Caged

Four days after that particular meeting had Naruto walking out of the Hokage Tower, his gloved hand tracing circles around the shape of the black seal at the back of his neck. The seal itself was not original, practically an imitation of the Yin and Yang symbol. However, what it did to the person was original; being that if Naruto manages to screw up badly enough that it has to be activated… Well, the former Nukenin would be left lying on the ground screaming insanely as he scratched and cut at the dried ink.

A good thing that did come out from this whole escapade were two things: The first was that as soon as they arrived in the Hidden Mist, he was going to get his own oversized war sword. The second was the Chuunin Vest he was already wearing over his usual gear as its hidden compartments were much more versatile then the make-shift ones of his old clothing. Like all the other Hidden Villages, the Mist Chuunin Vest was also worn by the majority of Jounins, but not only for the extra pockets, but protection as well. Whilst the vests of Konoha would only defend against blunt and bludgeoning attacks, a rarity among ninja, the Mist was the only one to include light steel plates sewed on the inside of each vest. It may be a slight bit more encumbering, but it was useful when dealing with large masses of shuriken. The Mist also happened to be the only Hidden Village with the resources in metal for this kind of creation, given that only they and the Cloud lived on top of metal mines. Given that the Cloud specialise in lightning Jutsu, it's obvious why they haven't got any armoured vests. However, the light plating would only defend against light weaponry, such as shuriken as Mist nins wouldn't want it to be too encumbering that they have a hard time moving.

Moving his hand away from his neck, he tugged at the collar of the vest, frowning slightly. There was also one minor thing that he considered bad and that was the loss of both his own sword and pilfered katana. The sword he had, no matter that he had outgrown it, was destroyed when a Konoha nin shooting off several katon techniques accidentally blew up his room at Ichiraku's when he missed his target. The katana? Well, he was not allowed to keep it due to it being a family heirloom of the dead Mist shinobi. A shame, it was a good blade.

He sighed, and turned to head towards the village centre, where he could purchase shinobi equipment openly. As he took his fifth step, he noted the presence of three people standing behind him. He turning around, he acknowledged the presence of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru.

"Well, what brings you three to come seeking me out?"

Ino glared at him furiously, "We want answers, Uzumaki-san."

He sighed, he had been expecting the regulars of Ichiraku to come looking for him, and he just didn't expect them to be these three, "Fine, then. Follow me to Training Ground Six, its more private there."

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"Well, how to start, how to start…", mumbled Naruto.

"You can start by telling us why you lied to us." Ino snapped.

He raised an eyebrow, "I expected you to figure that part out with ease, a Missing nin within Konoha's walls, surrounded by Jounin and Chuunin with pretty much every Jounin more capable as a fighter. What do you think?"

Ino flushed and opened her mouth for spiteful retort but was interrupted by the shadow-user, "Hmm, well you could tell us why you chose Konoha in the first place."

"I didn't. When I left my little hermitage I had the skills of the illiterate when it comes to the landscape, so I planned to follow the first road I find. Team 7 just happened to come upon me as I was on the road."

"So why'd you stay here?"

"Two reasons; first to see what kind of tricks I could pick up in Konohagakure, and second, to find somewhere with human contact that I could live at."

"So basically you'd move onto like the Cloud or Sand once you learnt all you could?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

"Did you even have a goal set out when you left?", asked Ino.

"Not really. I was hoping to get adopted by some or another Village, I just didn't expect Kirigakure to take me back in."

"Oh."

An awkward silence befell the four people. Not the Chouji had said anything anyway. This silence was once again broken by the Yamanaka.

"So what happens to you now?"

"Well, I've been reinstated as a Mist nin, as shown by the vest I'm currently wearing."

"As a Chuunin."

"Well… Yeah. I kinda deserved it considering I pulled a Jounin level technique off."

"Really? What kind?"

"Confidential. Though I'm pretty sure Hatake would know."

"Why the dislike for Kakashi-sempai?"

"Let's just say some things can't be forgiven shall we?"

Turning the subject back to the original, Ino continued, "So you're just going to go and leave Konoha back to Kiri?"

"Yeah."

Before another moment of silence fell upon them, Ino smiled, "Awkward silences like this conversation doesn't it?"

Naruto chuckled lightly, "Yeah."

"So, want to spar?"

"I got nothin' against it."

"Good. I want to see exactly how well you Mist nins fight if Kirigakure and Konohagakure are going to be allies."

In the background, Chouji continued to munch happily on his chips.

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Naruto brushed the sweat from his eyes before dropping to a crouch and making a short thrust with his temporary sword.

