Empty

by zzzgnas

There is nothing worse in the world than the feeling of complete and utter helplessness. That empty feeling you get when you've lost everything and you know there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Uzumaki Naruto was four when he experienced this feeling for the first time. And from then on... nothing had gone right... Strong! Naruto. Third Ninja War Timeline.

2. Chapter 2 - Emotionless Tools

Chapter - 2

A Shinobi is an Emotionless Tool.

The will of fire. The will to keep burning to provide others with warmth and light, even against the harshest of winds and the deadliest of storms. The desire to use your own flame to keep others alight. The drive to never stop burning.

Present Time, Ninja Academy

The ninja academy had closed for the day leaving some kids waiting for their parents to come pick them up. These kids obviously had civilian parents because shinobi would never have enough time in their day for something as frivolous as picking their kids up from the academy. The others were already moving away from the academy, probably headed to eat something.

However, two of the academy students were slowly and carefully moving toward the shady part of the village, where fights were common and almost constant; where most people came to relieve their frustrations; and where, regretfully, they lived.

The red-haired genin carefully stalked ahead of the two academy students heading into the red-light district. Naruto silently moved from roof to roof, carefully making sure there was no trouble ahead of them. Their destination, the orphanage, was at the edge of the district and it was quite dangerous to roam around especially after dark. When they were younger, this was not as much of a problem as the academy ended before nightfall then. Now, however, the academy had an extra hour each day, which made things difficult for the three orphans. Naruto, being a genin already, did not face this issue. However a sensei had not been assigned to him the previous year, and thus, had the free time to look out for his friends.

During the day, he would hone his skills when he wasn't doing missions. But he never took missions away from the village, perfectly content with the D-rank missions, helping the civilians around. Sure, the pay was meagre but he would be able to stay close. And it was absolutely essential that he stayed close. He heard Shizuka laugh at something Shinzo said and he couldn't help the frown that appeared on his face. They had no idea how much attention they were attracting to themselves. … He had seen what happened to people who caught the attention of those people in the red-light district.

The extra hour at the academy made his decision for him. He couldn't even describe the dangers that came after nightfall in this place. He had explained what he had seen to his two friends all those days ago. … How that woman had screamed. That made Naruto's decision final. He would stay close. He would never let that happen to those two. Never.

Naruto had asked them both about what exactly they were doing for that extra hour. He thought that maybe the academy was finally taking some initiative and teaching tactics and stealth to the academy students. But that wasn't the case. Apparently, they just had to spar with their instructor everyday. His friends didn't understand the point of it. They were too naive despite being older than him. The reason was plain to him before they had even finished explaining.

Konoha understood war. The art of war is to fight even when there's no need to. Even while the fragile peace exists between the nations. Peace would never last. Konoha needed soldiers. Desperately. War was coming and they all knew it. Naruto had seen enough in the demeanor of the older shinobi to know that much. This extra hour was for the 'someone' watching, to properly assess each student and decide who could potentially skip a few years and still be an asset. That was how Naruto had become a genin despite being the youngest of the three. That 'someone' was watching even when the extra hour wasn't there.

Who that 'someone' was? He had no idea.

He had explained his thought process to Shinzo and Shizuka, but they didn't quite catch on. 'What are you talking about?', they said. 'Konoha has been at peace for more than 5 years. The destruction of the previous war had affected Konoha the least. Everyone knows this.'

But Naruto wasn't satisfied with that. There was far too much tension among the senior shinobi for this to be a time of peace. He didn't know how he had come to think this differently, but he assumed it was because of his life before he came to Konoha.

The story he had been told four years ago was that he had been found, by border patrol, in the forest surrounding Konoha. He was badly injured and almost dead when he was brought to the hospital. When he came to, he had no memory of what happened and no memory of how he arrived there. All he had was a locket around his neck with the name Naruto on it. There were a few burns on it and he could only read the first part of his name.

The doctor had explained to him what had happened and asked if he remembered anything. The answer was a shake of the head. Things were kind of a blur after that. Someone from social services came to talk to him and soon, he was assigned to an orphanage and they quickly forgot about his existence. He was just another file placed in the finished pile. No follow up or anything. He didn't blame them for it. This wasn't a world where kindness was common, even in Konoha which was seemingly the only advocate for peace among the great 5.

After just a couple of days, he had become good friends with Shinzo and Shizuka and from them, he learned of the dangers of living in the red-light district, how their dream was to move to a more secure place and how becoming respectable shinobi was the way to do it. Naruto just went with it and enrolled in the academy, despite being a year behind his companions.

He found the academy almost… boring. Everything they talked about he somehow already knew. His 'previous life', as he had termed it in his mind, must have been an exciting one if he knew all about being a ninja at the age of 6. He remembered nothing of the time before, but sometimes he would do something and realize that he knew how to do it because of his 'previous life'. When the academy instructors taught how to properly hold a kunai between his fingers, he found he already knew. When they started learning to throw weapons, he found he already knew.

His instructors considered him a prodigy. Naruto didn't particularly enjoy the attention and at first, he tried to just be in the background. But with bright red hair, vivid purple eyes and a distinctive scar on his left cheek, he didn't go anywhere without drawing attention. So, with his unprecedented skills at weapons, stealth, taijutsu, ninjutsu and chakra control, it was no surprise when he was told he was going to be one of the few students who would get to skip an year. That had been his intention as well. If he could skip a year, he would be able to graduate along with his friends.

What came as a surprise was that he was skipping two years. Whoever had noticed him, apparently thought he was ready to be a genin. He would graduate a year earlier.

He didn't want to accept. He really didn't. One of the reasons was that the teams were already assigned and he wouldn't really have an instructor until the following year. The only people in the same boat were Hatake Kakashi, who came from a highly regarded shinobi background. Naruto had no instructors and no privileges.

Naruto had ultimately accepted his instructors' request to attend the graduation exam, ironically on his friends' request. This made it possible for him and his friends to make ends meet. And it kind of worked out for the better, seeing as an extra genin was needed to round out this year's team placements.

Hopefully, he would be placed with the two idiots who had just walked into a brothel accidentally. Someone had to watch over them.

And there was also the fact that their orphanage didn't allow ninja inside. So the moment one becomes a genin, they are going to be kicked out. It was the case with him a year ago, it would be the same with Shinzo and Shizuka.

A ninja was a legal adult and could, if one had the money, buy or rent apartments despite their young age. Unknown to his companions, he had never actually rented/bought an apartment, instead preferring to save the money he earned from D-ranks for a bigger apartment once his friends also graduated. He would sleep wherever he had to. In the training grounds, in the forest, in alleyways, in rooftops… It wasn't as bad as you'd expect. Rain seldom came to Konohagakure and he often found it much more pleasant to stare up at the stars as he slept. It made him feel… nostalgic.

Of course, he took care to avoid the important buildings like the Hospital or the Academy or the Council Chambers where ANBU patrol was constant and rigorous.

Naruto's thoughts went to his two companions. Aburame Shinzo and Shizuka.

Shinzo was a member of the famous Aburame clan of Konoha, held in high regard by its citizens. Unfortunately for Shinzo, his mother had died giving birth to him. He lived with his father, Aburame Kenichi and his brother, Aburame Shinji until he was four. His early life was relatively happy despite the considerable negligence that was expected seeing as both his father and brother were both shinobi in a time of war.

One day, after the war, just weeks before he turned four, his father came home drunk. The brothers were used to that by then but Aburame Kenichi was in a particularly bad mood and had hit Shinzo for some petty reason. He proceeded to verbally abuse him and his brother, calling Shinji a waste of space and Shinzo his wife's killer. That was when Shinji snapped and attacked his father. Things escalated quickly and Shinzo watched as Kenichi met his end at the hands of his elder son. Shinji spared one look toward his brother before jumping out through the window, leaving Shinzo to deal with his father's dead body.

That was the day, his somewhat happy childhood had come to an end. His brother, 15 at the time, had left the village and was labelled a missing-nin despite Shinzo's claims of his innocence. Shinzo, an emotional wreck, had no immediate family to adopt him and care for him. Within a week following his father's death he had ended up at the orphanage. In the eight years that followed, Shinzo had worked hard at his skills, dreaming of the day he would clear his brother's name. Naruto immensely respected him. Having the courage to dream in their world. It would be tough for anyone to prove the innocence of someone who killed a respected shinobi of the leaf and then left the village while abandoning his brother. It would be especially tough for Shinzo, considering the fact that he was an orphan and so, was starting from a position of great disadvantage.

