21Aug23
So I have stalled a bit in writing but that is more from my job exhausting me to the point that I just come home and sleep. Anyways here is the next chapter.
I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.
Konoha's Phantom.
Ch.5 Graduation and Missions
-Hokage tower, a week later-
Samuel hobbled up to the to the entrance to the old rounded building in silence. It had been years since he had been summoned to the tower during the night like this, but if Hiruzen had summoned him at this late hour it must have been important. He pushed open the door and walked down the hall to a stairway that led to the Hokage's office, and to be honest, Samuel did not want to climb a few flights of stairs as it was tiring to him, but he carried on as he had a time table to keep.
Samuel slowly walked up the stairs and finally stopped at the office door and knocked. He heard a muffled voice and opened the door.
"Come in Samuel, I have news and none of it good. Please sit down and listen." Said Hiruzen ushering the elder man to sit in front of his desk.
"I take it that a development has occurred around Naruto." Samuel stated.
"Yes, Kumo is calling for blood for their dead shinobi, yet we still have one of them alive. Though they believe that they all were killed by the Hyuga clan head and are calling for him to be given to them." said Hiruzen puffing smoke out of his pipe.
"I am guessing you are not willing to play ball and have a different plan."
"Yes, I intend to send you to Kumo to return their shinobi, both dead and living, to them. I also intend to have you give the Raikage a message to get his house in order as it would seem that his council went above his head to set the kidnapping in motion."
"I assume this is to be one of the favors I owe you?"
"Indeed, in fact after this one I believe I have one favor left from you." said Hiruzen chuckling.
"You may want to spend that last one soon monkey, we're both not getting any younger. But a assume that I am not to go alone?" asked Samuel not looking forward to meeting the young and arrogant Raikage.
"You will be escorted by Gai, Kakashi, and Jiraiya."
"A bit much, yes?"
"No such thing as too much when someone wants a friend to travel safely. Would it be too much to possibly see the Angel of Death in action again?" asked Hiruzen dumping out his pipe in an ashtray only for it to fall to pieces after a small breeze. He had barely caught the twinkle of metal that vanished as quickly as it appeared.
"I always hated that name, it was the name of my master before he betrayed the order. Wonder what happened to dear old Walter…. Whatever, it was before I came here and I doubt I will ever find out. So when do I leave?"
"You are set to leave at first light, though fret not as I provide a carriage to take you to Kumo so you don't have to walk." Said Hiruzen pulling out another pipe from one of the many desk drawers.
"How generous of you. You will keep an eye on my apprentice in my absence, yes?" asked Samuel slowly rising to his feet.
"You have my word that he will have eyes on him everywhere he goes minus his home."
"I suppose that will do, I will see you when I return old monkey." Said the elderly assassin while exiting the office.
Samuel didn't have to wait long for dawn to come, but then again time flies when kept busy. He walked out of the compound and stuck a note to the door as Naruto had stayed at the girls' clan compound and he hadn't returned yet.
While he disapproved of the relationships that the boy would probably have with the three girls that he had helped, he had no say in the matter as the boy would probably be put into the CRA, something else he detested. He kept his mouth shut at the time as he could see that those three kept the boy happy. Samuel sighed as he thanked his lucky stars that the children hadn't hit puberty yet. He was too old to want to deal with teenage hormones again.
He noticed that it started to become lighter outside and saw that the sun had begun to peek over the horizon. "I better get going, it wouldn't do to be late when I threatened Kakashi to not be late."
It took the old assassin about thirty minutes to arrive at the gate and saw that Kakashi was riling up Gai. Strangely (or not) he didn't see the perverted Toad Sage anywhere.
"CURSE YOU AND YOUR HIPNESS KAKASHI!" yelled Gai, Samuel had no clue what was being said between the two but for his sanity's sake he was going to nip it in the bud.
Both Jonin jumped in surprise when he began to speak. "Gai, what have I said about yelling so early in the morning and falling for Kakashi's tricks, do I need to give you another lesson?"
Gai turned ghost white and shook his head furiously. "And Kakashi, do I need to remind you not read your porn openly in public?" the old man asked as Kakashi quickly hid his book.