Currently, he was sparring with the sadistic bastard known as Nukiuchi Taiki, with the blonde using one of six swords owned by his opponent. Each attempt to cause even a glancing hit was commented on with contempt. Each try for something original was countered with ridiculous ease and this left Naruto more then a little pissed off.

After a teary farewell from both the ownerss from Ichiraku, the Old Man and Ayame, he was given a farewell group hug from Ino's team, in contrast to where he simply said 'bye' to the other teams he wasn't so close to. After that, they were on the road for seven days, moving at a casual speed rather then ninja tree jumping the whole way. Every night he and some member of the Mizukage's group would spar, all resulting in the former Nukenin's defeat. However, the fact that a runner had been sent to Kirigakure with all the measurements from Naruto's height to the width of his hands to inform the blacksmiths that a custom zanbatou was needed to be smithed kept the youngest member of the caravan warm in the cold nights.

However, at the moment he was once again taking a beating from Taiki. After a particularly irritating blade lock where the older and more experienced swordsman shoved Naruto back several feet, said blonde came back with a full horizontal swing with all his momentum and bodyweight behind it, intent to split the Jounin in half from waist height. In a brutish counter, Taiki took one step back, spinning around while drawing his own sword back and as he spun the full 360, brought his sword down on Naruto's. Hard. Naruto grunted as he conceded defeat, the blade he was using imbedded in the earth with Taiki's one underneath his chin. He never stood a chance.

"Stupid boy. Never use full body swings unless your opponent is off balance enough that it even has a chance of connecting. That foolish trick of yours allowed me to think of a dozen and a half counters, most of which would have been lethal and you'd be dead if we really were trying to kill each other.", snarled the Jounin as he sat on the camp bench to wipe the grime off his sword.

"Bah, if we were trying to kill each other, I'd have killed you sixty two times in those ten minutes." , he added as if in an after-thought.

Naruto grunted, holding his hands together to stop the shaking off that jarring disarming technique, "Asshole."

"Cretin.", returned the Jounin.

"Jackarse."

"Failure."

These insults continued for a while Naruto moved away where he thought about the duels they had already had. As shown by the skill displayed by these swordsmen, he was most likely the weakest in the group, so he knew two things.

First, he had to grow in skill and power, to match these people surrounding him. Second, he had to find out why he was given all this special treatment, after all, had Gozu and Meizu been successfully given to the Mizukage, they'd be a right mess. Literally.

He wondered if this treatment had anything to do with the rather large tattoo covering his stomach.

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Finally, the party of shinobi arrived at the Hidden Mist, with nothing exciting happening in between and Naruto beaten up on a daily basis. The place was fairly familiar to what Naruto remembered, with only a few changes here and there. Like all Hidden Villages, it was fairly impressive. Not to the point of matching Konoha but still something that would stay to the memory for first timers.

The city was shaped oddly, the majority of the buildings wrapped up by an enormous wall surrounding it in an hexagon shape. A large river ran through the Hidden Village, with several bridges for its crossing. For the Village, there were enormous steel gates on the east, west and south. However, on the north, it wasn't a walled end, instead the walls expanded to accommodate a road leading in that direction up a hill. At the top of the hill was an enormous Tower which just happened to be the home of the Mizukage. The areas leading up to the Kage Tower were all training fields, and if you had been on the walls at that moment, you would have seen the explosions caused by the explosive notes tossed around and the occasional jutsu.

However, while Konoha's walls were solid concrete, Kiri's walls were wooden, reinforced to protect against physical attacks and both water and fire resistant though, it was still wooden. The majority of the buildings were made of wood as well, only with the few made of concrete and/or brick being few and far in between. It was strange how that the Mist lived on top of a series of metal mines, they remained the poorest of the most powerful Shinobi Nations. Though whilst they were poor, its far from likely that they would be easy to defeat, with the broken islands surrounded the Hidden Village, each sect of land housed a much smaller Village, home to ninja who would immediately report attacks to the main house. Most likely the place was chosen for the Village to be built because of the defensive land.

Naruto was brought out from these musings as the great steel door slowly shuddered open, the caravan entering without losing a beat. He thought it a bit odd, with a semi-large amount of activity from the civilians in comparison to the years back when he lived here with only one or two walking the streets, the rest being locked up in their homes in fear of the mad Mizukage known as Fujiwara. He expected that the group would immediately head towards the Tower, but it turns out that grabbing a sword for the blonde was more important. The blacksmiths area was distinctive, due to the large amount of smoke being puffed out of the enormous chimneys. The Blacksmith district was positively buzzing with activity, with men dragging large bars of metal around, hammering to shape the steel and generally work the steel shapers do.

