နာရုတို ပံုၿပင္ကုိ အဂၤလိပ္ ဘာသာၿပန္ ဆုိဒ္မွ ၾကိဳဆိုပါတယ္.. ^

Okay, so this is my first attempt at a fic, so please tell me if I do something wrong. This is not one of those "Naruto gets raised by Altair things." This is, I think, completely original. So far as the manner in which I crossed these things over. Assassin's Creed and Naruto belong to their respective owners and I do not lay any claim to them whatsoever. However any new plots, new characters, etc. do belong to me. Enjoy.

"Speech"
Kyubi Speech
Memories playing out or are being overlayed
"Thoughts"; "Or speech when in a memory."

Short Prologue:
In an expansive sewer, behind a massive cage, stood a fox. Fur of the deepest red, eyes a blazing orange, it's teeth shone as the full moon. Nine elegant tails shifted and flowed behind it as the titan paced the confines of it's prison. Suddenly, it stopped and sat.
It opened it's terrible jaws and what issued forth was something unimaginable, something horrible in it's implications.
"…I…Am…BORED!"
Yea… that.
"I swear if I ever get out of here, I'll never eat a squirrel again! Damn thing made me go absolutely nuts… And apparently affected my sense of humor ten years later."
As the gargantuan vulpine thought about his situation, he realized that a ten year old struck fear in virtually nothing. It would be all well and good if he wanted to make mice wet themselves in fear, that his container could do, but most anything more would require… a certain amount of finesse, grace, and cunning. It would require power, time, intelligence, planning...
"… Oh screw it. Lets see what this overdeveloped monkey has going for him."
Now you must realize that this was a Demon Lord, a being that has existed since the world began and probably would long after the planet had crumbled to dust. He also got bored fairly regularly and investigated all he could into the subject matter at hand; as such he had a grasp on genetics that would have Sheldon Cooper drooling. So reading his container's DNA to him was much like reading a paper to anyone else.
"So, the boy has some natural talent after all! No chakra affinity, useful but time consuming to take full advantage of… And here! This is coding for accelerated healing! How fortuna- oh. That's a side effect from having me sealed in him. Ah well, still on the good side of the table. And, what the hell is this? This looks like a starter gene for… Huh. I don't know. Well, lets turn it on. Might be worth a chuckle or two."
And with that profound bit of reasoned logic, the semi-divine kitsune willed the gene into function. Having vested the majority of his power to get around that damnable seal, he was unable to halt what he had set in motion; at least for a few weeks. But hey, his host's regeneration should keep him alive until then if needed. He watched as it shifted, a two base pairs rearranging, and then something… Odd began happening.
"Uh, oops?"

In the Village Hidden in the Leaves, also known as Konohagakure No Sato, there were very few things that could truly be said to be odd. This was a village with a good population of ninja, you see; people who through some accident of birth had the ability to harness the excessive amounts of energy that they produced. These Chakra Enabled could gain several abilities: gravity did not impede them, water turned solid under their feet, a landing from forty feet into a layer of tinfoil, bubble wrap, and empty Doritos bags became both non-lethal and absolutely silent. They could breath fire and alter their appearance with nary more than a thought and a handsign. Sight through walls, superhuman strength and speed, teleportation, even harnessing the power of death itself; these are but a fraction of the existing techniques in this world of ninja.
In a small apartment in the… less than reputable part of town was something that did lay outside of the bounds of "normal" even for ninja. Or should it be said: Someone?
Tossing and turning in his small, threadbare, dirty bed rested one Uzumaki Naruto, pariah of the village. Most adults became hostile at the very mention of the ten-year-old and children, parroting little monkeys that they are, excluded him from games and slung insults any time that they caught sight of him. You see, the adults had a reason (badly misunderstood though it was) to hate and even fear the young whirlpool.
Ten years ago on his birthday, a demon attacked the village. This demon was no ordinary lets-call-a-perverted-priest level demon either. This force of nature, this Entity, was none other than the Kyubi no Kitsune, the Nine-Tailed Fox of legend. So powerful was it that the havens seemed to shake and the earth tremble at it's passing. And this beast, unkillable and untamable, was sealed into the baby Naruto on the day of his birth. Joined at the soul by Death himself, the young lad had access to all of the raw power of a minor god. Fear and misapprehension from the villagers was somewhat understandable.
But this sealing was not the odd thing about the boy, oh to the contrary! Several other people through the ages had contained demons, maybe not as comprehensively but demon sealing was not a new and original idea. No what made this boy odd were the dreams.
Over the past several nights he had been having flashes, memories not his, interrupting his otherwise peaceful slumber. Sometimes they were beyond pleasant and filled him with bliss, other times they were so violent and brutal that he woke screaming and clawing only to forget the vision moments later. But tonight these dreams, visions, memories came to a head.

"What the fuck is goin' on here? Where the hell is my bed? Where am I?"
He was in a room, sparsely furnished, two beds and a side table between them. A few unexplained jerks in his vision centered him. A handsome man looked back at Naruto, he looked to be in his mid-twenties and very well in shape. Tanned, dark eyes, striking features-
He spoke and, in doing so, Naruto discovered that he was the man and that he was looking in a mirror.
"If you are se-see-seeing this th-en-n then we have f-f-faile-dd. We did not manag-e-e to halt the-(chain of the Gods, thread of the Fates)- and the world hasss been remade once again. We discovered that the world would not be the only thing affected on {Fragment Corrupted} but that the entire universe would be changed. Maybe gravity will pull up or humans will be able to walk on walls and ceilings, hell if I know."
Throughout this monologue odd shifts and jerks in movement, as well as periods of muteness filtered through. And seemed to even out, become fixed as time went on.
"We tried our best, but history will tell you that simply trying rarely ggets things done. So, in that spirit we made a backup plan. You. As you probably don't know, memories can be stored on DNA, on your genetic code, and can be read with a special mach-chh-machine. Or in your case, as with birds and some species of squirrel, naturally occurring biological processes."
"Okay, wait, what? I'm related to a squirrel? Nononono, that can't be what he means. Can it?"
"To grant you this natural ability we did do a little gene splicing. Congratulations, you are part Flying Squirrel!"
"Oh, hell."
"When replicated by a machine, and even in the natural processes, this reliving of memories grants the genetic descendant of an individual with some, if not all, of the talents of an ancestor. These talents become as natural to you as to them. This is called the Bleeding Effect. Now in birds and squirrels, there isn't much to impart that's different from one to another. But you're hu-human. That means a lot of unique memory from one to the next. So to ease this, and potentially prevent you from going insane and stopping this genetic line, we've selected only certain lives that we felt may benefit you, with content head and shoulders above the rest. Any and all of your ancestors after me, well, I can't say for sure. We put in certain terminator genes to prevent it but some may slip through. This was not easy. And, no, you will not be getting a squirrels memory."
"Thank Kami-sama!"
"So, back to business. I wanted to comfort you: the universe is done shifting. This shift that we're gonna go through? It's the last one. This project, AKA: you, is more of a vanity thing than anything else. It's to try and help my descendants thrive and be successful. Yay for you."
"My ancestor is weird."
"So," and here the strange man's face grew serious, "you will be receiving sporadic memory transfers-"
He was lying in bed, watching as overlays of a Tuscan Villa flickered over his vision, replacing the white roof of the truck.
"-You will see as we saw,-"
He was scanning the market, the hot sun going unnoticed in his search. He must get this one. Suddenly, his vision changed. Buildings, stalls, even the sky, their colors were muted. The crowd was now a sea of white, and the guards at the entrance and on the roofs a pulsing red. There! His target, glowing gold, walking towards him.
He grinned as he readied his blade…
"-You will gain all of our talents-"
He was running from the Florentine guards. How was he supposed to know that they wouldn't take well to his killing of the corrupt captain? Oh well, time to have some fun! Up a wall, grab a windowsill, turn, jump back, grasp a pipe crawl to the roof, RUN!
He loved the look on the ladies' faces when he did his death-defying thing.
"-You will learn what we knew."
He was sitting in the courtyard of Masyaf, listening to and studying the blacksmith's trade. If he had to repair his own equipment he might as well know how it was crafted.
The Old One said that it was forbidden for one who walked the path to know such things but, in his own words: Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted.
That's why he carried poison with him at all times as well.
"My name is Desmond Miles-"
My name is Altair Ibn La-Ahad.
My name Is Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
"-And we are Assassins!"