Samuel looked back and forth between the two young men and sighed. "I swear, I leave the public eye for a few years and you youngsters forget what I taught you… perhaps I should come back out into the light to remind you youngsters of my lessons." Samuel had to laugh at the fear he saw in the younger men's eyes, he would have kept on ribbing them but they had a timetable to keep. "I will think on that another time, but for now, you both know your mission?"
"Yes sensei, we are to escort you to Kumo to speak with the Raikage." Said Kakashi.
"You don't need to call me that, I may have taught ANBU operatives for years but I never was apart of the organization." Said Samuel while settling into the carriage.
"That may be so Sensei, but to the organization you will always be an honorary ANBU." Said Gai.
"So I have been told, now let us get a move on, I would like to be at least a quarter of the way there by sundown." Said the old man as he leaned back into his seat. The two Jonin nodded and motioned to the driver to start moving.
"By the way, have either of you seen Jiraiya?"
"No Sensei, we haven't seen him."
"Shame, looks like I will have to dole out some punishment later, but for now we will be on our way and he will just have to catch up.
-Four days later, Kumo's main gate.
Samuel stepped off the carriage and stretched his aching bones which all sounded like when someone poured milk into that cereal that the boy liked…. What was it again…. Rice Crispies. All of the youngsters around him looked on in amusement at his actions and the sound his body was making.
"Laugh it up youngsters, one day this will be you, and I will be laughing at you from the afterlife." Said Samuel reaching for his cane and suddenly whacking a small toad with it, confusing everyone around until the small toad spit out a large white haired man face first on the dirt and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Jiraiya, good to see that you finally joined us." Said Samuel with a grin before he whacked the Sage with his cane multiple times. Funnily enough a crowd formed around the group watching the famous Toad Sage getting beaten like a delinquent child.
Samuel stopped whacking the younger man and looked around at the crowd gathered around him and chuckled. "Not the show you thought you would get today eh folks? I apologize for the commotion but this one seemed to forget that when given a mission by your village's leader, one should probably be on time." This got many nods from the ninja in the crowd.
"Get up boy, you're making a fool of yourself." Said Samuel jabbing Jiraiya in the ribs with his cane. Jiraiya groaned and slowly got to his feet.
"Still a stickler for punishment aren't you old man?" said the Toad Sage.
"If you want to taste more punishment, do keep up your shenanigans boy, but for right now we have a meeting to get to." Said Samuel before he faced a short woman with white hair and dark skin. "Hello young lady, can I help you with something?"
"Lord Raikage has tasked me with escorting you to his office. If you would please follow me." The woman stated.
"Ah, but of course, I am Samuel, my I know the name of our lovely guide?"
"My name is Mabui. Please follow me." The woman said without skipping a beat.
"Boys, be on your best behavior and follow quietly." Said Samuel following the woman.
"I believe he was talking specifically to you Lord Jiraiya." Said Kakashi.
"Be careful brat, I can still whoop your ass with both hands tied behind my back."
"And I can have Hiruzen ban your books from the village, stay quiet and follow me." Said Samuel. Gai wisely kept his mouth closed as to not put himself in the crosshairs of the old assassin.
"Hmmmm…. It would seem that the village has changed a bit since the last time that I have been here." Said Samuel looking around at the village as he was led to the Raikage's tower.
"Oh, and how long ago was that?" asked Mabui looking at the man who looked like he would keel over any day now, but she knew that looks were very deceiving.
"Oh it was around twenty or so years now when your Sandaime decided he wanted to kidnap my student." The old man said casually causing the woman to look at him cautiously.
"And what is your purpose for being here now?"
"It would seem that history is repeating itself in a roundabout way as your Yondaime is threating my current student." Said the old man with a sharp edge to his voice.
"Ah, I see." Said Mabui looking calm and collected but internally she was worried, here was an old man that she had never heard about being escorted by three of the strongest ninja that Konoha had to offer, and not only does he have them on a short leash, they also seem to respect and fear him. She was racking her brain at any memory of this man as it was her job to know of any threat to her home, but she had no information about this man. It frustrated her to no end that the man looked to be ancient and in his long life should have left some trace of information about him.