Out of the seven people in the Mizukage's party, excluding Naruto, four had already left in their own directions, to greet wives and children or whatever they usually do after a mission. Naruto was guided to one of the shops positively brimming with blades.

Shimazu grunted, "This is your stop Uzumaki. Grab your sword and head to the Mizukage Tower and we'll be there waiting for you. I'm sure you know where it is."

Naruto nodded distractedly and entered the shop with a smile etching his face..

When he pulled open the thick curtain covering the arch of the doorway, he was immediately assaulted by heat, smoke and plenty of moisture. The hiss of steam exploded out near him as a shaped blade was being speed cooled and he dimly heard the shouts of a burly man to get out of the way. Said burly man was wearing a thick brown apron over his bare torso, brown civilian boots, grey thick and baggy pants with mitten like gloves as he drained the water away. Reaching into the concrete box where the water had drained from, he pulled out a straight long sword, which he unceremoniously tossed one of many wooden tables.

"The fuck do you get off coming in without ringing the bell, boy? You think your ninja skills would save you from getting a face full of super heated air?", snarled the old man, his grey beard bristling with rage.

"Do you know what could have happened to you if you had stepped one more step forward, boy!?"

"Uhh…"

"You'd probably be blinded, with you screaming in pain from the shredded and melted skin at best! At worst, the heat woulda already reached your brain and fried it!"

"I don't –"

"Fool boy! What do you think those seals around the cooler do? I thought every parent raised their brats up to beware the Blacksmith district, but apparently they have not!"

"But, I'm –"

"Well? What have you got to say for yourself?"

"Ahm… I was guided here to pick up a swor –"

"Ahh! You're that rich brat coming in from Konoha, the most pussyfaced of all the asscracks they call 'Hidden Villages'. More like Hidden Fuckwitry given the quality of the blades I've seen made there."

He removed his mits, using the rather large hands to massage his bald scalp before heading towards the back of the shop, gesturing for Naruto to follow. They stopped by a large cabinet-like cupboard, which the smith opened with a yank. Inside, propped up against the back of the cabinet were two katanas, a broadsword and a zanbatou. Grabbing the oversized sword, he easily hoisted it out to which he drove the hilt into Naruto's hands.

"You tell that fag of a Kage that he owes me double considering the materials I needed to build that sword. If he doesn't pay, I ain't ever making him his prized chakra blades again."

He paused at Naruto's hopeful expression before snapping at him, "You're a bloody Chuunin boy, don't think just cause you got some special attention, you'd get your dainty little pissface hands on one of those prizes, much less that blade in your hands being one of them! Now get the fuck outta my shop before I show you what a former Jounin can do to whelps like you!"

The blonde hurriedly exited the shop, assisted in speed by more snarling coming from the Blacksmith before stopping outside to examine the blade. At a mere glance, he could tell the blade was made by an expert in his craft. Its length was 5"6, barely leaving an inch in height between Naruto and the sword. Its width was similar to that of Zabuza's zanbatou, but that was where the similarities ended. The first difference was that the sword was double edged, both sides being hammered to a point instead of converging to a point like what most Mist nin swords are like. The flat of the blade had a rectangular gap, about an inch wide and running near the whole width of the sword. The point of the sword however wasn't a typical point either, rather it was curved to fan out in width in comparison to the rest of the blade before ending in an axe like point. Like traditional zanbatou's, the blade had no crossguard, only a long and sturdy handle, wrapped in dark red cloth. Naruto took one good look at the blade, before finding his soul mate.

Spending several minutes just admiring the blacksmith Jounin's handiwork, he only realised where he was again when one of the smithy apprentices jostled into him, where he took in his surroundings and headed towards the Mizukage Tower.

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After winding through the streets of Kirigakure with very little fanfare, other then a nod from a half-way drunk Chuunin, Naruto arrived at the miniature fortress that is the Kage Tower. The tower itself was surrounded by a fairly high stone wall, with its own moat to boot. Naruto did not remember these installations the last time he was here, but given that at the time, it was in the middle of a civil war, more defences for the Kage Tower seemed prudent.

Laying across the boat was a nailed down wooden bridge, which led to rather large reinforced double doors. As Naruto made his way across the bridge, he thought that his footsteps seemed abnormally loud. These thoughts were rudely interrupted by the loud creaking of the double doors opening which reminded the teen of the outer gate. The sight that greeted him was mostly not unexpected, a cobbled pathway leading in a straight line directly to the Kage Tower but also meeting ay a crossroad exactly in the centre which headed to identical buildings on either side of the Tower. The Porter, a giant of a man at 7"9", dressed in nothing but a pair pants and his forehead-protector hanging off his belt gave a small wave before sitting back down on his bench and pulling out an orange book.