A white glow could be seen emanating from a little apartment that night. A glow that went unnoticed by the boy's ANBU guards, they were used to such minor things around the orange-clad tyke. That glow signified the rebirth of a forgotton code. The Assassins had returned.
Now, normally the Hokage liked to think of himself as a particularly intelligent shinobi. He had a mastery of most ninjutsu, a talent for taijutsu, a small love affair with genjutsu, and a rudimentary understanding of fuinjutsu. He could set traps, manipulate bureaucracies, turn invisible, he had even figured out Kakashi's trick to eating with a mask on!
So why did he feel that figuring out one twelve-year-old was going to be next to impossible?
The hyperactive barely literate blonde had transformed into… well, Hiruzen couldn't quite place his finger on it. Naruto had acted like his old self around the aged Hokage, but the old man couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. So he had set an ANBU tail on the boy about a year ago . The mission report was… odd.
Mission Objective: Prevent serious harm to and Observe one Uzumaki Naruto
Mission Operative: Codename Itachi
Mission Timeframe: One Hour
Upon exiting the Hokage Tower the subject Uzumaki Naruto quickly entered the general throng outside. The Boy evaded sight for approximately fifteen minutes before visual observation was possible again. During said time, chakra signature tracking techniques were used to track the subject. Note: absolutely no visuals were attainable at this time. The crowd also seemed unaware of his presence.
Once visual confirmation was reestablished Uzumaki was wearing a different outfit. Summary: Orange jumpsuit absent, white hoodie and cargo pants with combat boots. Twenty minutes later he used what appeared to be an incredibly advanced Henge to purchase several foodstuffs at a local shop (see attached details form). Note: this Henge seems to block the chakra signature of user and is unable to be copied by Sharingan.
Ten minutes to home of subject; he deposited the food in cabinets, refrigerator, etc. Ten minutes to discontinued Training Ground 18 where subject was quoted as saying:
"Give the Old Man my regards, Itachi-san."
Target then disappeared. Five minute search, then returned as stated by mission parameters. Note: Target seemed to vanish after entering scrub brush. No traces detected.
Yes, it seemed that Naruto still retained his abilities to evade and detect ANBU, but what was worrisome was this new attitude of flying under the radar. This had needed further investigation.
And so he had sent in the teacher, Iruka Umino of the ANBU, last year who had returned a vast field of nothing. Excellent test scores, and quiet in class. If Naruto hadn't told the "Chunin" a month ago that he would talk to the Hokage if he had been asked, the Old Man would have assumed there was nothing to find.
As it was he needed to get down to work. Again. The paperwork was sentient, he was almost sure of it! That, and the Civilian Council was trying to pass some law to provide personal bodyguards.
Time enough to talk to Naruto next week.

The object of our esteemed Hokage's discomfort over these two years was merrily eating his way through a broiled rabbit and some wild carrots he had gathered the previous night. Obviously both were alive when he found them, but high temperatures such as those found inside his oven tended to change that. In the rabbit's case it had stopped living roughly five seconds after he spied it eating.As he chewed, he thought back. How absurd it seemed that merely two years ago he would have been downing ramen, of all things, like the elixir of life!
"Ah well, I am no longer he. I am now me. And me is not he! What the hell was in this carrot?"
As he inspected his hastily-acquired vegetation he realized that it was not orange or anything close, but rather pale. Almost like, like…
He watched as the Master At Arms pulverized the dry root. The man reduced it a fine powder which was then placed in a fine silk bag. A small amount of water was added and a pale liquid filtered out and into a bucket waiting below, nearly full from previous treatments.
"This," said the Master, "is one of the secrets of our Order. I will slowly heat this mixture until the water is driven off. Then we will have one of our most powerful weapons, little Altair, hemlock powder."
"Oh damn."
Naruto waited for the worst. And waited. Then started to play with his shuriken to pass the time. Apparently he was immune. Damned if he wasn't lucky. Like when Mizuki hadn't noticed Naruto replacing his shampoo last night!
Speaking of the Mizuki, his graduation test was today. That was the whole reason for this impromptu feast.
Naruto smirked. He knew that he could pass this test. Konoha's standards for genin had fallen so low in times of peace that a person who couldn't use chakra could probably pass!
Wait, that Lee kid couldn't use chakra last year could he?
Anyway, the exam would be a snap; a quick demonstration of taijutsu, a little target practice, some written questions, and then the academy ninjutsu.
He would be out in no time.

The Nine Tailed Fox was a mixture of pissed, excited, and amused. He was pissed because his container had unknowingly swallowed a very lethal poison. He was excited because, with a little bodily function hijacking, he could now reproduce the toxins found in hemlock on demand. Useful things are demon's powers.
But what amused him, what was really tickling him pink, was that hemlock had a secondary effect: it reduced chakra control to virtually nil for about six hours.
Oh his container was going to be soooo pissed!

Mizuki was at his house, enjoying a rather pleasant breakfast when a rather odd feeling came over him. It was as though something was both going very, very right, and very, very wrong for him. And now he thought about it, his head was itching…
The sun was shining, the air was clear, and the villagers were either glaring at him or ignoring him. Life was good for Uzumaki Naruto.
He had decided to forego his traditional orange jumpsuit in favor of a much less eye-searing ensemble. A white hooded jacket with exterior scroll holsters, cargo pants with oodles of wire in the pockets, a standard shuriken/kunai holster on each leg, and black combat boots. No open-toed POS sandals for him, no sir! If this getup didn't garner a shock from everyone at the academy, he would shave the Haruno's head. Win-win.
As he munched on an apple he may or may not have pilfered from a fruit stand, he thought about what he should do during the upcoming exam. Should he pass with flying colors and show up The Last Uchiha, or just scrape a pass with the bare minimum of effort? Decisions, decisions…

Deep in the Konoha Academy, within a storage closet off of hall 2A, something hilarious was brewing.
"Muhahahahaha!"
Mizuki was in a rather maniacal mood this morning. He was busy, um, recalibrating a certain set of practice kunai and shuriken. And by recalibrating, he meant completely replacing with unbalanced and flimsy pieces of shit.
"Kukukuku, so the fox brat thinks he can pull one over on me eh? Well I'll show him, this is what you get for messing with my hair!"
Now some were not aware of this but Mizuki was extremely proud of his hair. Some might go so far as to say he was obsessed. So naturally, when a certain whiskered individual dyed his hair, he was angry. Very angry.
And since this little bit of revenge fit into his previous plans, well, that was just a nice bonus.
"Soon my revenge will be complete! Muhahahaha!"

Naruto was sitting at his desk, calmly stowing away a copy of Icha Icha Paradise: The Gold Standard. He would have been reading it for research purposes, but Iruka had just walked in.
"QUIET DOWN YOU KIDS!"
Silence ensued.
"Now, as you all know, you are taking your Genin Tests today. This is a time-honored and-"
Naruto zoned out, already anticipating a good fifteen minute break while Iruka waxed eloquent about the most boring part of most shinobi's careers.
His thoughts and eyes drifted to his classmates, the pale eyed Hyuuga to be precise. A beautiful girl, in Naruto's humble opinion. She was a little shy, but very nice and always helped him out with his chakra control exercises when he "was having trouble."
"Maybe I should ask her out. I wonder if she would like that new sushi restaurant in the north side? I seem to recall that she likes-"
"NARUTO!"
Iruka had noticed the blonde's inattentiveness and had decided to go with the Ultimate teacher's Comboä. Namely throwing an eraser and shouting, missing with the first and gaining attention with the second.
"Sorry Iruka-sensei, what were you saying," Naruto asked innocently, "I wasn't paying attention."
"I was saying, Naruto, that we're going outside to meet Mizuki and begin the testing. You need to stop daydreaming."
Naruto nodded and the rest of the class shuffled to their feet and cued up to leave the classroom for the practice field.

"Okay, we're down to two students on the roster for the target test," Said Iruka, "Uchiha Sasuke, you're next."
Sasuke stepped up to the line and took the proffered set of pointy implements from a curiously pink-headed Mizuki.
There was a blur and then ten kunai sank into their respective bull's-eyes, a breath later and the shuriken followed suit.
"Uchiha Sasuke: Perfect Score."
Mizuki recorded the results and then motioned Naruto over.
Iruka called out, "Last up, Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto took the offered weapons and breathed. He closed his eyes, trying to bring himself to focus.
A single target stood ten yards away from him. Altair breathed, closed his eyes, focused, and-
Naruto's eyes shot open and with a grimace sent all ten weapons soaring towards their targets. Six of the kunai hit, two of which marked a bull's-eye. Naruto frowned, there was no way he could have missed that badly. He cocked his arms back and let fly the shuriken, five of which hit and one hit the center.
Mizuki marked down the score and announced, "Uzumaki Naruto: Pass."