Shizuka was 13 years old and had long wavy black hair going down to her hips. She had been abandoned at birth. Someone left her at the doorstep of the orphanage and the matron took her in, raising her along with the other children. Her dream was to one day have a family of her own and be the parent that she wanted so badly and to ensure that no child would ever have to grow up in the place where they had to. Being too young to remember anything from before she was left in the orphanage's care, she was the most animated among them to bring about some kind of change.

Naruto loved both of them dearly. When he had arrived at the orphanage four years ago, he was so afraid and timid. He had no memory of his life before waking up at the hospital. He was in a situation where he was still getting used to responding to his own name. They had been the ones to break him out of his shell, teach him important stuff that his accident had taken away from him and take care of him until he became confident enough to do so himself.

Subjected to all the struggling businesses in and around their home, it quickly became apparent that being a ninja paid well. The brutally violent stories their caretaker told them to discourage them from their goal only served to fuel their determination. After all, how could they move up in the world if they were so easily shaken up? Despite their age, they knew money would be a deciding factor in bringing about any kind of change.

Thinking about their caretaker brought a frown to Naruto's face. She had made it clear to them that the orphanage had no place for ninja. They would all be expected to move out if they passed the graduation exam. This was something Naruto hadn't expected from the sweet old lady when he graduated a year ago. However, he understood on some level. 'Old enough to kill, old enough to survive on your own'.

If they became ninja and continued to stay there, the other children would grow up watching the exciting life of adventure and glory they led and it would no doubt drive them towards the same goal. So, Naruto understood why he had to leave and Irene was grateful for it. She didn't enjoy kicking out a 10-year-old, but it had to be done. Shinobi attracted trouble wherever they went and trouble was something she wanted to avoid. She would know all about it after all.

Over the years, there had been many instances where he caught Irene Kurama with a faraway look in her eyes. Naruto had realized she was a ninja purely by accident. He had caught her on the rooftop late at night, staring at a picture of her family. It was barely a year ago when it happened. Irene told him her story, knowing he was about to become a genin. She hoped to discourage him with the story, but Naruto was determined to see it through for his friends.

She was Irene Kurama, a kunoichi about to be named the head of the Kurama clan. She was married and had a 13-year old boy who was already chunin. This was before the First Great Shinobi War had even started.

The war saw the destruction of everything she held dear. Her son met his end early in the war. Her husband and herself weren't even given enough time to mourn before being thrust into the next battle. Granted, the war needed every able-bodied person to contribute, but they did not even see their son's body before being thrust into another mission. By the end of the war, her husband had also perished and she was an absolute wreck about it. She was walking through the market district of Konoha when she felt a pull on her shirt. She looked down to see a battered girl with her arms extended, asking for money to get food.

She followed her to where she said she had friends and saw more kids in the same situation. After multiple arguments with her clan, she left everything behind and created the orphanage with all she had left.

To Naruto, there was nobody more impressive than her at that moment. She had helped so many people.

As they arrived at the orphanage, Naruto took a good look at the old building and both of his friends. Despite their lighthearted demeanor, they were both aware that the coming days would be difficult. But they didn't show it. So, Naruto wouldn't either. They had made their choice and he had as well. For better or for worse, a week from now, all three of them would be genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

---

Naruto couldn't sleep.

It wasn't a problem he often faced, but when something was bothering him, his mind would not allow him to simply skip over it. He assumed it was some deep-rooted habit that he had from before his accident. No rest unless nothing was bothering him.

It was the question of who had noticed and promoted him. Being a resident of the red light district of a wartorn village, he quickly learned that drawing attention to himself was not advantageous in any shape or form. But he needed to catch the attention of his instructors if he wanted to skip a year and graduate with his two friends.

That was why he made it a point to always win spars while making sure to score less than his more enthusiastic classmates in written tests. That and the fact that calculating the trajectory of a kunai and writing it up on paper was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. He could see how theory on chakra and proper taijutsu form could be useful. But everything else that the academy stressed on was pretty much useless.

In battle, a million different things could influence throwing a kunai. And there were a million other reasons why the kunai won't reach your target. It made no sense to learn such calculations because in the end, you wouldn't calculate a single thing. You'll see a target. You'll let your hands take over. And you'll launch your weapon. No calculations involved whatsoever.

Anyway, he had made sure to avoid drawing too much attention. He never landed a hit on his instructors despite the numerous openings that presented itself. Who could be attentive enough that they could pick up on the skills that he never showed anyone else?

He looked out from his position on the roof. He had arrived here later than usual. His friends had already gone to bed. It had become a habit for them to meet on the rooftop after the smaller kids had gone to sleep. And more often than not, he would just sleep there on the roof. Sometimes, his friends would join him. Sometimes not.

He glanced around the rooftop and grabbed a piece of broken glass. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. His wavy red hair lay across his face, covering the left half of it. He gently moved his hair away and saw once more, the scar across his cheek. He had no memory of receiving it and it no longer hurt. He only hid it away from sight wanting to avoid uncomfortable questions. His exotic dark red hair also did not help in that regard, for some inexplicable reason, he did not want to hide it.

His purple eyes glanced over his hair, noting for the umpteenth time that his hair was the same color as blood. Sighing at the depressing thought, he placed the piece of glass back where he found it. He still wasn't sleepy. More times than he could count, Naruto had fallen asleep on the roof, enjoying the serenity of the place. However, today was not to be one of those days.

He suddenly glanced around. The old caretaker was coming through the door, ignoring him in favor of looking up at the sky. Naruto said nothing until she was right next to him. He knew that she was aware of how he stayed on the roof of the orphanage on some days. He was aware of it because after the first time, there had been a small cave-like hollow space on the wall. That would've been impossible without earth-style ninjutsu. She was aware of it. And she was okay with it.

Naruto did not want to break his word to her. He never intended to sleep there. One day, he had just fallen asleep by accident after visiting his friends. Now that he knew she didn't mind him staying on the roof, he would come when he couldn't easily find another spot or if the weather wasn't favorable.

Irene hugged him suddenly, making his eyes widen. He went stiff. As close as they were, there was never any affectionate physical contact between him, Shinzo and Shizuka. He was not used to hugs.

It took a long time for Naruto to relax into her arms. They stayed like that for a few minutes, both enjoying the warmth the other radiated. Finally, the moment passed and they pulled away from each other.

"They'll become ninja tomorrow." Irene spoke quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Naruto nodded sadly. Despite her seemingly unkind policy of kicking out anyone who became a ninja, he knew that she cared deeply about them all. "Yeah. Hopefully, we'll be in the same squad."

Irene looked at him strangely. For a long time, she didn't speak. "I hope for all your sakes that that doesn't happen."

Naruto frowned, not understanding her. "What does that mean?"

"You're still too naive, Naruto." Irene could see the emotions rushing through her former ward's face. A hint of annoyance appeared on his face and he stared at her questioningly. "You don't know what it'll mean for you. You don't know what being a nameless, clanless ninja means."

Naruto didn't know what to say to that. He met her eyes and waited for her to continue.

"It means that regardless of your caliber, you will be sent on more dangerous missions because you have no one waiting for you at home." Irene said gently and understanding dawned on his face, his only visible eye widening.

"Because we're expendable?" He asked, frowning.

Irene nodded. "Because you're expendable. If you look at the ANBU corps during wartime, there isn't a single shinobi from a prominent clan in it. The ANBU corps handle the dirtiest, riskiest missions in Konoha. That's where most of the shinobi I've helped raise have ended up. If you all end up in the same squad, there's no telling what kind of hell you'll go through. Where most ninjas get escorts and diplomatic missions, you will receive assassinations and infiltrations. Do you understand what I'm saying, Naruto? Do you understand why I don't want any of you to become a ninja?"

Irene paused and hesitated for a moment before continuing, "If you grow up here as an orphan under my care, you won't have the best life, but you will be fed and housed. You will find work when you are old enough and you will live a quiet and happy, if not content life."

Naruto looked conflicted for a moment, but he got over it quickly. "I'll be careful, baa-chan. I won't let anything happen to us. I'll become strong and when I have enough influence, I'll change things here as well. No… We'll change things. No one here will have to suffer anymore."