Naruto shook his head, being exposed to Hatake Kakshi enough to know exactly what book that was about. Porn masquerading as literature, written by Jiraiya, less commonly known as a member of the former Legendary Three and Sannin. Shrugging, he took a few steps towards the tower when an ANBU member appeared in a miniature cloud of dust.

"Uzumaki-san, I have been instructed to guide you to Yondaime-sama."

Cocking his head to the side, Naruto nodded, "Lead the way."

It turns out that the ANBU Mist member was largely unnecessary, as even though the Tower's layout was different from what the blonde remembered, the Kage's Office was typically at the top of the building which only required the two nins to climb about a dozen floors on foot. As soon as they had reached a fairly plain wooden door, the Mist-nin bowed to Naruto, "We are here." With that, he faded into the shadows and disappeared.

Naruto frowned.

I so need to learn how to do that.

He opened the door.

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"Mizukage-sama, are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Quite sure, Atsutane-san. We managed to wrestle Naruto away from old Sarutobi and you don't want to release his full potential? I am disappointed in you, old friend."

The older man grunted, his grey eyes steadily watching the Kage of the Mist, "Its not that, Mizukage-sama, but your seal is fresh, and for all you know, the sudden influx of demonic chakra would destroy the seal, letting the boy do as he pleased with a relatively unlimited supply of chakra."

"You worry too much, the seal was made by both Sarutobi and myself. Even if Sarutobi is a jack-of-all-trades and not a seal master, Jiraiya showed up to overlook it. He seemed fairly confidant that it would hold."

"But you never mentioned that you planned to unlock the second layer of seals keeping the Kyuubi at bay."

"The seal will hold, Atsutane. Do not worry."

The former ANBU Captain and current member of the Seven sighed, releasing a nostril full of smoke before scrubbing the cigar in the dish, "I hope so, my friend. I am not keen on having to face a Kyuubi enhanced shinobi, if your battle with the weakest demon was any indication."

The Kage waved his hand dismissively, "Naruto currently willingly supports us. Unless we start sending nins to kill him, I don't believe he would turn on us, even if the seal broke."

Shimazu Taiki chose this moment to speak, "Even if he should turn on us, he would be a threat similar to that of an A-class nin only at his best. That Gaara kid had years of experience with the Tanuki, and blondy has had about 2 years before the extra seal was placed on and the only push he's had from the demon is strengthened chakra coils, if his Suiryuudan was any indication."

Raiden nodded in agreement, "As well as this, Jiraiya-sama has informed us of the presence of an organisation known as the Akatsuki which covets the Jinchuuriki's tenants. Given that the organisation is solely made up of S-Class criminals, with Kisame in their collection as well; the boy will need all the help they can get if they run into each other."

The Mizukage slapped a hand down on the oak desk, the sound reverberating around the hexagonal office, "Then we are agreed. The boy needs to have the second layer of suppression seals removed."

Said Mist Shadow now leaned back against the heavily cushioned chair, "Now, we have the question of who would train Naruto, and before you speak Taiki; you are already his guardian, I need you on the more dangerous missions and your sword form would not be very fitting for the boy, so I ruled you out."

The Mist Jounin lowered his raised hand and nodded in acceptance. Taiki understood that even though he was ranked as a Jounin in combat capabilities, he was one of the weakest; his skill based on subtlety and spying, a trait which the Mist Kage valued highly as it won the civil war in his rise for them. After all, senile Fujiwara was drugged before the attack on the Tower, and all because of his trust in Shimazu Taiki. These had earned him a promotion into the Black Ops ANBU, which he had recently retired from.

"Personally, I cannot take an apprentice due to the fact that my time will be filled with the war against the Sound, so I'd like a member of the Seven to take him in."

Atsutane tilted his head to the side with a raised eyebrow, "If you wanted one of us to do it, why not have have Shigematsu-sama do it?"

Takumi's eyes slid to Atsutane, "Same reason why I don't have Taiki-san training him. As the leader of the Seven, he will have his hands full on the most dangerous missions as well as the fact that his Tsuin-Ken techniques would be of any use to a Zanbatou wielder."

Taiki grunted, "Then have Hisae train him, she uses a Zanbatou, is a current member of the Seven and was engaged to Zabuza at one point. Set, point and match. Perfect for blondy."