"Final match for the taijutsu portion of the test: Inuzuka Kiba vs. Uzumaki Naruto. You may begin when ready," said Mizuki.
"Hey dobe," said Kiba, "Try not to cry too hard when I mop the floor with ya!"
Naruto opted to settle into an odd stance, almost like one that one uses to shout "Boo!" after hiding in a cupboard.
Kiba snarled and charged headlong toward the blond, fist drawn back for a haymaker of a blow.
He never got the chance to deliver it. Naruto stepped forward and grabbed the dog-boy's face and fist, spun with the punch, and pinned him to the ground.
Iruka called out, "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Alright class you are halfway through the Genin Exam, all that remains are the written portion and the ninjutsu portion. Mizuki is handing out your tests, and when I start the timer you may begin." Iruka eyed the class to ensure compliance.
"Begin!"

"And with that done you are one step closer to being a Genin! Well done all of you for finishing on time. Now Kurosaki Yoshimori if you could follow Mizuki and I we will begin your ninjutsu test. When he returns," Iruka called to the class, "He will tell the next one on the list to go to room 2A. Behave yourselves."
Naruto scoffed at that, he always stayed out of trouble. Whether he deserved it or not. He busied himself by continuing his research into Icha Icha and making notes.
When Sasuke called his name he sedately walked to 2A and opened the door into a mostly empty classroom. Mizuki and Iruka were waiting behind a desk.
"Ah, Naruto, you're the last one today," said Mizuki, "Just a quick demonstration an you're through."
Iruka asked him, "Can you perform the Henge and the Bunshin jutsu for us please?"
Naruto smirked, he had put so many hours into that damned Bunshin jutsu that he could probably do it in his sleep!
He put his hands together, made the ram sign, focused, and…
"Bunshin no Jutsu!"
A large cloud surrounded him, which was odd. He hadn't pulled on nearly enough chakra to produce a smokescreen. When the haze cleared there was a bunshin on either side of Naruto, and they looked like hell. All bent out of shape and pale, there was no way he passed that one.
The clones dispersed. Iruka sighed and put down the failure on his clipboard.
"Okay, how about the Henge jutsu Naruto?"
Once again Naruto performed all of the steps to perfection, and once more he fouled up. He now resembled an extremely hefty version of Iruka, minus the scar. Mizuki had had it by that point and started rolling on the ground laughing. While his partner calmed himself down Iruka said "I'm sorry Naruto, but we can't let you pass with this performance."
Naruto nodded, flabbergasted. How had he messed up like that? He knew that he could do those jutsu, so what had fouled him up?
"So, Iruka-sensei, can I go home now or what?" Asked Naruto.
"Yes, you can go. I'm sorry Naruto."
"Hey Iruka, I'll walk him home. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble, y'know?"
"Is that okay with you Naruto?" Iruka asked, silently hoping so. He would like to see Mizuki's wallet drained for ramen for once.
"Yea, sure, this way Mizuki-sensei." Said Naruto, opening the door.

A little while later, at Ichiraku Ramen Stand, Naruto was telling Mizuki about how it wasn't his fault that his chakra had fouled up and cost him his headband.
Mizuki was getting a little impatient, how could he weasel the forbidden scroll into the conversation?
"Hey Naruto did you eat any breakfast? Maybe you were too hungry to focus?" Mizuki wondered where the hell that had come from.
Naruto, though, gave him a perfect way to steer the conversation. "Yea, I had some broiled meat, but I accidentally ate some hemlock with it. I'm just lucky it didn't kill me!"
"Jackpot!" Thought Mizuki.
"Um, Naruto, you do know that diluted hemlock is what we use to suppress chakra in the field right? That could have messed up your chakra control in any number of ways."
Naruto scowled at his second bowl of ramen. It made sense, in a weird sort of way: he'd been feeling weird all morning, probably from a fluctuating chakra core like his training manual said. "Even if we tell that to Iruka-sensei he won't let me take the test again. He's such a stickler for protocol…"
Mizuki smiled. "Hey, Naruto, what if I told you there was a special kind of makeup test, one that the staff usually uses to let students test out early?"
The bright look on Naruto's face was all the answer he needed.
Naruto giggled as he packed his gear away. Now normally the blonde shinobi wouldn't be caught dead giggling, as giggling was a very good indicator of guilt. However, this was a special occasion and no one was watching. He could tell.
Naruto had raced back to his apartment once he had finished his meal with Mizuki. The white-turned-pink-haired man had explained in detail and with many a map and diagram how to steal a "Test Scroll." This scroll was made to look nigh exactly what the Forbidden Scroll was supposed to look like in order to make the test more realistic. Written inside the scroll were to be a few select jutsu and if Naruto could learn just one after retrieving it, he would automatically become a genin. Naruto knew that this would be his last opportunity to become a Konoha shinobi before being delegated to the reserve corps. He also knew the "test" was a complete and utter sham.
The entire time Mizuki had been in the academy for the past year, even during the whole process of giving Naruto the layout of the Hokage's Tower, he had been emitting a glowing red aura to the blonde's "other eyes." Naruto had first noticed his talent about a year previously. He could sense people's intent through the color of their illumination. Red was hostile, blue was friendly, white was indifferent or unaware, and gold was the target of whatever scheme Naruto happened to be mixed up in at the time.
There were several practical applications for his second sight, chief among them being avoiding ANBU. Naruto had no delusions, if the ANBU had ever truly wanted him caught he would be; no matter what kind of hellish chase he may give them. His eyes allowed him, with a little self manipulation, to see them wherever they happened to be hiding whether it be in the crowd or masquerading as a stone. He couldn't see through objects, but then again being able to glimpse red pursuers in a sea of white bystanders and dark buildings was a boon to any ninja.
Naruto debated with himself as to whether or not to bring a nodachi he had found, then dismissed the idea based on the simple fact that he didn't know how to use it. After using the newfound room in his pack to stuff in a few dozen meters of wire, Naruto began to laugh again. Had Mizuki even shown a modicum of effort to help him over the years, Naruto might have overlooked the hostile glow and trusted the instructor. Evidently no one had been kind enough to educate the traitor in the finer arts of deception.
After assuring himself that nigh on twelve smoke bombs would be more than sufficient for any scenario Naruto pulled his black hood low over his face, strapped his pack to his back, and slowly began to make his way to the Hokage Tower.

It was springtime in Konoha, yet as the sun set an echo of the winter months could be felt. This echo, though, made for pleasantly brisk nights on the streets and the vendors took full advantage of the weekend crowds. Here there were bits of jewelry, there a fast food stand. The night was young and vibrant with the throng.
Nobody noticed the black-clad boy weaving through the groups. He kept his head down and kept moving. Occasionally he would appear to stop and speak to one group or another, then move on. Had anyone known that this was Naruto Uzumaki, they would have suspected some form of mischief in the making. It was common knowledge that the boy rarely came into the more populated portions of town, and whenever he did a prank soon followed.
Not tonight though. Tonight's misbehavior was on another level of magnitude entirely. Naruto halted near a group at the edge of Shaded Square, the small park beside the tower. Naruto let his eyes shift and saw multiple red figures arrayed along the rooftops, flitting by windows, and even in the mulling crowds walking along. Naruto moved, knowing that to be caught staring at the tower for any length of time would bee to invite a squad to question him. As he trekked closer to the tower, seeming to admire the hedges and flowers along the path, he kept a lookout for just one unwatched spot, one crack in the surveillance.
He found it.
Where the curve of the tower met the two-storied building, technically the north side of said tower, there was a lack of patrols and for good reason. That spot was reasonably well lit by a streetlight fifteen meters away. Naruto had his path, now he just needed a bit of time to use it properly.
Naruto blended into a nearby crowd heading down the street, away from the light. The group turned a corner and Naruto joined another group heading the opposite way. This new crowd rounded the corner, completely unaware of the blonde in their midst. About two thirds of the way to the light the leader of the group decided that they should head off towards a nearby eatery and slowly began leading his flock towards the smell of soy and oil. Naruto ditched the group and sat on a bench, waiting for another to provide the cover he needed. He waited next to two elderly folks for only a few minutes before such an opportunity came along.
Naruto took it.
Within a few seconds his latest cover was mere feet away from the lamp. Naruto moved to the head of the pack, and then swiftly ducked near the access panel, slid it off, deftly twisted a wire from his pocket around a bare and an insulated one within the jumble inside, replaced the panel, then rejoined the herd. The blonde figured he had around ten seconds before the twisted wire heated sufficiently to melt the insulation and short out the whole shebang.
Naruto looked around one last time, took a deep breath, and then waited. Three heartbeats later and his little section of street went dark with a loud "Pop!"
Naruto sprinted towards the wall of the two story building, grasping windowsills and drainpipes to make his way up. At one point he had to leap from the building to the tower and back again in order to progress. Eventually though, he found himself hanging off of the balcony of the tower's roof. Naruto lifted himself up just enough to ascertain that there were no guards, then hoisted himself up and crouch-ran to the roof's access door.
Quickly transforming into a nondescript maintenance man, Naruto entered with what seemed to be nothing more than a tool bag and a clipboard. Nodding and smiling to one of the receptionists, he made his way to an old storage room which was part of the previous iteration of the building. The tower had since been redesigned but this room still had an exposed, low-hanging ventilation duct which a now un-transformed Naruto took full advantage of.
The blonde wriggled inside, then began his slow crawl toward the Great Shinobi Library of Konoha. The Great Library was a contribution made by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. It allowed registered shinobi to research any non-clan related techniques Konoha had either developed or stolen that weren't classified as forbidden. To research a forbidden technique, one needed to have permission from the Hokage himself to see the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques, also known as the Scroll of Seals and the Forbidden Scroll. That the scroll was located in the center of the stacks of paper seemed only to increase its mystique.
Naruto lowered himself into the library on the wire he had brought, attached to a few wooden rods with rubber feet to provide the anchor in the vent above. He reached down, clamped his hand around the central dowel of the scroll, and hoisted himself back up into the vents. He just had one last stop to make on his way out…

