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Upon his arrival Naruto felt his strength leave him and he fell to a knee, one hand on the ground keeping him up right the other clutching at his profusely bleeding chest. "Your not gonna die on me are you dobe?" Asked Sasuke. "Not if you buy me some time." Upon seeing Sasuke's confusion he elaborated. "I have a kind of healing ability i…" "He's a demon." The assassin interrupted.
"Stand aside Uchiha-san it would be a shame to kill someone with the potential to do so many great things for Konoha such as yourself." "How much time do you need dobe?" Sasuke asked Naruto. " A few minutes should do. But be careful she's at least chunin level." Naruto informed. Sasuke nodded and rushed his opponent launching a couple of kunai. She deflected the first but upon striking the second was blinded by smoke. 'A smoke bomb henged into a kunai, clever.' She thought to herself as she waited for the Uchiha to make his next move.
After all the Anbu currently on duty in this area had all ready been bribed by her clients and the shift change wasn't for another hour. She could afford to be patient and she could use this smoke to her advantage. Sasuke finished making hand seals and launched his most powerful jutsu hoping to end this quickly. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu" A fireball the size of Sasuke himself slammed into the spot the assassin was standing and much to Sasuke's satisfaction the high pitched scream of a woman being burned alive filled the air and as the smoke subsided he saw the burning corpse of his opponent prone on the concrete. Sasuke removed his last kunai from his pouch (he wasn't even supposed to have real kunai on account of only being a academy student and technically a civilian) and approached the body to confirm his kill.
"SASUKE IT'S A GENJUTSU GET BACK!" Naruto screamed still unable to join the battle but thanks to his tenketsu seals was able to notice the assassins ruse. Sasuke immediately activated his immature Sharingan while simultaneously jumping back. Had he been without the legendary Doujutsu his throat would have been slit but because of his birth right he was not only able to see through the Genjutsu but calculated the path of the assassin's tanto and dodged accordingly.
'Damn, the packet I got on the Kyuubi brat said he was terrible at Genjutsu, I should have known better than to go off of intel gathered by those idiots at the academy. Not only that but the Uchiha is what, 9 or 10 and already awakened his Sharingan making him resistant to genjutsu as well. I need to get out of here before the demon recovers.' The assassin decided that it would be pratical to retreat and cast her most powerful escape Genjutsu after throwing down 3 smoke bombs of her own. When the smoke cleared she was gone. "What the hell was that dobe, what did she mean demon?" Sasuke asked. Deciding he was too vulnerable right now to tell even Sasuke the truth he lied simply "I don't know".
Time skip next day:
Naruto had convinced Sasuke not to take him to the hospital but to his apartment instead stating: "What if someone is waiting at the hospital to finish me off, besides with my healing ability all I need is time and maybe one of the blood pills I have stashed at home." While this was a legitimate part of the reason why he didn't want to go to the hospital the major reason was that he didn't want his attack investigated by the leafs conventional forces (which he both distrusted and believed were mostly incompetent) but by Root.
Sasuke had insisted on spending the night at the apartment guarding his injured friend which was why he was sleeping through Iruka's lecture on the dangers of chakra exhaustion. It was the same reason he missed the surprised look on the late Mizuki's face when he saw Naruto present in class. Naruto didn't. "Naruto wake Sasuke up!" Iruka yelled finally noticing Sasuke, upset that his best student apparently found his lesson so boring.
The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully until it was time for B groups practical exercise period. "Alright everyone I know that we normally only do one on one spars but I've decided to switch things up a bit. I've invited three seniors who are set to graduate later in the year to take part in a team on team spar." Iruka said. Taking there queue the three seniors emerged out of the academy's side door.
The first was a girl with buns on either side of her head who was wearing a blue sleeveless blouse, shinobi pants and sandals. The next was a boy with incredibly thick eye brows. His hair was short and curved backwards and he wore a white robe styled top with a belt keeping it closed and black shinobi pants and sandals. The last was a very intimidating Hyuga boy that was taller than the others with long hair wearing an off white jacket and black shinobi shorts and blue sandals. The bandages around his forehead tipped Naruto off to the fact he was probably of the branch family.
"These are Tenten, Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga their teacher picked them for this demonstration because they will most likely be placed together on the same team. Now will Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka step forward?" Iruka asked. "You three are the best of B group so do your best against your upperclassmen alright?" Upon getting three head nods he gave the signal to begin. The two groups stood across from each other getting into battle stances. The Hyuga was the first to speak.
"Tenten take the Yamanaka out quickly and act as support for Lee and I at a distance, Lee you take the muscular blond I'll engage the Uchiha." Neji ordered. Naruto expected the other upperclassmen to say something about being ordered around but to his surprise they simply said "Hai". Neji may have been the first to speak but it was Lee who was the first to act. The boy charged Naruto with surprising speed and slammed his fist into Naruto's guard with an even more surprising force. Naruto responded in kind punching and kicking just as hard and just as fast as the other boy. "I am most impressed Uzumaki-san your attacks are filled with the passions of youth!" Lee complemented enthusiastically. "Um thanks?" Naruto replied.