Irene shook her head with a smile. "I'm not worried that you'll die, Naruto. I was a kunoichi once. I can tell there's a lot more to you than meets the eye. I can almost feel the power bubbling away under the surface even if you don't see it yourself." She paused, uncertainly. "I'm not worried about the others either. I know you'll be there to look after them."

She turned her head slightly to meet his eye. "I'm worried about the things other than your life that you'll eventually sacrifice. There are some things that you just can't come back from."

Naruto didn't know what to say to that. So, he said nothing. Irene looked away, knowing that her message was received, but not yet understood. She sighed. "Goodnight, Naruto."

"Goodnight." He replied and averted his gaze, looking again at the sky.

Whatever happened, he knew for sure that he would have Shizuka and Shinzo waiting for him, at wherever he called home. He would not be alone… As long as he had them, he would get through anything.

---

The Next Day

Naruto couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at all the looks he was getting. Although kids being allowed to skip a year was something that everyone knew about, it wasn't that common. Despite being a shinobi already, he was still a bit small for his age. It didn't help that he had entered with Shizuka, the tallest girl in the entire class.

He knew people would react poorly to someone a year their junior, passing the graduation test that some of them had barely managed to scrape by. But he wasn't expecting everyone to just stop what they were doing just to glare at him.

"Look, the clan-less orphans brought a stray dog along." A voice spoke, breaking through the silence. Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, making eye-contact. The brown-haired boy who said it had the audacity to smirk at him. Letting out a barely audible growl, he continued to follow his friends to the back of the class. He wasn't about to waste his breath on someone who was obviously not worth his breath.

Finally, they reached the last bench and sat down. "Whatever you said about your friends being nice was a lie." Naruto deadpanned.

"Hey, don't judge my entire class based just on what Nawaki says." A brown-haired girl with fang marks on her cheeks turned around and smiled at him. The girl spoke in a tone that made him want to scream 'Yes, Ma'am' at the top of his voice. "Hi, my name is Rin Nohara. I've heard so much about you.", she said, giggling at his surprised face.

Naruto's eyes had indeed gone quite wide. But he recovered quickly and immediately turned to Shinzo. "What lies have you been spreading about me, you assholes?" he asked his friends, both of whom failed to meet his eye.

"Oh, I didn't think they were lying." A raven-haired boy wearing goggles spoke, joining the conversation. "For starters, I'm sure you still wet the bed", he said, smirking at the younger boy. "You certainly seem young enough to still have the problem."

Naruto stared at the black-haired boy plainly. "That was apple juice." He turned to Shinzo accusingly. "And you were the one who spilled it."

Shinzo and Shizuka had of course embellished some of their stories but that was when they thought there was no way Naruto would ever hear about it. If they had known that Naruto would one day learn about it, they would never have risked it.

They knew what kind of hell Naruto could unleash on them when provoked. Judging by the mischievous glint in his eye, they were about to receive their first dose.

But before they could move to shut him up, the doors opened and all the students were on their feet. A spiky-haired blonde walked in and sat on the desk. Some of his peers relaxed at seeing the charming smile on the man at the table. But Naruto noticed his quickly darting eyes quickly taking stock of the people present, while maintaining an air of calm and cheerfulness. This man was dangerous.

"My name is Minato Namikaze," spoke the man in an equally charming tone. "I am one of your jonin-senseis and I am here to tell you something really important about the life of a ninja." His smile had disappeared as he stared at each student in the eye, one by one, making sure everyone was paying attention. "You have all heard that a shinobi must never show emotion. What you haven't been told is why. Why can't you show emotion?" He paused and let them ponder on his question. Seeing that they were taking him seriously, he continued. "It's because the time it takes to show an emotion, to smile at a joke you heard some time ago, is enough to kill you. It's because if we show emotion, we are letting the enemy know that we are vulnerable. We are showing them where to strike. In war, we do not have emotion. We do not have feelings. We are tools at the hands of the Hokage to be used as he sees fit. We can be the sword that fights hand in hand with him. We can be the shuriken he throws at his enemy as a distraction. We can be the kunai he discards because it has turned blunt. That is what it means to be a ninja."

Minato scanned the room and he saw some of them shifting uncomfortably in their seats. "Emotion is the deadliest weakness for every shinobi." He paused, letting it sink in. "However, it is also the greatest strength in the hands of someone who knows how to control it. The Nidaime Hokage fought the Kinkaku-Ginkaku forces to a standstill for over 3 days. He is reported to have been smiling throughout the battle, right until his dying breath. That is the power each and every one of us possesses. That is the strength of emotion. That is the Will of Fire. That is what we have that sets us apart from other villages. The will of fire. The will to keep burning to provide others with warmth and light, even against the harshest of winds and the deadliest of storms. The desire to use your own flame to keep others alight. The drive to never stop burning."

Minato stopped once more to let everything sink in. "The fact that you have passed the academy exam makes you worthy of being a shinobi. I'm telling you, you should be proud. You have taken the first step towards your future. You should be proud that – "

"Minato, save your speeches for someone who cares. You'll have plenty of time to practice when you become Hokage." A dark-haired kunoichi walked into the room and behind her came two more shinobi.

"Damn it, Mikoto, I was doing really well too. You should have seen their faces. They were so captivated by my speech." Minato said, mock-tears flowing from his eyes.

"Now now, don't cry in front of the genin, you'll lose whatever respect that hasn't already been lost." Mikoto said giggling at her fellow jonin.

"Ahem", a new voice coughed. It came from a pale-skinned man, with pitch black hair going down to his waist and he needed no introduction. He was Orochimaru of the sannin, one of the heroes of the Second Great Shinobi War and one of the prime candidates for the next Hokage. "Now that you've um… met some of the jonin-senseis you will be placed under, let's get right to the point. My name is Orochimaru." The jounin behind him all faced them, smiling slightly. "Starting today, you are all genin of the leaf. As Minato so eloquently put it, you are no longer children and you will face increasingly dangerous missions where there's a good chance you might not return. It is our job as jounin and as your sensei to try and decrease the likelihood of that ever happening." Orochimaru turned behind to look at the other jonin and nodded at them. "Now, we are going to call out the members of our teams. When you are called, please make your way to your sensei."

Minato stepped forwards. "Team 7 will consist of Hatake Kakashi, Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito. We will primarily act as a recon and support team. Be at training ground 7 in 30 minutes time." The blonde jonin disappeared in a shunshin. Rin and the boy who had spoken to them earlier quickly stood up. Naruto deduced that the masked boy was Kakashi and Rin's friend was Obito Uchiha.

Rin turned behind to face them. "Well, I guess this means goodbye for now.", she said sheepishly. "We can meet up soon, though. I would like to hear some stories that would embarrass these two as well." This made the two orphans laugh nervously, seeing the fire in Naruto's eyes.

Obito had also turned around and flashed a kind smile. "See you guys later." They all smiled and watched as the young Uchiha walked out of the classroom with Rin, pausing to give a nervous smile to his clan head's daughter and receiving one in return.

"Akito Shiba, Yamanaka Riko and Masame Mira. You three are now team 10. You are to meet Yakiniku's BBQ in 10 minutes. My name is Hyuga Hiruko and I will be your instructor starting from tomorrow." Once he had said his piece, the stoic Hyuga turned around and promptly left the room, not bothering with a flashy exit.

Shizuka was now giddy with excitement. She turned to her friends. "Do you know what this means? We are going to get either Orochimaru, the strongest Sannin, or Uchiha Mikoto, the Flame Empress of Konoha. This is amazing. Things are looking up after all."

Shinzo deadpanned. "Shizuka, calm down. We don't even know that we're going to be on the same team. Though it does make sense that they would put the 3 orphans together.", he said contemplatively.

Naruto winced. His conversation with Irene about the dangers of being placed together flashed to the front of his mind.

Orochimaru walked forward. "Team 12 will consist of Mitarashi Anko, Sarutobi Yuna and... Naruto. Make your way to the roof. We will have a short introductory session today, followed by a sparring session so that I can understand your current power levels."

Naruto couldn't help but feel sad that he would not be with his friends despite Irene telling him that this was the more favorable outcome. He looked at them not knowing what to say but they just smiled at him. Shizuka quickly wrapped him in a hug which reassured him greatly.