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed with content. No matter how old one became, no matter how many times one found themselves in a similar situation, it was always one of the most pleasant sensations to have relieved ones bladder after many hours of needing to use the restroom. He would even wager that Itachi Uchiha, cold and ruthless though the boy turned out, appreciated a good wizz. He had left his office about five or six minutes earlier, using the excuse of "stretching his legs" to make his way to the good bathroom on the third floor. Upon his return to his office, the aged Hokage settled into his armchair, reassured himself that no new paperwork had spawned in his absence, and pulled out a little orange book to read.
A sizeable chunk of time passed and Hiruzen had just made it to chapter three, where the young hero had just settled into a nice cozy inn/hot springs owned and operated by a buxom young woman, when something fell out of the middle of the book. The elderly man picked up the scrap of paper, read it, then paled and called for the ANBU. The paper merely said:
Jiji, there's a traitor among the school staff. It's Mizuki. He's meeting me to gain the Forbidden Scroll tonight about two miles west of the north gate. I'll hold him as long as I can. Assemble a squad or two and look for his exfiltration team. -Naruto

Naruto arrived at the rendezvous a full hour before the proper meeting and he had plans to make the most of his time. Rifling through his pack, Naruto quickly extracted several blank scrolls and steel inkpots as well as a few brushes. After arranging his supplies, Naruto pulled the large scroll off of his back and began to copy the techniques in the order they were shown. It was time-consuming and laborious because he copied each instruction verbatim, but it would be worth it to gain even a fraction of the knowledge contained within the scroll.
A half-hour later, Naruto had managed to copy about seven or eight techniques in their entirety. With the time remaining to him, Naruto decided to practice the last of his stolen jutsu: the shadow clones. Fully solid and sentient, they would be a boon in multiplying his effectiveness against the traitor. Naruto packed away his supplies, strapped the scroll to his back, and began running through the handsigns he had only just read. He flared his chakra, and a translucent image of himself manifested out of the chakra cloud which marked his failure. Naruto dropped the jutsu and tried again.

Mizuki arrived at the abandoned shack and waited for the blonde brat to show himself. All of his plans, his machinations, and his cunning had led to this. If he could bring the scroll of seals to his employer there would be rewards and privilege aplenty. Ah, speak of the blond meal ticket, there he was now: collapsed inside of the hut. "Must've burned himself out hard trying to learn from the scroll. What an idiot!" Mizuki thought with a grin.
The pink-haired traitor pulled a kunai from his vest and made his way slowly toward the exhausted blonde.

Naruto watched through nearly-shut eyes as Mizuki crept towards him. The blonde wasn't nearly as tired as he appeared, but he still wanted to avoid a direct confrontation; Mizuki was a chunin for a reason. Now was the time to put his plan into action. He sat up and yawned, startling Mizuki.
"Naruto! I didn't know you were awake." Mizuki discretely, or so he thought, slipped the kunai up his sleeve.
"Hmm? Oh, yea; I'm awake. I just got really tired from practicing is all. So, does this mean that I pass?"
Mizuki smiled. "Yes Naruto, I think it does. No one even knows that you have the scroll: there've been no alarms. You've done very well, now hand over the scroll and we'll go get all of your paperwork done."
Naruto had to hand it to the man, he was an excellent liar. As Naruto reached around his back he discreetly palmed a smoke bomb and then cast it at the ground with a flick of his wrist, enveloping the pair in a thick curtain of white. Naruto could hear Mizuki spluttering and coughing from the unexpected smokescreen and took the opportunity to form a shadow clone to take his place. When the smoke cleared the blonde doppelganger stood across the clearing from the pink-haired traitor, while said traitor was holding a kunai that had been thrown at him. Mizuki scowled. "Oh. So you're not as gullible as you seem, but you really should have taken that opportunity to run, demon brat. You'd have lived a bit longer."
The clone contemplated this for about half of a second, then rushed the traitor: using his right fist as a feint for a left uppercut. Mizuki easily blocked both blows, then stabbed the blonde in the neck with his captured kunai. An expression of shock and pain was briefly visible on the boy's face before he dissipated into a haze of chakra smoke. Mizuki laughed.
"So, even a child can learn something from the forbidden scroll, eh?" Naruto endeavored to stay perfectly still behind his cover; all he had to do was wait until the Hokage's reinforcements arrived.
"Well, even if you did manage to learn something from it-" There was a sound of rushing wind, and suddenly Mizuki was face to face with the hiding blonde. The traitor finished his thought.
"-there is no way for you to escape." The kunai in Mizuki's hand plunged towards Naruto's chest. Naruto seemed to see the blade move both in real time and in slow motion at once: too fast to dodge, not fast enough to be invisible. Naruto closed his eyes for the last time.
Or so he thought.
Barriers inside the boy snapped: his body was flooded with power and his mind filled with a new focus. The blonde's left arm snapped up and deflected Mizuki's own, allowing the boy to take a few steps into the clearing to gain space.
How did he get into the middle of a forest? He couldn't remember a wood that resembled this one anywhere near his home. No matter though: the pink-haired man charged again, swinging his short blade. The boy swung his right arm up and to the side, deflecting the blow once again, and then thrust his left palm towards the man's chest while flicking his fingers. Shock was the only feeling when no crimson blossom unfolded from the man's chest. Instead of collapsing, the pink adversary backhanded his assailant and caused the blonde to bounce across the ground of the clearing, only just managing to stay on his feet.
The blonde quickly glanced at his left side: there was no blade slung under his arm as there should have been! He rolled his shoulders and bounced on his feet, deducing from the sensations sent back that his throwing knives and short blade had either been lost or stolen, along with his armor. He was unarmed against a very formidable opponent in an area he was completely unfamiliar with. It was time to take drastic action.
The man charged again and this time a hand darted out, grasping the man's forearm. With a short chopping motion, the boy had had broken the man's elbow inward and brought the blade closer to himself. With a twist and a flourish the blade found itself taken from it's owner's hand and in the firm grip of it's target. Capitalizing on the man's apparent shock and pain the smaller warrior slipped around him and stabbed at the back of his opponent's knees, causing him to kneel. A wrenching motion had the downed man's uninjured arm folded behind his back and the blade at his throat. The blonde used the opportunity to gain information. He asked where the two were.
The man paused in his struggles and began speaking in an alien tongue. The blonde switched languages, trying English, Turkish, and then the language of the Mongols. None of them seemed to be understandable to the man. The victorious opponent decided that he must've somehow been taken to a foreign land in his sleep, maybe drugged, and so knocked the man out to prevent any escape attempt.
As the man fell Naruto felt a wave of exhaustion ripple through him, bringing him to all fours. He noted that Mizuki was bleeding on the ground next to him, then wondered how that had happened. Another wave ripped through him and Naruto fell to the ground, asleep.