Sasuke was thrown to his back the victim of a particularly vicious Juken strike. "This is the best you can do Uchiha? I thought you were supposed to be the elite?" Neji taunted but thanks to sparing with Naruto (who loved to taunt his opponents to get them off their game) Sasuke refused to take the bait. Rising to his feet with closed eyes he calmly addressed his opponent. "Oh I'm just getting warmed up Hyuga." Sasuke then opened his eyes revealing his Sharingan.
Ino was glad she had been training with her mother (a former med-nin) in dodging. This Tenten girl had weapons for days and threw them at her with incredible speed. 'How is it okay for her to be throwing all these dangerous weapons around we're just academy students.' She thought to herself. Had she had the time to actually observe the weapons she would have seen that most were blunted or were made with a substitute training material.
"With that skinny ass of yours you must be on a diet to impress some boy right? How long can you keep dodging without any fuel in the tank? Cause I hate to break it to you but I could do this until sunup tomorrow morning but since Neji said to hurry up." Tenten said desiding to stop throwing weapons and charged her opponent with a single katana in hand. When Ino saw this she looked around and grabbed the closest weapon off the ground beside her.
Any shinobi worth their salt would have told you that the weapon was a bad choice. They would tell you that the bulky, top heavy thing was more a tool for civilians than shinobi and that the fact that she was female made it even worse. However no one would have guessed that the weapon would feel so right or that it would change her very destiny. When Tenten reached her she brought her katana down in a flawless slash only for Ino to retaliate by swinging her weapon up in an awkward c shaped arc.
What Tenten foolishly hadn't accounted for was that her katana was made out of a metal-like training material. On the other hand the weapon Ino was wielding possessed a blunted but very real metal head. It wasn't until they collided and her katana shattered like glass that she realized her mistake. Ino capitalized and spun her body around building momentum and brought her already raised weapon down smashing it's flat against Tenten's temple droping the girl. She then looked at her downed opponent in disbelief and then she looked at her new favorite possession, she looked at her axe.
Sasuke was always taught by his clan that the Hyuga were their rivals because of both clans possessing doujutsu and believing theirs was superior. But as he fought Neji he came to the conclusion that the Hyuga's ability to fuck you up while barely even touching you was what made them so strong. It also made Neji a pain in the ass.
He had done well at first, using his Sharingan he was able to anticipate Neji's attacks and dodged each one flawlessly. But as the fight dragged on and the fatigue from last night started to kick in he found himself only partially avoiding his opponent's strikes. That partial contact was all Neji needed to turn things to his favor once again.
Sasuke's entire left arm was the first of his body parts to be shut down, the tenketsu being blocked. His right foot was next followed by a crippling Juken strike to his lungs that resulted in his ability to breathe being hampered. Neji arrogantly deactivated his Byakugan and slowly walked towards the downed underclassman intent to finish him.
If he had kept his Doujutsu active he would have seen the incoming danger. But while he was completely oblivious, Sasuke, with his Sharingan improved peripheral vision saw a running Ino throw her weapon. Wood, metal, wood, metal, wood, metal, the axe spun through the air and found the side of Neji's head knocking him unconscious.
Naruto weighed his options trying to decide how to best defeat Lee without revealing his true abilities however as Lee's punches started to get even stronger, rattling his very bones he decided enough was enough. "Fuck it." He said aloud going through hand seals "Wind Release: Great Air Breaking Bullets!" Naruto thrust his palms out causing a gust of wind to lift Lee of the ground diminishing his ability to dodge. Naruto then inhaled and spat four fist sized balls of compressed air at his opponent each finding their mark. Lee was knocked out before he even hit the ground.
Iruka couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Sure he had chosen his best students but he never in his wildest dreams thought that they would actually win. Ino knocking out two of the three and Naruto not only using wind release but combining two different jutsu and creating a new one as an academy student was just unheard of."Aiko go get the duty med-nin, hurry!" Iruka ordered.
Later, end of the school day:
Naruto and Sasuke were walking out of the courtyard when they heard someone calling them. When they turned around they saw a jogging Ino with new axe in hand nearing their position. "Let's go dobe, she probably just wants to ask one of us out or something." Sasuke suggested. "Oh come on teme she did take out two upperclassmen today, as a matter a fact she saved you from the Hyuga right?"Naruto replied getting under Sasuke's skin.
Ino reached them and tried to speak but was out of breath. Naruto stood there patiently waiting for the girl to compose herself, Sasuke on the other hand…not so much. "Look we have training to get to so are you going to stop wasting our time or what?" Sasuke rudely asked. Ino was taken back by the normally brooding but quiet boy's tone. "Don't mind the teme he's just grumpy on account of being sleepy and getting his ass handed to him, nice save by the way." Naruto reassured Ino gracing the girl with a small almost unnoticeable smile.