As Naruto walked toward the nearest window, he felt eyes on him and turned to meet the eye of the brown-haired boy who had called him out earlier. There were only three genin left in the room, conclusively telling him that his friends would be in the same team as someone who thought of them like the dirt at his feet. Anger flashed through his mind at whoever had assigned the teams but one look at the smiling jonin calmed him.

Mikoto Uchiha embodied the word 'dependable'. She seemed to realize what was going through his mind and gave him a reassuring nod. Naruto relaxed slightly and proceeded to jump out the window, sticking to the wall. They were in safe hands.

Naruto reached the top and jumped up onto the roof. He closed his eyes and extended his senses. His sensei was waiting behind the huge water tank and his teammates had just reached the top of the stairs.

He walked towards where his sensei stood, without waiting for his teammates. After all, why should he wait for them, when they had not extended the same courtesy to him. Orochimaru's eyes immediately flicked to his position. Although Naruto was trying his best to approach without alerting his sensei, he had immediately been noticed. Naruto noted that one would not get to a level Orochimaru was at, by allowing an ten year old genin to sneak up on him.

Orochimaru looked at the first of his genin to make it to the roof. He wasn't surprised to see that it was Naruto. If he had been moved up a year, there was no telling what to expect. The only other people who he knew accomplished that feat was Sakumo Hatake's kid who was already better than some of the jonin, and Sarutobi Asuma who was personally trained by the Hokage himself. He glanced over the kid carefully. He was well-built for his age. He could see the budding muscles under his shirt that made it clear to Orochimaru that he would not be a waste in a fight. He also noted the aloof, indifferent expression that Naruto maintained on his face. While it did not look forced, it did look artificial.

He knew very little about Naruto. He, of course, knew about the accident involving Naruto. He also knew that the boy was an Uzumaki. His red hair and purple eyes were a dead giveaway. Perhaps the most interesting thing about him was that Danzo had been the one who first noticed the boy.

From his recorded performance in the academy, he was not impressive. Then again, Orochimaru knew a lot of people who were shit at the academy and grew to be very strong, his teammate Jiraiya sat at the top of that list. And if he caught Danzo's eye, enough to get him moved up a year, Orochimaru knew he would be stronger than he let on.

There was another thing that bothered him. He knew that Naruto had already been a genin for about a year. But there was no talk of an Uzumaki genin yet. Which meant that he had managed to stay under the radar for a year while doing D-ranks almost every day. He had 162 D-rank missions to his name which translated to a small fortune if it had been saved up, as Orochimaru suspected.

Naruto was a mystery and Orochimaru loved mysteries.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his other genin came into view, both of them slightly shocked at the younger boy for reaching the roof faster. The purple haired girl looked angry. Mitarashi Anko was the daughter of a prominent weapons shop owner. Her mother had been murdered when she was 4 or 5 years old, leaving an expert craftsman to take care of her in a time of war. Needless to say, she was neglected a bit growing up. She had worked hard to make her father proud and graduated from the academy as one of the best kunoichi of the year. She definitely held promise.

However, Orochimaru could already see the arrogance the girl had developed. Getting her up to his standards will definitely be a difficult task not that it mattered. He was under orders to fail them after all.

His third student was someone he was already familiar with. How could he not be familiar with his sensei's only daughter. Sarutobi Yuna, Sarutobi Hiruzen's youngest child, Konoha's princess. She had short brown hair, tied into a small ponytail.

Orochimaru, despite his relationship with her father, hadn't interacted with her much. While he thought himself to be a brilliant judge of character, he couldn't quite read her and that intrigued him. While she was treated as a princess all over Konoha, Orochimaru could see from her athletic body and hawk-like eyes that his sensei had trained her quite extensively or she had trained on her own.

Judging by the fact that his sensei barely talked about her and even dismissed conversations about her, he thought it was the latter. She definitely had his interest.

While he thought all this, Orochimaru didn't miss anything that happened in the short interaction among his genin. How Anko glared at Naruto, how Naruto matched her glare before giving a hesitant smile towards his other teammate and how Yuna's hands clenched into fists when she saw it. And from the way Naruto's eyes narrowed, he hadn't missed it either. Suddenly, he stood up, drawing their attention.

"Right then, since you're all here, we can get on with things. Starting now, you three are a team. That means, you are stuck with each other and I'm stuck with you three. Now, putting new genin in teams of 3 is a long-standing tradition in Konoha. It is neither too big a unit nor too small. And it is also quite common for teams to have a specialty, be it, tracking, stealth, infiltration, espionage, etc." He paused for a moment and sighed.

"And when your team has a specialty, you are expected to carry out that particular kind of missions back-to-back and without question. This specialty is what you will get known for. Ino-Shika-Chou is one of the most successful teams coming out of Konoha's academy. They started out as a heavy hitter squad with Akimichi Chouza being the muscle, Shikaku Nara as the brains and Yamanaka Inoichi, the support."

"They became good at it and brought other specialties under their belt. Now they're the most versatile squad in Konoha, more so than my own team. Unless we're fighting a war, Ino-Shika-Chou is much more valuable to the village than the Sannin." Orochimaru turned around and stared over at the village.

"And that is what is expected of all of you. To become such a great unit that raw power doesn't matter. With the way things are going, everyone knows that the next war is just around the corner."

Naruto blinked at that. No matter how obvious it was to him, it didn't make sense for a jonin to reveal to them that they were on the brink of war.

"And the way you just interacted with each other is unacceptable to me. When I told you to make your way to the roof as fast as possible, I expected you to, at the very least, show up together. It is the most basic principle you are taught by our academy for a reason. It is the principle that forms the foundation on which this village has survived."

"That's strike one." The change in their sensei's tone towards the end alarmed them, making them narrow their eyes.

"When you all did arrive, you barely acknowledged the other's presence." Orochimaru turned around and pointed at Anko, "The first thing you did was glare at him, your teammate. And you…" Orochimaru then turned his finger to Yuna. "You failed to even smile back at your teammate. When genin are experienced enough, they'll be expected to fall into any squad and perform adequately. Do you think the people who assign you the missions will care about your petty differences?"

"However, your team out of the academy will likely be the people you do most missions with. An unavoidable part of the shinobi system in place." Yuna had the decency to look embarrassed while Anko just huffed and turned away.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at a presence behind him and his hand reached for the kunai strapped to his leg. He didn't draw it however because Orochimaru sent a pointed look at him and a moment later, he felt the presence behind him go still.

"That is strike two. And the third one, perhaps the worst one, is the fact that I asked you here for a sparring session and you came here, separated, for me to pick you off one by one. You came here, you sat down, not expecting any kind of threat. Heck, only one of you noticed a dangerous summon animal coming from behind."

Upon hearing his comment, the genin's eyes went wide. Naruto reacted instantly as he felt the presence behind him once again in motion. The snake was sliced in two and the kunai on his hand was already flying toward the snake behind Yuna, by the time he was on his feet.

Before the kunai could hit, however, the snakes behind the two girls disappeared in a burst of smoke.

The two girls jumped to their feet, Naruto's fast actions breaking through their shock at their sensei's last sentence. They turned around just in time to see the two bursts of smoke and the kunai ricocheted off the ground a moment later.

"Well, at least you react well." Orochimaru said sarcastically. He then turned to Naruto who looked bemused at what had just happened. "You killed my summon."

"You told me not to react." Naruto spoke softly, not taking his eyes off his to-be sensei.

Orochimaru smirked. "Yes. And you trusted the word of a complete stranger you've never even seen before."

Naruto frowned. "Am I not supposed to trust you?"

"Not when you've never met me before." Orochimaru replied quickly. "You have no idea who I am. I could have been an enemy in disguise for pity's sake. You were all taught Konoha's secret sign language, were you not? You could've made sure I was who I said I was, anytime between arriving here and now. Granted I could still be a spy who has somehow learned our signs, but you would've done all you could."

The three genin looked at their sensei with wide eyes. "A shinobi is always vigilant. He never drops his guard. Even in the presence of familiar people. Even in their own home." He paused to let it all sink in and he saw Naruto nod, signalling that he understood.

Orochimaru continued. "And that was strike three. Now, the fact is that you three are not genin yet. We are supposed to check if you are able to work together and do whatever may be required of you and if you fall short on our test, we have the authority to fail you. Most jonin use a survival exercise to check whether a team is capable of teamwork while simultaneously gauging their abilities."