*Drip*
Naruto twitched as a drop of water fell on his cheek. His head was pounding, he was dizzy, a fog filled his mind.
*Drip*
Another minute splash, this time on his nose, making him sneeze as the water entered his nostril. Naruto felt shallow water under his hands. Had he fallen asleep in class and his year mates were pranking him? No, no: the smell was all wrong. The classrooms smelled like new paper and chalk, not dampness and… Metal?
*Drip*
This drop landed on the boy's closed eyelid, prompting him to sit up and wipe it away. As soon as he shifted position, though, a spear of pain drove through his skull. Naruto held his head as the throbbing subsided, wiping his eye clear as he waited. Eventually the pain left, and Naruto blearily opened his eyes.
He was sitting in what appeared to be some sort of abandoned service tunnel or a repurposed cave network. The walls and ceiling were of a dark stone, chisel marks plain to see. Some places were mirror smooth, others were rough to the touch. Pipes ran along the walls and overhead, crossing over and under each other, sometimes diving in and out of the stone. A thin layer of water lay on the floor of the hall, preternaturally still. A faint rush of air could be heard, as though hearing a bellows from a distance.
Naruto slowly stood; relieved when the pain did not manifest, yet confused when he looked down. His motion had not disturbed the water. Naruto shuffled his feet. The water did not move, yet he heard a splashing sound as though it had. His thoughts were disturbed by an ominous voice.
"Come…"
Naruto could almost feel that voice resounding through his bones. With no other real options, he followed the voice. Through winding corridors, past doors of metal and stone, the voice guided him through the labyrinthine passages of the waterlogged caverns. Eventually Naruto came upon a set of heavy metal doors. At least thirteen feet high and easily as wide, the door was unblemished.. It was kept shut by a thick sliding bolt.
"COME."
Naruto jumped, the voice was much louder now. He could hear the metal door rattle on its hinges. Swallowing his trepidation, Naruto unbolted the door and stepped through.
The room on the other side of the door was massive: the walls were easily a quarter-mile apart and probably more, the ceiling looked to be higher than the Hokage's tower. Across from Naruto, though, was the only feature in the massive space. A great cage made up one of the walls; each bar was dark and wide, the only way to discern them from the inky blackness beyond was to seek out the dull shine of the metal. A small patch of white was located near the center though, and Naruto couldn't puzzle out what it was.
He began walking closer; the water swishing and sloshing under his stride, though still no ripples. The rushing air had become more defined since he had entered the room and had become louder as he approached the cage. It sounded like breathing.
Naruto stopped when he could make out the white spot on the bars.
Where on a normal gate or cage there would be a latch, a lock, a pin, or some other sort of fastening mechanism, there was a simple piece of paper with the kanji for "Seal" written on it. Transfixed by the oddity, Naruto stepped closer.
A massive red eye opened behind the seal.
Naruto yelped and jumped back, this time causing ripples to form on the water. Naruto took no note, though the owner of the eye did.
It chuckled. "Are you afraid of me, little one?"
Naruto's knees quaked imperceptibly. Yet more ripples formed.
A titanic set of teeth revealed themselves as the beast grinned. "I see that you are. It is understandable that you would fear me. Still yourself: I cannot harm you. No more than I could harm myself."
Naruto let out a shaky breath, then inhaled. He repeated the exercise thrice more before he was calm. As he settled, more of the being in front of him was revealed. Red fur covered a vulpine snout, long ears swept backwards towards a lithe body and nine shimmering and shifting tails, each as long as the Hokage's Tower and as flexible as the finest wire.
Naruto was dazed by the sheer majesty of the creature; he could not help but to ask: "What are you?"
The fox made a chuffing sound in it's throat. "I have been many things to many people. To some, I am a god. To others, I am a force of nature. A few have known me as a protector and guide. But to your people, to your village, I am known as the Kyubi no Kitsune or else as Kyubi no Yoko. I am the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."
Naruto's mind was reeling. This was the monster that had ravaged Konoha? This was the beast that the Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to kill?
"How-" Naruto's throat went dry. He swallowed and tried again.
"How are you here? We were taught that the Fourth Hokage killed you. Am I dead?"
At this the fox outright laughed! It was a chilling thing: nothing that powerful should be able to produce such a normal sound. "I am afraid that the circumstances of my death have been only slightly exaggerated. The man who fought me nigh on fourteen years ago was mortal. It takes one immortal being to kill another. The most that the ningen could do was to guide the God of Death, the Shinigami, to seal me away. Into you."
The Kyubi turned both eyes on the blonde, studying him. How would a lesser being process the idea that they contained an entity of such might and nobility? How did a human cope with the fact that they had been touched by a god? How would a child deal with the newly revealed truth of their existence as a sacrifice and a safeguard for a village that would gladly see him dead?
By laughing, apparently.
It started as a small chuckle, little more than a snort, then erupted into full blown guffaws as the boy placed his hands on his knees. He steadied, then burst into a new fit of merriment; eventually he collapsed into a sitting position, one leg under the other.
The boy took in a deep shuddering breath while raking his hand back through his golden hair in an effort to calm himself. He locked eyes with the fox with his hand still sifting through the freshly-tousled mass. "So, what do you want?"
The Kyubi blinked. Slowly. "What do you mean?"
Naruto sighed, then leaned back so one of his hands supported some of his weight, gesturing with the other. "I mean what do you desire? Do you want to conquer the world? Do you want a soul to eat? Do you want me to destroy Konoha? What do you want? I'm going to be stuck with you for a while."
Then Naruto grinned. "Unless you know how to pull us apart without killing us."
The Kyubi blinked again. "I want nothing, for I am already dead. As are you."
Naruto spluttered for a moment, disturbing the water under him, then: "Dead? How can we be dead if we're not in the afterlife? I don't know about you, but Konoha isn't exactly my idea of Amaterasu's Palace."
The demon's fur rippled along it's length as it chuckled. "We are dead in the sense that we are no longer what we were. Whatever I was, and whatever you were going to be, is no more. Instead we are as we are."
Naruto's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."
"The Shinigami melded our souls; twined them together in the furnace of his might, then struck them with a blow that forever bound the two. Over time we shall mix and overlap until only one distinct individual remains, stronger than either and gleaming in it's newness. Until then, another could look at us and see the remnants of the two that were."
The blonde was still grappling with the imagery that the fox used to illustrate how he was dead. He tried, and failed, to comprehend several times until the fox gave him an impression of his meaning.
A man gathered red sand from a beach, melted it into metal. He held the cooled mass in a forge, folding the bar and mixing it with the orange ashes of the flame. He polished the metal, smoothing it until it mirrored his face when he looked into its side. Naruto understood.
"So, I am not only myself, but a part of you?"
The fox nodded. "As I am a part of you. This seal was made to merge us slowly, so as to spare the world the shock of a new being, such as what we will become, coming suddenly into existence. Spirits alone can cause a mountain to fall; we will be, and are, far more than they."
Naruto became confused again, an understandable thing when one took his company into account. "Spirits? What are they?"
The fox's eye slimmed. "A lesson for another day. You quicken. Tell no one that we spoke. We shall again later."
With that the room blurred, and Naruto felt himself falling.

The blonde demon container awoke in a familiar office. He was lying on a couch, the room was empty. Portraits of past Hokage adorned the walls, a small library stood in the far corner from the door. Naruto sat up, scanning the rest of the office.
He immediately noticed the aged man sitting behind the large desk just before a wide window. Outside of and below that window lay the skyline of Konoha, lights twinkling in the night as streetlamps illuminated streets and lamps lit homes. Before the window sat an aged man with sun-darkened skin and a pipe with smoke drifting lazily out from under the wide conical hat.
The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi; known to Naruto for most of his life as "Saru-Jiji". Monkey Gramps.
The old man smiled.
"Ah, Naruto. I was wondering when you'd wake up. Would you mind clearing up what happened tonight?"
Naruto sighed as he fell onto his mattress. The Hokage had kept him up until after midnight, very nearly four hours, asking about how Naruto had stolen the scroll, how he had defeated Mizuki, and about the events leading up to Mizuki's approaching Naruto. The details of that last had led to questions about the academy instructors, and then the topic had devolved into a general inquiry about the village's behaviour towards Naruto as a whole.
The Hokage had not been pleased by the boy's answer. Even now, Naruto felt a shudder run up his spine at the mere memory of the sheer contempt and malice that had been in the Hokage's voice.