"Thanks, um I was wondering if I could train with you guys?" Ino nervously asked. Naruto looked at Sasuke and could tell by looking at his face what his answer was. As he thought about it he was about to agree with his friend when he noticed Ino nervously adjusting her grip on the axe in her hand. "Okay, but none of that fan girl shit alright? If we catch you ogling us instead of focusing on training then that's it alright?" He asked. "You got it." Ino enthusiastically agreed.
Two days later 19:28Hrs:
Naruto had just entered his apartment when he felt a familiar presence. Turning around from facing his door he saw fellow Root operative Chameleon holding out a scroll. Upon opening it he found a simple green square instantly understanding it's meaning as a "green light" for the mission he had proposed to Danzo. He destroyed the scroll with a simple fire technique and went to his kitchen.
Turning his oven to 200 degrees and putting the timer on 14 mins he then channeled a small but precise amount of chakra into the devices handle and pulled the entire oven out of the wall. Behind the oven was where Naruto's Root gear could be located. Naruto changed into all black and then put on his cloak and Crane mask he strapped his straight sword to his back and put the oven back into the wall. Upon reentering the living room he saw Chameleon henged into his likeness sitting on the couch watching tv he nodded and left in a shunshin.
He had recommended that Mizuki be retrieved for questioning and had finally been given the go ahead. Naruto landed on top of his targets apartment complex and walked down the side using chakra to stick to the surface. He reached the window only to find it locked so instead of using some kind of elaborate jutsu to open it he simply knocked until Mizuki came to the window and opened it. "Certain counsel members have requested your presence." Naruto lied in an older, gruff sounding voice.
"In the usual place?" Mizuki asked. "Hai" Naruto then seemingly left in a shunshin. Mizuki went back into his apartment for a few minuets and left in full shinobi gear towards the civilian residential district walking instead of jumping across rooftops. He was about halfway to his destination when he felt a pain in his neck. Looking back behind himself he saw the same Crane masked Anbu and realized he had been compromised. He tried to retrieve the cyanide pill from its hiding place among his teeth but found himself unable to move as his vison blurred and ultimately faded.
Root base 20:02Hrs
"So am I going to take part in his interrogation?" Naruto asked. "Negative, instead of using traditional methods Danzo-sama has authorized a mind probing and partial reprogramming." Mantis informed Naruto. "He has a Yamanaka skilled enough to do something like that?" Naruto asked wondering if Danzo would do something like that to him. "Hai" Was Mantis' simple reply. Naruto was about to ask another question when a Panther masked Root agent walked into the interrogation cell. "Crane, Danzo-sama wants you to join him in planning room echo."
Upon entering the room he saw Danzo sitting alone at the head of a conference like table. He could see the man was pissed despite the outwardly look of stoicism he was projecting. This was the reason that Naruto sat all the way across from the man instead of taking a closer seat. He wasn't sitting long before Danzo went through a short series of hand seals and put up a silencing barrier around the room.
"Tell me why in this mornings council meeting the civilian members as well as Hiashi Hyuga were up in arms about the Kyuubi brat not only using Elemental Manipulation but using a jutsu that no one has even seen before on an academy student." Danzo questioned with expertly restrained but defiantly present anger in his voice. Naruto for his part knew this was coming and also knew that an excuse would just set the man off.
"How bad is it?" Naruto asked. "The Hokage was able to assure them that he wasn't responsible for your jump in skill, he also promised to up surveillance on you to which certain members of the council protested because of the waste of manpower such a thing would cause." "They don't want that because of how hard it would make another assassination attempt." Naruto stated.
Danzo nodded and continued speaking. "Because of your foolishness the Hokage undoubtedly suspects that I have been training you and will not only be watching you more closely but me as well. So this is how we will proceed. Crane you are here by placed on indefinite inactive status. You will go back to your apartment and place any and everything possibly traceable back to Root in a duffle bag and give it to Chameleon. You will not contact Root personnel under any circumstances even if you are attacked again. Do you understand?" Naruto just nodded and got up to leave but upon reaching the door frame heard some parting words from Danzo. "I still have high hopes for you Crane do not disappoint me by getting yourself killed." Danzo said. Naruto simply nodded and left via shunshin feeling something that he hadn't felt since he was 7 years old, alone.
A/N: I would like to start off saying that writer's block is a bitch. Sorry this chap isn't longer like I said it would be but the next one will consist of the Graduation, bell test and at least the beginning of the Wave mission so the word count should be up there. For those who are wondering why I gave Ino an axe as a weapon its because I just finished reading Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and thought that the way Seth Grahame-Smith had Abe use an axe was pretty bad ass. Plus if Ino wasn't impressive as a kunoichi Naruto would never be interested in her.
Ps. Next update should be up by 5-19-12 as always please Review!