"Now, seeing how you handled yourself till now, if I had my way, I would fail all three of you and ban you all from ever becoming ninja."

Anko's head snapped around to say something, but she froze when the wave of intense killing intent hit her. "However, that is not the case. The Hokage and his advisors believe that a war is on the horizon and we need help from anywhere we can get, even from snot-nosed little brats like you. At least you'll be good enough to use as meat-shields. As such, we have been instructed to just check only your survival skills and overlook everything else."

"I just wanted to show you how bad you are as shinobi before we begin. You'll be at training ground 44, tomorrow at dawn. There, we will spar."

Naruto stared at the spot his 'sensei' was before he disappeared. He had felt the killing intent leaking off the man when Anko tried to interrupt him. He had felt the barely concealed bloodlust oozing off him before he calmed down. And it all started and receded in an instant. It made him feel… strangely nostalgic.

Not knowing what to say in response to what just happened, they stood there for a few moments trying to make sense of it all. What kind of preparations would they make? Or rather, could any amount of preparation be enough for the gruelling task that they were faced with. There was no doubt in their minds that it would be difficult to impress Orochimaru enough to pass. And the small glare that Anko still wore on her face didn't leave him with high expectations. But one thing was for sure and all three of them knew it. They would not be able to pull this off without working as a team.

---

Shinobi Council, Hokage Tower

The atmosphere of the room was grim. There were a few smiles and laughs going around, but they died out as soon as they started. The shinobi had gathered there obeying the summons of their Hokage. But it was safe to say that none of them wanted to be there. After all, who wants to take time away from their home to sit in a closed room, discussing the coming war. It was the first war council held in over 4 years and no one was happy about it.

Minato entered the room and walked to where his friends were sitting. He watched as his girlfriend bonked Uchiha Fugaku in the head for something he said, getting a few laughs from the people around. Fugaku turned around with a sheepish grin on his face, rubbing his head. 'Only you, Kushina-chan, could make a man as composed as Uchiha Fugaku smile even a little bit.', he thought, smiling at his girlfriend. "What's going on?", he asked Mikoto, who was sitting next to them.

However, Fugaku was the one who answered. "Nothing, Minato. I was just providing some insight as to why Kushina-san remains the only person in our graduating class to not have a genin team.", he said smoothly, laughing once again at the murderous look sent his way.

Minato chuckled. "Oh, that's easy. Hokage-sama wants his genin alive. They won't be alive for long when they're being instructed by someone who sneezes while on an assassination mission.". This drew more laughs from the people around them.

"It was one time, Minato, and sneezing is not voluntary.", Kushina said in a low voice.

"But it did happen, Kushina. I'm not letting you live this down. Involuntary or not, you need to be able to control it or at least silence it." Minato sniped back. "Control is paramount.", he spoke, nodding sagely.

"That must be why you were trying so hard to hold back that moan yesterday, when I stuck a finger up-", she was cut short as Minato put a hand over her mouth, looking quite alarmed. Kushina smirked in victory. For all the things Minato had achieved, he was still too easy to tease. Hearing the others laugh, Minato rubbed the back of his head, grinning. Kushina also let out a laugh at her boyfriend's expense, before closing the distance between them and kissing him on the lips. Breaking apart after a few moments, Kushina smiled at him. "How's your genin?"

"They're amazing. I got a pretty balanced team actually. I actually have Sakumo Hatake's kid on my team. He's a remarkable young shinobi. He's already a chunin. He was only assigned to the team to get more experience working in a team. The others aren't slackers, either. Rin and Obito hold a lot of promise and they'll go on to do great things once I'm through with them.", he said proudly.

"Bragging is really not sexy, Minato-kun. You should know better.", Kushina replied, pouting.

"I wish I could say the same, Minato." A smooth voice spoke from behind them. "My team looks like a train wreck in the making."

"Don't say that, baka. You train them up and then we'll have our students fight each other. We'll see who's the better sensei.", the white-haired man told his teammate.

"That's not fair, Jiraiya and you know that. Your student is this spectacular killing machine with blonde hair, while his are a bunch of genin-hopefuls.", the renowned golden-haired medic spoke. If anybody noticed Mikoto's shoulders tense, nobody commented on it.

"I wouldn't call myself a killing machine, Tsunade-sama.", Minato said respectfully.

"Well, I don't know about the killing part, but if what Kushina says is true, you certainly are a machine.", Mikoto said, chuckling at the blush forming on Minato's face. This resulted in a round of laughs once more and Minato was pouting by the end of it.

Wanting to save his friend from more embarrassment, Fugaku decided to change the subject. "So, forgive me if I'm prying, but why are all three of you here? This meeting must be a lot more important than we think if all the Sannin are attending."

All faces turned to the three renowned veterans. "Well, you'll soon see for yourself considering Sarutobi-sensei is here.". It was Orochimaru who replied. Almost immediately, the Hokage and his advisors walk into the room. The shinobi all stood up in attention and all the noise died away. The Hokage reached the table at the front of the room and stared at his shinobi for a few moments.

"Shinobi…." The Hokage had spoken in a small voice, but it was firm and persistent as it reached the ears of every person in the room. "The third great shinobi war has begun." The declaration was met with stunned silence. After all, what could anyone say to that? "Iwa shinobi have invaded our neighboring ally country, the Land of Grass, from the north. What's more, a messenger arrived earlier this week with the news that a group of bandits took over the village at the Grass-Fire border, running over the border patrols posted there. Kusagakure is dealing with the northern threat and so it falls to us to secure the border."

"We have no choice but to assume that they have been there for at least a week. We suspect that advance scouting parties from Iwa are using that village to infiltrate the Land of Fire in small numbers and that the bandits are letting them in. And the worst part is that we have no way to be sure how long this has been going on. We are now informed about this because of the brave and quick actions of deceased jonin kunoichi, Uzuki Haruka, who managed to barely escape from the surprise attack on the border outpost to reach us and provide us with this valuable information. She succumbed to her many wounds soon after. She will be immortalized on the memorial stone after this meeting. A moment of silence for a great shinobi who was taken from us prematurely." The Hokage looked down in respect to honor the fallen soldier.

Minato's eyes saw red. Border outposts were mostly manned by 5 or 6 personnel at the most. Especially one as insignificant as the border between allies. They wouldn't have stood a chance if a sufficiently large party got the drop on them.

Uzuki Haruka was a kind woman whom he had done many missions with. She had also been the leader of his first ever mission as a newly-made chunin. She was a quirky woman with a rather unhealthy obsession with swords. Gritting his teeth, he tried to calm himself down. Uzuki Haruka was also a mother. A dedicated mother. When her husband had died, she had stepped down from her duties as a jounin to work security around the village. It was because of the recent war that capable but unavailable shinobi like Haruka had been forced to leave their family alone to do the more dangerous missions. Her daughter would be cared for. He would make sure of it. He felt his girlfriend's hand slide into his and he forced himself to swallow his anger. He looked at Kushina only to see the same pained expression on her face. He gently squeezed her hand and sadly smiled at her. Kushina gulped before putting on a strained smile of her own.

The Hokage looked up and saw the determined faces of his soldiers. Smiling inwardly at their determination and desire to avenge their comrades, he continued. "Now, what is even more worrying is that Kusagakure didn't send word of the approaching Iwa ninja. No matter how skilled their shinobi are, such a large party could never avoid Kusa's sensors. We want to send a team to retake the village in the Land of Grass from the bandits and establish a base there before we continue onward to repel the Iwa invasion."

"We think that Sunagakure is allowing Iwa shinobi to pass through the Land of Wind to infiltrate ours. That explains why Kusa couldn't send word about the Iwa shinobi in their country. If they passed through Suna, they would have been completely blindsided by this attack."

"Now, we have three things we need to do. We need to confirm that Kumo is not on the move, we need to deal with the bandit camp at the border and we need to fortify the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind."

The Hokage leaned backward and sighed loudly before continuing. "Akira Senju, you will lead a team of your choice to the Land of Lightning. There is less chance of an alliance between Kumo and Iwa, considering how their prior alliance went. But they worked together before in the previous war. It won't hurt to confirm this." An elderly man stood up and nodded.