(Flashback)

"They wouldn't sell you… what, again?"
Naruto shivered as he felt the barely restrained rage in the aged man. With his face shadowed by the wide hat, his eyes were the only thing easily discernable underneath; it truly created a fearsome visage. The nose was in sharp relief, the lower corner of his jaw was lit (made even more severe by the wrinkles visible), and his eyes bored into whatever he chose to settle his gaze upon. Naruto swallowed. "Um, food, mostly. And nice clothes. And… practice weapons… books."
He could feel the old man's rage intensify. A gut feeling told him to mitigate what he had said. "I mean, when I went into stores when I was little, I was loud and obnoxious; remember? I probably raised all kinds of hell for them and disturbed their customers."
Sarutobi's face became less creased with indignation, if only slightly. "Yes; I remember. Did they ever hurt you?"
"Yes," Naruto thought. "No."
At the old man's stare, Naruto amended himself. "Well, a couple of drunks might have thrown stuff at me once or twice. Nothing too bad."
Sarutobi sighed and took a long drag from his pipe. "Well, at least the villagers aren't complete fools. How are you now; as far as being able to buy supplies?"

(End Flashback)

And so Naruto had told the old man how he went shopping in a henge ever since he had learnt it at the academy three years ago; that he went as a female to get discounts from the butchers and the blacksmiths, and as an attractive man when he went to the grocer or the tailors. He almost never bought clothes, always raw cloth to make his own; he had taken a sewing and fashion class as a nondescript woman nigh on a year ago. Shoes were an exception. He had found and tended natural herbs and spices off in the woods around the village, so he didn't need to pay to have good tasting food.
Very nearly all of his secrets, Naruto had laid bare. Save three. His sight, the dreams, and the fox.
Speaking of which…
"How do I communicate with it?" wondered Naruto. "Do I need to chant, or maybe-" A voice interrupted his musings and the boy's train of thought was very nearly scattered and forgotten.
"You need no such base methods to speak with me. I am you; you are me. Do not forget this for it is our greatest strength."
Naruto sat up in his bed, wincing. He had forgotten how loud the fox was. "How so?"
Naruto could almost feel the fox formulating a reply; it astonished him that whatever link they had was growing so quickly!
"Do not appease your ego as thus," the fox chided, "it ill becomes us. You hear my thoughts as they form only when we converse; only when I focus on you."
Naruto thought for a moment. "You still didn't answer the question. Why is our link our greatest strength?"
He could feel the fox's thoughts whirling as it tried to frame its meaning. "It is… Difficult to speak this tongue. I am not used to the words."
Naruto waited patiently for his answer; the moon was rather lovely and he had time. The image of the white crescent seemed to crystallize the errant thoughts of the demon. "We are like wolves: alone strong; together, more so. All things face their death alone, live life essentially alone, but we do not."
An image surfaced in Naruto's mind: several foxes surrounded one of the tree deer that were so abundant in the forest; the deer jumped, seeking to escape through the branches, but was foiled by a cunning fox that had climbed the tree while the deer had been panicking. Naruto's interpretation of the scene was flipped on its head at the demon's next words. "I would have sensed the threat from above for you. You need not only rely on your instinct, you can rely on mine as well."
A sense of lethargy welled up from the blonde's stomach, though not his own. "I tire. Speaking past this seal, it is… draining. I go to sleep now, but remember this: you can trust what I would see."

)*(^)*(

Two days later Naruto was summoned to present himself to the Hokage; the message was delivered by an ANBU with a cat mask. The only reason the boy knew this was because he had caught a glimpse of her on an adjacent roof to his own apartment complex as he picked up the tightly furled scroll on his table. "Huh. She's good. Only smelt her after she left."
After his breakfast stew, Naruto washed the dishes by hand and paused on his way out only to place a kunai in each sleeve of his white jacket. He had no reason as to why that felt so integral to his well-being, but he never left his home without doing so; he had felt almost naked the one time he could remember leaving the blades behind.

)*(^)*(

The sun was muted behind a thick bank of grey clouds; this always changed the way that light fell upon Konohagakure. Everything seemed to be lit from all sides, though more brightly on the eastern faces; but the light was not so bright and harsh as to make one squint. There was a distinct odour of rain on the air and a cool breeze made itself known with touches of chill wind upon a brow or shoulder. If one was in the street markets, one would note that the populace was a tad more quiet than was usual, though not in an uncomfortable way for it allowed one to hear the rustling of leaves along the road or the swishing of cherry blossoms brushing against each other above the walls of the Hyuuga House walls. To Naruto, the world outside the Hokage's panoramic window had seemed perfectly serene and beautiful. So why was the old man frowning?
Sarutobi motioned to Naruto, "Have a seat."
He had indicated a chair which sat opposite the aged ninja. Naruto did as he was bade. "I'm sure you're wondering why you are here, so soon after your little altercation with Mizuki-san."
Naruto nodded. The man looked a bit abashed at himself. "It seems that in all of the excitement and haste to expose the depths of his treachery we, and I mean Iruka and myself, forgot one small detail: you would have passed your exam had Mizuki not interfered, yes?"
Again, Naruto nodded; wondering why this was important. "Ah, there is the problem. When it was thought that you had failed another was promoted in your place: Kurosaki Yoshimori. Genin teams in our village are comprised of three genin and one jonin, we needed to balance the roster. In light of your particular circumstances we could have had Kurosaki-kun repeat the final semester, but…"
Here, the old man looked positively sheepish. "We forgot to make the necessary changes to the listings, and the second portions of the Genin Tests began a few hours ago. He is now officially on Team Seven, which might have been your place. It wouldn't be terribly kind to swap you out now."
Naruto let the news wash over him. He had previously failed the Genin Exam twice due to sabotage, and this third occurrence meant that he couldn't take it again. Most people in his position either remade themselves into samurai, bandits, or often enough became civilians who had a few special tricks up their sleeves.
"Which leaves us with what to do with you;" continued the Hokage, "I would hate to throw away someone who could defeat an opponent several years more experienced and trained, but I cannot show you favouritism and allow you into the academy again. What do you think we should do, eh?"
Naruto thought for but a few moments before a kernel of memory made itself known: the Ninja Reserves! Those who passed the written portions of the Genin Exam but failed the secondary test twice could enlist in the Reserves and continue their training to become chunin. That was where their career usually stopped, but it gave Naruto an idea… "Hokage-Jiji, would it be possible for me to train myself?"
The old man looked perplexed, so Naruto continued: "I'm sure if you gave me access to the Library and allowed me to go on low-level missions, I could become an asset to you in time. Several people do essentially that in the reserves, let me take my own crack at it."
Sarutobi nodded slowly. "It is an… unorthodox idea, but I think it might work."
He rose from his desk and pulled from a drawer in the wall a hitai-ate, a forehead protector. He walked back across the room to Naruto and said: "This was my first headband. Take it and become a ninja of Konoha; under my command and sworn to the well-being of this village."
Naruto took the headband with reverence. The thing looked brand new, the metal shone and the cloth was smooth and unmarred by tears or stretching. He tied it across his brow. The old man spread his arms wide. "And so I welcome you to the family of shadows, that of the ninja!"
"Hehe," laughed the old hokage, "The moment you have awaited for so long has finally arrived. How does it feel?"
Naruto thought for a moment, and an odd scene blurred before his eyes. An old man in black robes, much like the hokage, stood behind a pine desk in a stone-walled study. A large window was behind this master as well; but it was tall rather than wide and it had bands of metal holding smaller, artfully shaped, pieces of glass into shape. The boy looked down at his left arm to admire a bracer which adorned it. He flexed his hand, watching as the scar tissue stretched over the remaining knuckle of his ring finger. "It feels… right. As though I were missing a part of myself and now am not."
The images faded as Sarutobi's voice was heard. "I've never heard it so elegantly put, but many feel as such."
He laughed as Naruto blinked with a confused expression on his face. "Yes, I myself had a similar reaction at the end of my training. Now, on to your privileges and restrictions."
The old man walked back to his desk and began writing out permissions for Naruto to use as he spoke. "You may read any scroll in the Shinobi Library here in the tower; so long as they are marked for genin, and so long as you do not remove them from the premises. You may purchase food from our commissary; as well as maps, basic clothing, and whatever else you may need from our stores. You may select any mission you desire from the mission hall so long as it is a Genin-Level mission constrained within the village. I may increase the difficulty you may undertake as I see fit. Any questions?"
"No, sir."
Sarutobi smiled. "I'll mark training ground eighteen as your designated training ground. You seem to spend enough time there."
Naruto flushed at having been caught in a pattern. "How often am I followed, Jiji?"
The old man grinned and lit his pipe. "Often enough. Now run along; I have paperwork to do."
Naruto nodded and exited the office with the papers the hokage had signed and sealed. As he shut the door he heard an exclamation of: "Requesting bodyguards again! When will those as-"

)*(^)*(

Naruto had immediately turned his permissions papers over to the librarian, the Missions Centre, and the Requisitions offices. Afterward, he had gone back to his apartment and outfitted himself in his ninja garb: light combat boots, black cargo pants, and his white hooded jacket. A shuriken and kunai holster was sewn into the uppermost pockets of either leg of his pants, roughly mid-thigh, and two additional kunai were hidden in his sleeves. He took some of his stored money out from under the floorboards and replaced it with the old man's old Hitai-ate. He placed it reverently next to the goggles someone had left for him on his birthday a few years ago; the first gift he had received from anyone other than the hokage.