"Careful young lady, stress yourself out too much too often and you will give yourself wrinkles. I should know as I have many." Samuel said with a smile.
"Ah… yes thank you for the advice. If I may sir, who are you? As far as I know you're not a ninja of any village." Said Mabui fishing for information.
"Ah, I suppose you would be too young to know about me as I secluded myself years ago before the second war finished. As for my allegiance, I am not loyal to any village, but I have been in Konoha for the past forty three years due to an agreement between myself and Hiruzen." A small lie, but mostly the truth.
Mabui looked a little worried, this man was an unknown and he was here in her village to speak with Lord A, and knowing her Kage's personality, this would probably not go well.
The group traveled in silence the rest of the way to the Raikage's tower, and once they arrived outside the office, they could hear the sound of loud arguing coming from the room.
"It would seem that we came at a bad time, though since we are here, perhaps we could calm things down and get down to business." Said Samuel opening the door not waiting for Mabui to even announce that they had arrived.
"Who the hell are you and how did you get into my tower?" Roared a large dark skinned muscular man with blonde hair and a goatee.
Samuel decided to have a little fun with the younger man…. Maybe he was letting his student's prankster ways get to him but at the moment he didn't care. "Oh… so this isn't the bathroom? I could have sworn it was around here somewhere." He said giving his best impression of a lost old man.
A looked like he just had a whole bucket full of lemons shoved down his throat and the two elderly advisors looked afraid.
"MABUI!"
"My apologies Lord A, but he entered before I could alert you that Konoha's delegation had arrived." Said Mabui entering the room followed by the three Konoha ninja who were doing their best not to die of laughter.
"THIS." A pointed at Samuel who was still doing his lost old man routine. "Is who Konoha sends to make amends?! I will not stand for this insult." A said while slamming his fists on his desk which creaked under the strain.
"Amends? Is that what I was sent here to do?" asked Samuel as he slowly changed his act and tone from lost old man to the Master Assassin he was. "Funny, I was under the impression that I was here to stop Kumo from making accusations and threats that it shouldn't be making." Samuel said while taking a seat in in front of the larger man.
"WHAT!"
"I'm pretty sure I made myself clear, though since you are having trouble understanding, perhaps I should run through the scroll of accusations, threats, and demands you sent us." Said Samuel pulling a scroll out from his robes and began to unroll it. "I shall gloss over this as much of this is repetitive. You accuse one of our clan heads of killing three of your ninja that you had sent on a diplomatic mission to Konoha and under the threat of war, you want the body of Hyuga clan head as you believed that he killed all three. Well, most of this claim is false as first off, the three ninja you sent had another mission given to them by your council behind your back, second off there is still one of your ninja who, currently is in our possession, is still among the world of the living, and boy the amount of damning information that we pulled from his mind is enough to shame the village if we were to share it with the other nations. Lastly it wasn't the Hyuga who killed your traitorous shinobi when they were kidnapping little girls, it was my student."
A was fuming at the accusation and was about to end the old man, but was stopped by his advisors.
"WHAT?" the mountain of muscle shouted.
"Lord A, you shouldn't go against this man." Said the elderly man still shaking like a leaf.
"AND WHY THE HELL NOT? HE IS SLANDERING MY VILLAGE AND MY SHINOBI!"
"Is it really slander if it is the truth?" asked Samuel looking bored.
"Lord A, this is the man that almost killed your father after he tried to kidnap that Uzumaki girl from Konoha." Said the old woman.
"Oh? You remember me? Ah… now I remember your faces. Maybe I should finish the job this time as it would seem the son is no different than the father."
"Sensei, you were not sent here to start a fight, maybe you should show them proof of the incident?" said Gai trying to deescalate the situation.
"Ah, I suppose I should." Samuel retrieved another scroll from his robes and tossed it to A. "Inside this scroll is the bodies of the two dead ninja and the still living one. As I said earlier, we extracted information from your head Jonin supporting that the three had been given a different mission by your civilian council and it would seem that he, your head Jonin, was blackmailed into doing the mission. We also retrieved orders from your village's council from one of your dead shinobi. Perhaps it would be more embarrassing to let the other nations know that the Raikage is having his rule usurped by a group of fat old civilians. What a scandal that would be."