He then looked back at where Kushina was sitting. Kushina smirked at him. 'Looks like me and sensei are going on a mission together, just like the good old days.' She then looked at Mikoto, one of her teammates, and smirked at her. Seeing the frustration in her face, Kushina knew that Mikoto wanted to be part of the action and didn't want to be stuck babysitting some brats.

The Hokage looked at his advisors, and nodded at them. "That concludes the matters we have to discuss now. All of you, remain strong. We will survive as we have survived in the past. Now those of you wishing to pay respects to the fallen shinobi, make your way to the memorial stone. However, the jonin who have genin teams stay behind. My old teammate, Danzo, will give you some instructions."

Minato watched as the Hokage made his way out of the chamber with many shinobi following him. Kushina kissed him on the cheek and made her way out as well. Soon, Minato could see that only jonin-senseis remained in the chamber. Danzo stood up to address them.

"You have heard the situation as explained by my old teammate. While all he said was true, I'm here to tell you what he doesn't have the heart to say." His stoic emotionless voice had Minato on edge. There was something about this man that just made him uncomfortable. "We are vastly unequipped to deal with a war as big as the one approaching. With the loss of Uzushio in the last war, we have no allies. And before you ask, the answer is no. Kusa and Taki do not count as allies. We trust them to not take up arms against us. But we cannot hope that they will fight for us. The only good thing about this is that none of the other great villages have allies they trust either. But still, our situation is grim. We need more capable shinobi and we need them fast."

Danzo drew a deep breath and continued. "That is why your task is of the utmost importance. You will train your genin to be quick, efficient and ruthless. In 2 weeks' time, we will conduct a test in the form of Konoha's Silent Dispatch." This resulted in a lot of whispers and gasps. "Those unworthy will fail the test and most probably lose their life and their 'softness' will never have endangered any of our comrades. Those who pass will be selected and will join the war efforts. There are currently 168 genin in rotation. We expect about 50% of them to pass. Meaning that around 30 jonin will be freed up at the end."

"Danzo-sama, they are only kids. Please reconsider your decision. It is not ethical to do this to kids so young", Mikoto spoke out in protest.

Danzo openly scoffed at his request to reconsider. "I expect all of you to get your genin as prepared as they can be in the time provided rather than whine about decisions already made. Any questions?" No one spoke in the silence that followed his question. "Right then, I will take my leave." He proceeded to shunshin out of the room.

The jonin in the room stayed silent for a couple moments before the outrage started in earnest.

"Silent Dispatch? How awful!"

"They're just kids."

"What is Hokage-sama thinking?"

Orochimaru stood up suddenly. "Hokage-sama has already explained his reasoning. Those of you who actually listened should already know why the genin are the only viable force we can send to deal with the bandits."

Minato's eyes widened after a few moments. Of course. They had no idea how many Iwa shinobi, if any, were already in their country. They can't send out a sizable force without potentially leaving the village open for attack. If they attacked the village and succeeded, they were finished. They would have no place to fall back to. If Iwa overran Kusa, they would be stuck at the border fighting a war from both sides, a recipe for disaster.

Then, Orochimaru started walking towards the exit. As he walked, he spoke in a quiet whisper. "We have our orders. And they do not include sitting here doing nothing. I suggest we use the time they 'gave' us wisely."

With that, Orochimaru exited the room. Minato could only stare in wonder at the exit. He didn't know if he was impressed or if he was disgusted by the decision the Hokage and his advisors had made. On the one hand, they had efficiently dealt with the problem of bandits while also maintaining a reliable force to deal with whatever attack on the village that might occur.

But on the other hand…

The Silent Dispatch. Complete the mission. You pass. Otherwise, you fail. Simple, right? 'No, not simple.' Minato thought. 'This won't be pretty.' Genin straight out of the academy would go through this 'test'. Even the older, more experienced genin had not gone on any mission that involved a conflict of this size. The last six or seven years had been relatively peaceful. And Minato agreed that the genin of today were not up to the trials they would face during wartime. But they have to be eased into it. Not thrust into a foreign environment with orders to kill every last man, woman and child they encountered.

Seeing the other jonin freaking out over basically having to kill children, he sighed. The next two weeks would be intense.

His mind working overtime, he failed to notice a quickly paling Uchiha Mikoto, struggling to keep a frown off her face as she listened to the golden-haired kunoichi talking animatedly.

---

Meanwhile, Roof of the Ninja Academy

Yuna sighed deeply. She was one of the few people who had attended the academy under protest. She never wanted to be a ninja. Or at least, not a combat oriented one. But she was the youngest child of the longest-living Hokage in history. She scoffed internally. When there had been only 3 individuals who ever held the position, the title didn't hold that much weight… In her opinion anyway. Nevertheless, it was an undeniable fact that things were expected of her.

She also knew that there was a war coming. Which meant there was absolutely no way Orochimaru of the Sannin would get saddled down with a genin team. They were already doomed to fail whatever exam the older shinobi would come up with. That was the reason why she was indifferent to her would-be teammates. It wouldn't make a difference. She knew Anko pretty well, considering the fact that they had spent years together in the academy. While she was strong for her age, enough to beat her for the Kunoichi of the Year award, Yuna still felt that she would win in a straight up fight.

Her other 'teammate' was a mystery. He was already a genin for a year, despite being younger than them. This of course meant that he was talented. The only people that had graduated early in recent times were Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi. Asuma was her brother who was only a year older than her but had been a genin for a little over two years. But then, Yuna remembered how strong Asuma was even before graduation. His rare wind affinity coupled with his fire jutsu was something that made him a force to be reckoned with despite his lack of experience. Asuma Sarutobi exuded so much power that Yuna thought he had no place being a genin. Kakashi also was a freak of nature according to her. Genin at five? Five? He wasn't normal.

Naruto… Naruto was not anything like that. He did not radiate power or confidence like Asuma and Kakashi seemed to.

But there was something there. Something she couldn't place. Something that told her that he was dangerous. Why had he graduated a year early? She knew that it only happened when they were recommended for it. Whose attention did he draw?

…

…

…

"Can I help you?" Naruto finally asked. The Hokage's daughter and their unpleasant teammate Anko had been trying to tear a hole into him with their eyes. He didn't know why he was being scrutinized like this but he could guess that they were trying to size him up.

After what he'd heard from Orochimaru, he was not expecting to pass. Which was fine, because he was perfectly content doing D-ranks for another year. The only reason he was excited about it was because there was a chance that he'd be placed with his fellow orphans … which didn't happen.

Anko was the one who replied. None of them had moved since Orochimaru disappeared over 10 minutes ago. Yuna and Anko were still standing, never retaking their seats after the snakes had appeared behind them. Anko clicked her tongue in anger. "I was waiting to see if you'd have the decency to apologize."

"Apologize?", Naruto asked, confusion evident on his face.

"I knew you were just like the others. Disgusting trash. You didn't warn us of the attack.", Anko yelled.

Naruto frowned internally. Yes. He realized that he'd been wrong to accept Orochimaru's wordless request for silence. But how was he the only one to blame? If they had taken the time to talk with him or at least wait for him before disappearing, maybe, he would have ignored the sannin's command. But he didn't let his irritation show.

"Anko-san, I'm sorry for not warning you. Orochimaru-sama signalled me to stand down the moment I reached for a kunai. While I admit I should have spoken up, I was only following orders and I made an error in judgement. If you'll notice, the moment it became evident that he intended to attack us, I acted as quickly as I could, dispatching the danger to me as well as to you both." Naruto gestured at the dead snake at his feet. "I hope we can put this in the past and work together toward becoming a great genin team."

Yuna's eyes widened. Now, that was unexpected. If she didn't know any better, she would've sworn that Naruto was a clan heir or noble or something. The way he'd just spoken was not something she'd expected from an orphan living in the slums. It was certainly not the way Shinzo and Shizuka would've responded. Her eyes widened when Naruto turned to her.

"I apologize to you as well, Yuna-san. For the same reasons I stated earlier, I did not warn you of the danger approaching you and for that, I'm sorry."

Yuna smiled at him and bowed her head slightly, accepting the apology immediately in the graceful way she had been taught. In her eyes, he hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't missed the way Naruto's legs tightened up when Orochimaru sent the 'signal' although she didn't know why at the time.