)*(^)*(

"You want what mission, again?"
The chunin manning the assignment roster was evidently deaf, or slow. After outfitting himself with a new headband purchased from the requisitions office Naruto had decided to get a mission under his belt. He felt it was best to begin with something easy, and the assignment he chose seemed to be one of the simplest there: find a lost cat named Tora.
"I said that I wanted mission number thirteen. Is there something wrong with that?"
The chunin flicked his gaze to the corners of the room, as though expecting someone to jump out and startle him. "No, it's just that most people wouldn't take this on solo."
Naruto cocked his head, confused. "Well, yes; anyone who's a chunin or jonin have more interesting assignments that village-bound chores, right? Why would they want to do those?"
The man opened his mouth, closed it, then shrugged. He pulled a scroll closer to him and began marking it as 'In Progress.' "Whatever. It's your pain in the ass now."
He handed another scroll over to Naruto. "Get this signed by the owner when you're done and turn it in here so that it can be checked off, and so that we can put the reward in your budget. Got that?"
Naruto nodded as he slipped the scroll into one of his waterproof pockets. As he exited the mission hall he wondered: "How hard could this possibly be?"
Two Hours Later
"Kami help that furry devil when I find it."
Naruto had followed every textbook procedure for tracking: he had located the market in which the target was lat seen, he had sent scouts along the various routes that a cat might have found attractive due to food or other variables, he had even henged into a cat to gain some perspective on his target. Nothing had borne fruit. In desperation Naruto had used his other sight in an attempt to narrow his search. Usually his eyes could identify the path a subject had taken and highlight it with a glowing light. The damn thing had been everywhere. Over fences, under them, on windowsills, in apartment buildings, through stalls in the square. He couldn't even pick out the most recent amongst all of the overlapping trails, and since his sight couldn't detect things that were much more than a half-hour old…
"It must be some sort of ninja cat," thought Naruto, "or else a demon of some kind. There is no way that some dumb animal is this good! If only I could see from…"
A clever idea struck Naruto; he quickly ascended a nearby building by means of a fire escape. The apartment was three stories tall and thus loftier than most of its neighbours. Once he had situated himself on the corner nearest the market he activated his other sight and waited. He didn't need to follow the trails, they were too densely tangled for him to make any sense of them, he just needed to identify the source: the point at which a new trail was being laid out. By means of his altitude, he almost missed it. A glowing dot of golden light was meandering from one food stall to the next. Naruto smiled, then dropped. On his way down the side of the building Naruto reached out several times to grasp a windowsill or a bar, not with enough strength to halt his movement but enough to slow his fall so he would not be injured when he hit the ground. Once there, he began to stalk the elusive furball.
Thirty Minutes Later
Naruto was so far beyond frustrated that he couldn't even muster the energy to formulate sadistic thoughts about what he would do to the tiny beast when he caught it. If it even caught a glimpse of him following the cat would rush around a corner or through a crowd, almost as though it knew.
But Naruto had a plan, oh yes. A sneaky, sneaky plan. At his signal several shadow clones of his would attempt to capture the creature from their hiding places around the marketplace. One enterprising clone had even hidden itself by jumping into a hay cart form the top of a low building just to avoid being spotted.
Naruto pursed his lips. In about three seconds several shoppers and merchants were going to become very upset.
"Two… One!"
Twenty Minutes Later
Naruto was walking away from the mission hall. He was covered head to toe with scratches, welts, and bruises. After his initial surprise assault had failed spectacularly, one pair of clones had somehow managed to headbutt each other in the groin while lunging after the raging feline, he had overloaded the Shadow Clone Jutsu with as much chakra as he could muster. What had followed was what was likely the single most ridiculous chase in which anyone had ever participated: rakes had been stepped on, clothes lines had met throats, and groin-kick-happy mules had gotten involved.
After ten minutes of chase, and five of walking whilst being mauled by claws far too sharp to be natural, Naruto had caught and returned the cat to his overbearing and overweight owner; he had taken great pleasure watching the little devil being squished and manhandled by the gratingly-high-voiced woman. When Naruto had finally returned the scroll to a new handler at the mission hall the reaction had been: "Wow! Only two hours and forty-five minutes! For a first timer, not bad. Your rank,"
And here, the handler turned to examine a listing on the wall. "Is… fifth in speed. Missed out on the top spot by half an hour, better luck next time!"
Naruto stared, incredulously, as the man smiled at him. "Next time?"
He shook his head. "Uh-uh, no way. I don't have a sensei. I'm never taking that again if it comes up."
"If? What do you mean by 'If?' We get this mission every day, sometimes twice!"
Naruto opened his mouth to protest, closed it, then walked away.

A week after the disastrous mission with the cat, Naruto had had a thought. Every time he visited the mission hall there were literally stacks upon stacks of mission scrolls. On the few occasions when the chunin manning the desk needed time to find a particular mission scroll Naruto had perused a few, or several, in the meantime. What he had discovered was that several assignments could be counted upon to be in the piles every day: repair work, deliveries, odd jobs, etc. Occasionally an outlier would make it into the genin-level assignments such as farm labour or getting rid of a wild animal.
When Naruto had asked how all of the missions could be completed in a single day the chunin had snorted. "All of these? Completed? Most of these won't be addressed for maybe a week; we only have about ten genin teams active in Konoha, so unless they all take about four or five missions a day we'll always have that D-Pile over there."
That had been the spark for Naruto's idea: if one could, say, split themselves into a virtually numberless contingent and if that same one were to leave enough missions for the rest of the genin squads… Who would complain?
Naruto had begun to take most of the assignments offered from the D-rank desk. Weeding, gardening, repairs; so long as it wasn't the Tora mission he didn't care. He always left around fifteen scrolls for the other genin teams, and so some days for him were less busy than others, but Naruto figured that at his pace he wouldn't need to worry about money with his current arrangements.
With clones doing most of the menial work Naruto was free to take the more interesting assignments; such as killing a wild hog that was worrying a farmer's wife (Naruto had shared a supper made of said hog with said farmers after the completion of the task), or special deliveries to notable names in the village. In addition to the more interesting workload Naruto found that he had ample time to take full advantage of the shinobi library and so often took 'training days,' days where he himself completed no assignments and instead bettered himself as a ninja, usually focusing on chakra control exercises.
This had gone on for about two weeks before he was called into the Hokage's office again.