The Raikage at this time looked similar to a volcano just before it erupted, but before he could erupt and fling his desk away he felt a slight pressure encircling his neck. Looking down the Raikage could see a slight shine of a razor thin wire leading up to his neck. Looking around he saw that both elders, Mabui, and every other Kumo ninja in the room also had a wire coiled around their necks, and all those tiny wires led back to Samuel's hands. "How?" asked Ay.
"Decades of practice, now as to why? It was to hurry things along as I do not have time to wait through one of your legendary temper tantrums-AH ah ah, none of that." Stated Samuel sending wind chakra through the wire connecting to the Raikage as the large man tried to activate his lightning cloak only to have the wire effortlessly cut through the lightning cloak.
"Keep trying my patience young man."
The Raikage sat silently staring at the elderly assassin in front of him and after a few seconds began laughing confusing all in the room except Samuel. "I remember now of the story my father told me of the man called The Angel of Death cloaked in white robes. Pops said that they couldn't touch them as as everything they had thrown at him was cut to pieces by some invisible force, though now I see that he was speaking about you and your wires. He also told me that if I were to meet you to not challenge you as I would be dead before I knew what happened." Said Ay leaning back in his chair.
Samuel untangled his wires from everyone in the room and retracted them into his gloves. "I suppose you will listen then?" extending the scroll containing the orders obtained from the dead ninja.
"Yes, I suppose I will listen to your side and decide from there. If my council has undermined my orders, there will be hell to pay." Ay grabbed the scroll and opened it. He read the scroll for a while before he snapped his fingers and a large group of ANBU like ninja appeared kneeling in front of the large man.
"Gather up the entire civilian council in chains, and bring them here." The ninja vanished wordlessly to complete their task.
"If I may, could you turn over the prisoner so we can debrief him?" Mabui requested.
"Well I suppose I could since you asked so nicely." Said Samuel handing that particular scroll to Mabui. "This is the scroll that Hiruzen wanted me to personally deliver to you if we came to a compromise."
Ay took the newly revealed scroll and read it in it's entirety before looking back at Samuel tiredly.
"Do you know the contents of the scroll?"
The old man shrugged at the question. "I do not, but I could probably guess what the old monkey asked for."
"Well he's still asking for an alliance with all the same agreements as before, but he is now pretty much also asking for reparations to the Hyuga clan and that I marry off one of my Genin prospects to one of his. Though there is a clause in here that the Genin are to have a few years to get to know one another to see if they could get along. He also allows for the Genin to have some time to get their affairs in order. Your old friend is being very… generous in this alliance agreement."
"I'm going to strangle that old monkey when I return." Said Samuel looking very unhappy as he knew who the old monkey would choose.
"I'm not even going to ask, but you may tell the old man that I accept his terms and will be visiting Konoha in a year with a few candidates." Said Ay while signing and stamping the scroll. "Now be on your way, I have some civilians to question."
Samuel stood up and turned away from the large man but stopped for a second. "Lord Raikage, do note that any repetition of any unwarranted action against my student will be met with me coming back to complete the job that I promised your father I would do." With his peace said Samuel hobbled out of the room followed by the three Konoha ninja who all were in varying states of shock.
Walking out of the tower Samuel noticed a multitude of bright flashes coming from the Raikage's office windows. "Well it seems that the brute is either very angry or he is interrogating those civilians…. Probably both."
"Uh sensei?"
"What is it Gai?"
"Are you sure threatening the Raikage like that was wise?"
"I really do not care, I'm most likely going to die from old age before he even thinks about trying to retaliate." The old man said uncaringly.
"Now, Jiraiya, about your tardiness." Samuel said, but Jiraiya was nowhere to be found. "Eh, seems like he got away, though he has to return home sometime. Anyways it's time for us to leave, Hiruzen will be getting antsy right about now."
Gai and Kakashi looked confused at the old assassin's words but followed anyways.
-A few days later-
Hiruzen was annoyed, it had been about a week since his friend had left and he hadn't heard any news. He possibly either made the best call sending his old friend to Kumo, or he just caused war to break out with his friend possibly causing havoc in Kumo. Perhaps he should have sent Shikaku instead, though before he could put more thought into that subject, he heard a muffled argument outside his office.