Anko was different. She snarled angrily. She wouldn't be tricked by the empty words he was sending her way. "You can't just spout off random words and walk away. All of you from the red-light district are the same. Violent, uncultured swines. I didn't see a 'signal' of any sort. You won't even admit that you were only thinking about saving yourself. You didn't say a word to us in warning and you decided to attack only the snake behind Yuna." Anko yelled angrily. "You would've killed me if sensei had let it happen."

Naruto slowly turned back to Anko. He couldn't believe his ears. He had done nothing wrong, nothing to get this much hate from someone who he hadn't even met before. While he wanted to be reasonable and self-aware, he wasn't exactly the most docile person. He hadn't wanted to apologize in the first place. He had only done so to prevent the issue from escalating. He was fine with swallowing his pride if it meant it would speed things along. Once.

Naruto was of the opinion that everyone deserves a second chance in life. He was a good example of second chances. When he was found in the forest after his accident, he'd received a second chance at life. And he was thankful for that. Much like Orochimaru's assessment, Yuna and Anko had not made a good first impression in his mind. Yuna made up for it when she accepted the apology he had reluctantly offered them. Anko had just lost any semblance of camaraderie or respect he felt. If you lose someone's respect, it is very hard to earn it back. Now, he wanted nothing more than to retaliate with as much hate as he could muster and show this nuisance that he was not meant to be taken lightly. Naruto's eyes hardened and his fists clenched as he forced his violent impulse down.

"Anko-san, I am aware of your unique circumstances and about the blame you place on the people of the red-light district. Shizuka told me all about you when she came back to the orphanage with a stab wound on her wrist."

Anko gasped in surprise. That had been one of the worst days of her life. She would admit that it was one of the times that she had given into her anger and hatred and she had been punished harshly for it. She had worked a lot to draw in her violent side since then. Why was he bringing this up?

Naruto continued without blinking. "Shizuka told me that she was angry but I had no right to be so. She told me that I should always form my own opinions. And that is why, even after years of hearing you be called a spoiled bitch and a violent psychopath, I refused to associate you with any of those words. You call us violent and uncultured? We're only violent because of judgemental people like you who just declare us as violent. We're uncultured because no one who is educated in this village's culture seems to want anything to do with us."

Yuna's eyes were wide in shock. The righteous anger he displayed on his face was astonishing. She had never seen such passion from either of his companions in all the years they'd been attending the academy together. Her eyes flicked toward Anko to see her fists clenched and trembling. This was not a good start for her team at all… Oh well, what was the worst thing that could happen? They'd fail the survival test and go back to the academy. It's not like she particularly wanted to be here.

Naruto growled. "Shinzo and Shizuka may have put up with all your bullshit, maybe because they were afraid, or maybe because you weren't worth the time. But don't expect me to be anything like that. I won't stand by and let anyone insult me and my friends."

Naruto turned away and walked to the edge of the roof. "I wanted to come up with a plan for tomorrow after Orochimaru left, but I can see that my time would only be wasted here." He turned around when he reached the edge of the roof. "Anko-san, I understand that someone from the red-light district murdered your mother. I know that it's the reason you're directing all this anger toward us even though you know we had nothing to do with it. But I implore you to not talk about things you don't understand. If you'd ever been to the red-light district, you'd know that things much worse than murder are a daily occurrence."

His hands came together in the Ram seal. "I don't expect to graduate tomorrow after what happened today, but I can say for sure that the only way we stand a chance is if we work together. If we don't win… well… I'm not really losing anything here. I'm perfectly fine doing D-ranks for an entire year. Ja ne."

Anko's eyes had fallen down under the barrage of righteous indignation from the smaller boy, but she wanted to know something before he left. "Wait!"

Naruto turned around, the Ram seal falling away. "What?"

Anko winced at the response but continued anyway. "Why'd you save only Yuna?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, if sensei had continued with the attack, I would've been bitten but your kunai would've stopped the snake behind Yuna. Why did you save only her?" Anko asked earnestly.

Naruto regarded her curiously. It seemed she was capable of normal speech after all. "The snakes had been defanged." He said simply and once again turned around.

However, Anko pressed on. "Don't try to trick me. You couldn't have known they had been defanged until you turned around and you had already thrown that kunai before you turned around."

Naruto glared at her. What did she want from him? His right hand came up in a half-Ram seal. "Katsu!"

"BOOOM!"

Anko and Yuna jumped away feeling the heat from the explosion. They continued staring at the smoke until something clattered on the ground in front of them. It was the kunai Naruto had thrown earlier.

Yuna frowned. She could've sworn that there was no exploding tag attached. How then had it exploded? She turned around, stunned, only to see a pile of leaves where the Genin had once been. "Shunshin?!", she muttered dazedly. That technique was beyond Asuma even.

Anko's fists clenched tightly as her entire body trembled. She was so angry. Infuriated. "He may have showed us up today, but there's no way that brat will do the same tomorrow."

Yuna looked at the retreating back of Anko worriedly. This hadn't gone well at all. Even as she'd smiled and accepted the apology, she knew Anko wouldn't let it go. But she never expected Naruto to retaliate to this extent. His friends certainly hadn't done so in all the years they'd known them. There was more to him than she'd initially thought. Oh well, at least he wasn't boring.

---

Half-Hour Later, With Akira Senju

"So, that's decided then. Would you mind telling the others, for me? I'm getting quite old and these old bones can only take so much." Akira Senju told his former student as they walked through the street. Kushina scoffed at that. "Hey, you should learn to respect your elders, you brat."

"Whatever, old man. I'll give my respect to those who deserve it. Besides, you're just being lazy. Don't try to fool me.", Kushina spoke with a smirk on her face. Seeing her sensei pout, she shook her head in mock disgust. "I told you never to make that face in front of me. It's fugly. As in, fucking ugly."

Grumbling to himself, Akira sped up leaving behind a laughing Kushina. "I remember a time when you were so shy to say anything out of line. What happened to that sweet little girl I actually liked?"

Kushina let out a giggle, hearing the highly respected shinobi whine childishly. But her expression sobered up very soon. "Well, she grew up, I guess." Akira also stopped smiling, having noticed the change in her tone. "This is going to be a long drawn out war isn't it, in which a lot of people will suffer? More villages will be destroyed. Young and happy children will be made orphans, their homes destroyed and their villages burning." Kushina had a pained look on her face. "I told myself. Never again. I wouldn't allow it to happen again and now? It's happening again and there's nothing I can do to stop it." A tear trailed a path down her cheek.

Suddenly, she was wrapped in a hug. Akira Senju stood right in front of her, hugging her tightly. "There's only one thing you can do, Kushina. Fight. Fight so that today's children, those who survive, will never see a war again. So that they can become fat and lazy, and actually be happy. Fight, Kushina. That's all we shinobi will ever know." He gently rubbed her back as they stayed wrapped in the hug for a few more moments. Finally, Kushina broke away from the hug, wiping her eyes. "Tomorrow at dawn, Kushina. We'll do our part for our village."

Kushina stopped wiping her eyes and smiled at her sensei before doing a mock salute and jumping to the roofs.

Akira just shook his head. He hoped she would be alright. This was always a difficult time of the year for her. The day of her brother's birthday and the day the once mighty village hidden in the Whirlpools fell. The day she lost everything. Shaking himself out of the depressing thoughts, he decided to keep an extra eye on her during their mission. He walked across the street and entered the alley which would take him to the next street much quicker than if he were to walk all the way around. He had a lot on his mind, which is why he almost missed the noises coming from inside a dumpster.

Almost.

Instantly, he was on full alert. He crept closer to the dumpster and he started to make out voices from inside.

"I thought you said that no one comes in through this alley", a female voice spoke.

"Oh, come on. Don't blame me for this. He's just some senile old man. He probably got lost", a male voice replied in anger.

"That isn't the point. The point is that you had one job. One. And you messed that up as well."

"It's one person, Shizuka. Now, stay silent. You're scaring the kid."

Suddenly the dumpster opened and they were both blinded by the light that immediately flooded in. An old man looked inside, wearing a puzzled expression. "You are ninjas, and this was the best hiding place you could think of?" he asked, failing to hide his amusement. But as soon as he finished, the two bigger children suddenly jumped out and tackled him to the ground.

"Run, Yugao-chan. Run and hide. The old people are the worst in Konoha. We'll come find you once we deal with this.", the girl who he assumed was Shizuka yelled out.