)*(^)*(

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?"
The old man looked up from his desk to find Naruto peering in through one of his open windows. Windows which were located nearly one hundred feet in the air. Outside of which were no railings or any real method for preventing oneself from plummeting to one's splattery death. This was, understandably, some cause for alarm. "Aiiieeeeeeee! NARUTO!"
Naruto flinched, causing Hiruzen to yell again. "What in the name of-! Get in here, NOW!"
Naruto quickly clambered through the window and took a seat across from the old man, abashedly rubbing the back of his head. "So, I take it I should use the front door from now on?"
Hiruzen collapsed into his, admittedly very comfortable and lumbar-supporting, chair with an exasperated air. The elderly man pinched the bridge of his nose before taking out his pipe and lighting it. "Alright then. Before we touch on why I summoned you here: why, and more importantly how, were you outside my window?"
Naruto shrugged. "The ANBU you sent to give me the message said that I should get here as soon as possible. I figured that I could practice my chakra control while I did."
While Naruto had been talking the hokage had had time for a few comforting puffs from his pipe. He spoke, and by now his voice had regained its usual gravely nature. "So you've learned wall-walking from the library. What else have you learned?"
Naruto nodded, happiness evident on his face. "Thanks again for letting me use the library. Let's see," Naruto began counting on his fingers, "I've learned a whole slew of D-rank jutsu, mostly camping stuff like a jutsu to light a fire with chakra or one to sink a campsite. One of the better ones that I managed to find was the voice-throwing jutsu."
Hiruzen blinked. "There's a voice-throwing jutsu?"
"Yup. I used it just a few days ago to make a wild boar run headlong into a spike pit. Hmm," Naruto hummed while rubbing his stomach, "pork…"
Hiruzen laughed. "Ha, well I'm glad that you're keeping up with your training as you promised. Now, how about a special mission?"
Naruto calmed, his self-satisfaction replaced with an attentive bearing. The hokage nodded, pleased. "Now, three days ago team seven departed on a standard C-rank body guarding mission for one Shigeru Tazuna. It was expected that all team seven would face would be bandits. However on their second day of travel the team and the client were assaulted by the Oni Kyodai, an infamous pair of nukenin who left Mizugakure. Hatake Kakashi sent word via summons that we should find the duo on the main route to Wave Country tied to a tree, and to ask for backup. Normally I would send another genin squad, but seeing as the other teams are away on missions I needs must send you. Don't worry," laughed the hokage, "you won't be going alone. Kotetsu and Izumo will accompany you to take in the Demon Brothers. Beyond that though, you will journey to Nami no Kuni, the Land of Waves, and find team seven alone. Questions?"
Naruto's brow had become slightly furrowed over the course of the briefing. "Hokage-sama, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it usual to return to the village when it's discovered that a client lied about the nature of a mission?"
The old man nodded. "Hatake-san wrote that he put whether or not to return up to a vote of his team. They unanimously agreed to continue and to help Nami no Kuni further."
Naruto seethed on the inside. The morons on that team might very well get themselves killed over their selfless decision. Sure Naruto may not have been able to be so callous himself, but he definitely knew that they were risking lives for no added benefit.
"I can see that you're troubled. I should tell you, I allowed the team to continue for two reasons." Naruto looked up from his brooding; the hokage had thought this a good idea?
"The first reason is that if Nami no Kuni is freed, and the bridge Tazuna-san is building completed, then new trade routes will open; trade routes that could greatly benefit Konoha and the Land of Fire as a whole. The second is that, though great adversity might await you, I happen to know that you have an army up your sleeve. Oh come now," laughed the Hokage as Naruto's face took on a look of surprise, "did you really believe that I wouldn't hear of your exploits in the Mission Hall? Izuriro was most disturbed when a single genin began outperforming even veteran squads as far as number of missions in a day."
The Hokage continued to laugh at Naruto's now bashful expression. "Here's your mission scroll. Meet Kotetsu and Izumo at the eastern gate in half an hour. And, Naruto?" Naruto paused at the Hokage's door.
"Come back alive."
Naruto nodded once, then left to prepare.

)*(^)*(

"So Naruto, you all set?"
Due to the speed at which three unburdened shinobi could move the trio had made good time to the site where team seven had left the nukenin brothers. After the chunin had prepped the two hostile but dehydrated shinobi for travel, Kotetsu had asked the question.
Naruto nodded. "I should be alright. The worst thing that'll happen is that I'll get lost."
One of the demon brothers laughed. "No," he coughed, "the worst that can happen is that you won't."
The man let out a few wheezing laughs before passing out. Kotetsu shook his head. "I swear, these enemy nin get dumber and dumber every time I see them."
Izumo looked sideways at his partner, disbelieving. "You? See an enemy nin? We guard the west gate all day long; we have for two years! We're lucky if we see our own nin!"
Kotestu turned around primly with his arms crossed. "So far as you know; who's to say I haven't been taking the odd mission on the side?"
"Oh, you are so full of-!"
Naruto laughed long and hard as he walked away from the two, waving over his shoulder as he did so.

)*(^)*(

Naruto was getting very, very tired of mist. From what he had been told his destination was a mid-sized village near the bridge site, not even an hour's walking distance between the two for a civilian. After Naruto had made landfall on the island which made up the entirety of Nami no Kuni, he had gotten good and lost in a forest. A forest! "I live in a forest, for Kami's sake! This should be the last place I'm able to lose my bearings!"
Naruto knew he couldn't be far behind team seven, maybe an hour at most; they had had to slow their travel to accommodate Tazuna. Naruto calmed himself, stilled. Getting agitated wouldn't help him. Minutes passed and, ever so faintly, he heard the clanging of metal. "A blacksmith! That means that the town is nearby!"
Naruto began to run through the forest with new vigour in his step, but slowed as he realised that the clanging he heard was less like a hammer and anvil and more akin to crossing blades. Cautiously, Naruto pushed his head through a line of bushes which turned out to border a rather large lake. Duelling out on the lake though…
Duelling out on the lake were none other than Kakashi no Sharingan and Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist.

The two ninja watched each other warily from their respective positions on the lake, one with a sword, the other a kunai. A very temporary and unplanned ceasefire had settled upon them; a pause in their clash that both men were unwilling to have drop their guard. The swordsman let loose a bark of derisive laughter. "Ha! The only reason you're alive, Hatake, is that the duck-butt brat over there got lucky. If his teammate hadn't accidentally deflected that kunai, you'd be fish food."
Zabuza's statement wasn't too far from truth: until just a few moments ago he had had the white-haired nin at his mercy within a water imprisonment jutsu. Zabuza had taken too long to savour his impending victory, though: the two male genin on the shore had begun launching kunai and shuriken at the sword-wielder in an attempt to force him to release their teacher. What Zabuza hadn't seen though was that the kunai that had done the deflecting hadn't come from the boys, but from a dense cluster of bushes just to their right.
"Hn, yep. They'll surprise you if you're not on your toes, that's for sure." Kakashi agreed. "I'd say that I was in a very bad way there. Good thing luck decided to let me live, eh?"
Kakashi chuckled a bit, causing ripples to form underneath his feet, before his voice became a little deeper; a little more foreboding. "But now, I'm afraid it's over for you; my eye has seen your fate."
Zabuza tensed as Kakashi slowly reached up to lift his headband; revealing a menacing red eye with three tomoe slowly rotating around a pitch-black, oversized pupil. Kakashi's visage became cold as he brought his hands together, palm to palm, before his chest. "I have seen your future: it ends with ME!"
Zabuza's hands flew together, weaving a complex seal sequence in an attempt to counter the Sharingan-user's… Suiryuudan? The Konoha-nin was using the exact technique that Zabuza was! Before Zabuza could process the information properly he heard "Suiton: Suiryuudan."
Zabuza's hands stopped their motions mid-seal. Kakashi's head was bowed, his face in shadow and his hands holding the final seal: bird. Water churned behind the white-haired man, and an immense column of water rose into the air. As thick as the length of two men the mass of liquid coiled like a serpent, then struck; as fast as a bird in flight. Zabuza had only begun to draw up his only defensive technique when he was carried bodily by the surging mass and slammed into a tree on the edge of the lake with bone-cracking force. The mist-nin stirred groggily; water that had sprayed in all directions began to either pool or run back to the lake in thousands of tiny rivulets. The Konoha jonin was walking toward the downed man across the water; his red eye still spinning slowly in its socket.
"Your eye," gasped Zabuza, "can you really see the future?"
The soon-to-be executioner had reached the shoreline. "I see that you will die in this land. Goodbye, Zabuza." Kakashi had just begun to raise a kunai when he heard a faint whistling sound. Tilting his head to the left, he was stunned to see three senbon embed themselves in the other man's neck. Zabuza's eyes widened, then he slumped to the side. Kakashi turned to see a white-masked individual standing twenty feet away.
"An excellent throw, Hunter-san."
The masked nin nodded, flashed to the downed body, then disappeared with it. Kakashi walked back to his squad, a smile evident in his eyes. The boy with the brown hair spoke first. "Sensei that was awesome! How did you- hey, are you hurt?"
Kakashi had stumbled, then collapsed on the lakeshore. Before his students or the old man they were protecting could move to aid him, a stranger in a white hood burst out of the canopy of a tree and appeared to check the man's vitals. The three genin prepared themselves to fight once more.

Naruto rose and turned to his former classmates. He smiled. "No worries guys, he's alright."
His grin grew wider as he saw Sakura's jaw hang in surprise. He decided to be cheeky. "What, did I miss something?"

နာရုတို ပံုၿပင္ကုိ အဂၤလိပ္ ဘာသာၿပန္ ဆုိဒ္မွ ၾကိဳဆိုပါတယ္.. ^_^

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Naruto and (NiNjaCreed Chapter 1)

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