"I'm sorry sir but he isn't to be disturbed right now, if you want, I can have a meeting scheduled for you- HEY DON'T!" the door opened revealing his secretary struggling to stop Samuel from entering his office.
"He may enter Yuki, that will be all." Hiruzen said. The young woman bowed and promptly left the office.
Though before he could say anything to his friend he was beaned in the face with a scroll. "A political marriage Hiruzen, Are you mad?"
Hiruzen glared at his friend as he sat down on one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"I take it that the negotiations didn't go well?" asked the aged Hokage as he read through the scroll only to find it stamped and signed.
"No, it went as expected and the meathead signed the agreement. He will be here with his genin in a year, and that candidate better not be who I think it is."
"I have more options than just him, but he is one of the choices."
"Well I know that the majority of the council have been pushing for him to be put in the CRA, and you know that I am against it, though that is not my choice to make."
"Yes, the boy is now a novice assassin, did I get that correct?" asked Hiruzen.
"Yes, he can do missions on his own, he's partially the reason why your village's crime rate has gone way down." Said Samuel with a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Yes, though I wonder if the Uchiha girls have been helping him out with his work?" asked Hiruzen giving Samuel an accusing look.
"Oh they want to, but they are not part of the creed so they are not allowed to interfere with any job my apprentice has been given."
"So how is he doing?" asked Hiruzen lighting up his new tabaco pipe.
"Since his run in with the Kumo ninja, I've had Kakashi put him through the ringer. To be honest as he is now the boy could give a seasoned chunin a run for their money. He would probably wouldn't win an outright fight, but he could surprise them. he could indeed wipe the floor with his whole class. Though the Uchiha brats and the Hyuga girl have been getting better from training with him. To be honest, those three have been getting really close with my student. With the way I was raised I am against someone having more than one partner, but at the same time those three make him happy, so I have kept my mouth shut on the matter. The boy however is more perceptive than I give him credit for as he has asked be about my disapproving look when the girls are around."
"What of the younger Hyuga sister? I see her around him sometimes as well." Asked the old monkey.
"They have more of a brother/sister relationship as she is way younger than him."
"That may change as they get older." Said Hiruzen with a smile on his face.
"I hope it doesn't, while the clan welcomes him and is grateful for his assistance, the girl's father is very overprotective of both of them and Naruto doesn't need the clan head even more agitated at him." Samuel sighed.
"As entertaining as this is, you said that the Raikage will be ready in about a year?"
"Correct."
"That is around the time that the leaf village is hosting the Chunin Exams, perhaps we can have them wait a little longer and invite Kumo over to participate in the exams."
"Perhaps, though the meathead may still be mad at me." Said Samuel uncaringly.
"What did you do?" asked Hiruzen exasperatedly.
"I may have threatened everyone in the room with my wires."
"What am I going to do with you."
-One year later, Academy classroom-
Naruto was sitting in his normal seat in the far back right corner, and he was looking bored. It had been about a year since Kakashi had begun the physical portion of his training and it was brutal. Despite his ungodly stamina, he was exhausted by the end of every day and pretty much had to be carried by the girls or dragged by the one eyed scarecrow back to the compound. The Uchiha twins also were trained by Kakashi but not to the same extent. He trained Satsuki and Tatsuki in the Uchiha style of Taijutsu though it was incomplete as they didn't have the Sharingan unlocked yet. Speaking of the twins they sat as close to Naruto as they could to avoid their fan base. Apparently he was an effective fan girl repellant as the last time one of the Uchiha twin's fan girls tried to physically remove him from his spot, he threw her through the classroom window. Thankfully for the girl the window was open and they were on the ground floor of the academy. Though the twins were not the only ones that stuck near Naruto as Hinata also sat near them.
The girl had mostly gotten over her meekness but still was a little shy, though that didn't stop her from fighting the twins to a stalemate in the practice ring. She of course kept her promise to not say anything about the twin's identities and Naruto's skills. She had been invited to the compound but her father while supportive of their organization, did not want his daughter to join.