"How are we doing this? Should we dump his body in this dumpster? But that would mean that I'll probably have to search for another alley. But you'll probably whine about that one as well.", the boy added.

"Well, how am I supposed to not whine, when the best you came up with is this putrid alley."

"How dare you, I spent a lot of time on this, while you both were off eating ice cream. I expect you to be at least a little grateful."

"What do you mean, off eating ice cream. I was in the street, doing goddamn circus tricks for money you fucking asshole."

"Yeah, and when you were done, you ate ice-cream, didn't you?"

"Do you know what this is about?", the old man interrupted, looking at the purple-haired girl sticking her head out of the dumpster. Seeing her shake her head, he sighed. "I thought not."

"Hey, Yugao-chan, I thought we told you to run and hide."

The boy drew a fist and held it against the old man's face menacingly. "And I don't recall giving you permission to speak."

"Well, I thought I'd speak out nevertheless, to point out the flaws in the plan you just made. For one, assaulting a high-ranking ninja in the village is enough to spend a lifetime in prison. Two, 'throwing my body in the dumpster' would no doubt get you both the death sentence." Akira saw the alarmed and frightened look on both their faces. "And three… she can't get out of the dumpster by herself." Which resulted in both of them giving him a glare and the girl in the dumpster started giggling. "Now, can any of you tell me why three orphans are in an alley in the residential district?"

"Well, we both got kicked out of the orphanage when we graduated. And we can't get our own apartments until we're actual ninja.", the boy said as he let go of the arm he was holding on to.

"And apparently, that won't happen until after the next two weeks." Shizuka chimed in.

"And Yugao-chan recently lost her parents, and the people at social services decided to let her find the orphanage on her own. Honestly, why does that department even exist? It's not like they've done anything useful for any of us."

"We found her near a pub asking around for the orphanage and we decided to help her out.", Shizuka said sheepishly. "And about that friendly bout we had, that doesn't matter, right?"

Akira now stood up. "Well, it doesn't matter, brat. But you should really learn to hide yourself better if you're going to live in the streets. And about social services… I'll give them a nice little talk when I get the chance."

"Woah, you aren't so bad, old man. Sorry we misjudged you earlier.", the girl said, smiling at him.

"Yeah, it's just that most of the old men in this village are pedophiles. I swear this one dude with a scar goes through kids faster than the speed of sound."

Akira sweat-dropped at that. He was about to ask what they planned to do now, when suddenly he sensed a huge chakra-surge towards the south. A moment later, a huge explosion rocked the ground and the three kids fell to the ground. Smoke filled the air and a burst of wind hit them. Akira was about to take to the roofs when someone dropped down from above.

Akira grunted in surprise. He knew he hadn't been paying attention, but it still shouldn't have been possible for the young redhead to go undetected.

"Shizuka, Shinzo get up. We have to go there."

Akira had been prepared to take the new boy out at the first sign of trouble, but he relaxed when he saw that the two quirky teens were friends with him.

"What? Are you insane? That's where the explosion happened." Shinzo yelled back.

"Shut it and get up. Both of you. The explosion was in the red-light district. Near the orphanage." Hearing this, both Shinzo and Shizuka adopted a serious and worried expression and got off the ground. "Now, come on." Naruto turned and started forward, only to be stopped by the old man standing in his way.

Naruto had seen him earlier and from the way Shinzo and Shizuka had managed to pin him down to 'buy time', he had been convinced that this man was not a threat. Now, as Naruto looked at him more carefully, he realized that this man was definitely a threat. The scars on his face and his right hand signified his experience. The raging storm of chakra that became noticeable at the first sign of trouble, signified his power. He was dangerous indeed.

"I'm afraid I can't let genin or civilians go to a scene of active crime. You four can stay at my house at the end of this alley. It's Number 4. I'll bring back any news I get from there." Akira said and he threw a key to Shinzo who caught it with ease. From their faces, Akira saw acceptance in three of the four faces and defiance in the one remaining. Watching the newest boy's face, Akira knew the boy wouldn't back down. He spiked his chakra and spoke in a deep voice. "That's an order." Then, he disappeared in a shunshin, leaving behind a growling Naruto and three confused orphans.

---

Hey everyone. I'm watching MHA now and I'm completely blown away by STAIN. I'm not ashamed to admit that I generally shit on people who watch dubbed anime. In fact, Naruto's voice in dub has a lot to do with that view. And of course, Eren's dubbed scream in season 2 sucks balls when compared with the same scream in the original subbed version. But... Stain in MHA? Subbed cannot compare! ALL MIGHT IS WORTHY!

And what a character too. The villains who you can't help but like are the best kind of villains. I personally hate Canon-Orochimaru because he kinda creeps me out, but I fucking love Madara because well, who wouldn't?

AN0: A few things I wanted to clear up.
- Naruto is in Konoha now and has been living there for the past four years, but has no memory of the time before. In fact, he does not even remember he is an Uzumaki and does not remember his sister.
- Naruto's skills are also hugely impacted by whatever happened to his memory. However, he has a sort of sense memory where if he is exposed to something he had mastered a long time ago, he's able to pick it up easily. However, being an orphan and barely a genin, he has never had the exposure he would've had if he had started out from a different position. As of now, he only knows the basic techniques: Henge, Substitution and Clone, the Shunshin Technique and a bit of fuinjutsu. But other things like chakra control, chakra capacity, etc has not been impacted by his memory loss.
- How he lost his memory? Probably some post-traumatic amnesia or some other perfectly valid medical condition. Definitely nothing sinister going on there.
- Kushina still believes that Naruto and every other Uzumaki that lived in Uzushio are already dead. She has no idea that a certain genin of Konoha, the very village she serves, is her own brother but with no memory of her. One sibling has no memory of the other and the other is an emotional wreck with absolutely no reason to visit the red-light district or the orphanage located in it.

AN1: I personally don't like the idea of OCs, but I think it's unavoidable in a story set in any timeline that's not the main one. For example, I'm somewhat surprised that there are only eight named Senju in canon and like half of them died before the village system was even founded. And of the rest, three more will have died by the end of the three wars leaving only a broken Tsunade Senju. I think a clan like the Senju clan should have more recognized members at the very least. I still don't know how they died out. Sure, it was a time of war that could've claimed many of their lives but I don't think it could've happened without no one actually realizing that something was going on. After all, the Uchiha clan still had a lot of members at the end of the third ninja war. I also couldn't find anything on who Kushina's sensei was. Soooo... The result is Akira Senju. He is the son of the Nidaime Hokage and is an S-rank shinobi who, along with Hiruzen, Danzo, Koharu, Homura and a couple others, formed the very first Team 7.

AN2: I am likewise appalled by the number of named Sarutobi clan members I could find, but Yuna Sarutobi is not related to that. I needed a third teammate for Naruto and I didn't feel comfortable using Kurenai or Guy partly because their genin teams are already mentioned in Narutopedia and also because I don't really know how a younger Kurenai would behave. Well I know how Guy would behave but I don't think I need a character who talks about YOUTH all the time. Maybe later though. Yuna is a seemingly talented, confident kunoichi treated like a princess by the people of the Hidden Leaf. But she believes, for some reason, that Orochimaru would not be saddled with a team although it consisted of the two top kunoichis in their year and a mysterious younger shinobi who was good enough to graduate early.

AN3: The relative positions of the villages have been taken from the Geography page in Narutopedia.

AN4: The idea of the Silent Dispatch is taken from The Yellow Fang by Policy. I think it's an awesome read if anyone's interested. You see Danzo always talking about how the young shinobi have gone soft but he hasn't really done anything about it (other than maintain his very own army of supposedly competent shinobi). This really does seem like something Danzo would at least have thought about.

AN5: I really don't know what a good length is for a chapter. I have around 14k words for this chapter and future chapters also will probably be this long if not longer. I hope it's a good length. Personally I always prefer huge updates even if I have to wait a long time rather than get an update I would be done with in 5 minutes.

AN6: I haven't decided on any pairings because for the majority of the first part of the story, Naruto is going to be around 10-13 years old which isn't typically a romantic period in anyone's childhood. What I can tell you is that it definitely won't be any of the usual pairings (Sakura, Hinata, Ino, etc...) because they aren't even alive right now.

Hope you guys like the direction this story's going. See you next time :P