Naruto could understand as he had found some of their old mission reports and they were not pretty. Many of them were assassination jobs of corrupt officials and or businessmen, some of those jobs ended with the death of the assassin or that they were left crippled after the job.
Naruto was brought out of his musings as the gaggle of fangirls shuffled loudly into the classroom followed by the two zealots of the group, Sakura and Ino. Naruto was glad that this week was the last one and he wouldn't have to be subjected to their screeching. Naruto almost walked out of the room until Iruka came in and silenced the class.
"Good morning everyone, today is the day of your final exams, you will have one hour to complete the written portion of the exam. When you receive your exam you may begin." Said Iruka as both he and Mizuki started to pass out the exams.
Naruto could tell that Mizuki hated him and expected something sketchy to happen soon as he received his exam. Naruto flipped the paper over and sensed that it was covered in chakra. Scoffing at the blatant sabotage and broke the illusion. The questions on the test were easy, and Naruto took a nap after he answered the questions. Though he was elbowed in the ribs by Tatsuki when the test was over and the class was slowly shuffling outside to the training field. Naruto sat under a nearby tree watching as students were called into the ring to spar with each other and calmly watched the clouds until he heard his name called.
He stood up and stretched slowly. "Naruto hurry up!" shouted Iruka, who was a little irritated at how lax Naruto was being.
"Coming sensei." Naruto lazily replied, walking towards the ring and saw that his opponent was Sasuke or Satsuki as he knew her.
The two got in their stances and waited for the permission to begin.
"Ready? BEGIN!" shouted Iruka who stepped out of the ring.
"Satsuki charged at Naruto who stepped back and dodged the kick to the ribs and Satsuki followed up with another kick to his head which he caught. Naruto used her momentum to throw her to the ground and pinned her in a hold. Satsuki struggled to get free of the hold but failed. She eventually tapped out and Naruto was declared the winner. Naruto released the girl and went back to the tree he was under before and sat down. He watched as Hinata was called on to fight one of the fan girls and it was disappointing. The fight if you could call it that, took even less time that his spar with Satsuki. The twiggy civilian girl was sent flat on her ass and unconscious before she could do anything.
After the spars and the weapon throwing portion, the class was brought back inside for the three academy jutsu, which to Naruto was a joke. He would have thought that the academy would have taught them more to improve their chance of survival. As it stood only the clan heirs and a few of the civilian born kids would survive. The others would either fail or die on their first real mission. He of course waited until he was called into the room to do the academy jutsu.
"Ok Naruto you may begin with the transformation jutsu." Said Iruka and Naruto without missing a beat transformed into Samuel which confused the two instructors as they had no clue who Naruto transformed into. "Ok…. good, now the substitution."
Naruto then switched with Mizuki causing the instructor to fall on his ass. "Good, though please refrain from doing that again." Said Iruka while Mizuki was sending Naruto a murderous glare. "Now make three clones." Naruto shrugged and made three shadow clones.
Mizuki was shocked but Iruka looked overjoyed as Naruto had problems with the clone jutsu in the past. "Good job Naruto, you pass." Said the pineapple haired chinin while handing Naruto a headband.
Naruto went back out into the classroom to see both of the Uchiha sisters being harassed by both of the blond and pink haired harpies, and he just laughed at the uncomfortable looks the twins had on their faces. The two disguised girls glared at him for laughing at their troubles.
"While I enjoy seeing the discomfort of the twins, I do believe you two are in my way." Said Naruto spooking both of the girls who quickly backed off and vanished from his sight.
"You could have done that earlier." Growled Tatsuki.
Naruto shrugged. "It was amusing to see both of you looking uncomfortable from being talked to by your biggest fans, though I do keep telling you to toss them around a bit and they'll leave you alone a bit more."
Satsuki just stared at him.
"Alright class, you are to be back in class a week from now ready to meet your new teachers. Teams will be announced next week so don't be late. Congratulations and good luck."
-END-
16DEC23
Holy shit this one took a while as my job has taken up most of my time and has left me exhausted.
08JAN24
Happy late holidays and happy new year everybody, I meant to put this chapter out a little while ago but got caught up in family business and forgot about it until now. Also the next chapter of the Old Age Jedi is almost complete and I am still working on my other two fics. Though those two are progressing slowly.