"Only problem is that she's out on a mission. That and her mentality towards men isn't exactly healthy."

Raiden chuckled, "I can testify to that."

"Then we wait for her to get back to train the kid. We teach him basics that he's glossed over and such in the meantime, also; her violent attitude towards the boy wouldn't be too much of a problem as she won't kill him and any wounds she does cause for him will be healed by the Kitsune as soon as it is unsealed."

"Capital idea. So its agreed that Naruto will be trained by Hamada Hisae?"

"Hai."

"Hai."

"Hai."

"Well, that's that problem out of the way. Naruto will be arriving soon and we shall have to explain a fair bit of his future, in detail, to him."

With perfect timing, a Mist ANBU member appeared inside Takumi's office, "Naruto-san is waiting for you, Mizukage-sama."

"Couldn't have planned it better myself. Send him in, ANBU-san."

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

Kawazoe Taiki smiled beneath his blue Kage hat.

The week couldn't get any better if it tried.

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Naruto's gloved hand released the knob as the wooden door swung open. Inside, behind an ornate desk was the Mizukage himself and surrounding him were two members of his retinue, being Taiki and Raiden. A fourth figure sat on the couch in a half slant, a large curved sword propped up next to him. From first glance, he was obviously a ninja given he wore his hitae-ate in its traditional position and bore the vests that most Mist nins at Chuunin and higher wear. However, if you looked closely at his sword, you'd notice the seals marking along the entire length of the blade, giving it a faint glow. Few ninja would fit the description of wielding a blade that is obviously a zanbatou tenken and as such, he was most likely one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist; deserving of respect.

As he had walked in on four ninja that were all at Jounin level and higher, he knew that it was a meeting. Naruto frowned at this as he believed that it would be himself that the Mist leaders were speaking about and it wouldn't be too great as news. He sighed.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama?"

"Ahh, Naruto, we were just speaking of you and your future within our village."

"I figured."

"Good, good. Nice to know its not empty air between those shoulders of yours."

At this, the Kage took a deep breath, "Naruto, there is one thing you must know about your past."

Naruto remained silent, his eyes narrowing on the Kage.

"Contrary to what you believe, you were not born to be a Mist shinobi, rather, you were born to be a Leaf shinobi."

Naruo raised an eyebrow, "So I was born in Konoha?"

"Indeed, boy. This may come as a shock to you, but what I'm about to tell you has a far larger impact on what you believe currently, then just that you were supposed to be in Konoha. You are a Jinchuuriki."

Naruto stared at the Kage, his knees buckling as Taiki kicked a chair behind Naruto, cause the boy to slump down on it like a ragdoll.

He looked up, "So… You're telling me that I got one of the tailed Makai inside me?"

Takumi watched him with a steady gaze, "Yes, boy. And not just any of the Makai, but the greatest of them all. The Kyuubi no Kitsune."

What little will that kept the blonde alert disappeared, leaving him in shock. His blue eyes slightly vacant, he continued to stare aimlessly behind the Mizukage.

After a minute of his pointless staring, Taiki snapped his fingers in front of his face.

Naruto jumped.

"I know this is a lot for you to take in, but what Mizukage-sama says is all truth. So any denials you were about to make will be useless."

Naruto faced the man that spoke, the man being Hachirobei Atsutane.

'But… but I've never had any influence from the Kyuubi? How is this possible? The Jinchuuriki from Suna was half insane from the effects of the Tabuki alone. How did I survive unscathed?"

The Mist Shadow spoke again, "Simple. You had a complete seal which was designed to allow the Kyuubi to only allow the slightest of influence over you, namely your chakra coils. Had you not be moved to the Mist as a child, they would most likely match that of a Jounin by now."

"Wait a minute? Why did they stop growing when I moved to the Mist?"

"Another simple answer. The Sandaime Mizukage. Unlike Sarutobi and myself; who have complete control over you via the seal…"

Naruto winced at this.

"… Fujiwara had no way to guarantee loyalty on your part, so, until he could completely put you under his thumb, he had a second suppression seal placed on you, removing any and all influence the Kyuubi may have. After all, he wouldn't want a Jinchuuriki to turn on him."

Naruto's open mouth clicked shut, a frown returning to his face as he thought about the implications, "So what happens now?"

"Now? We drag Fujiwara out of prison, make him unseal his seal, get you used to Kyuubi's chakra in your system again and then we lock him back up. After that, you get to meet your new sensei, whome I think you would enjoy learning from."

"And you decided all this without consulting me? This is my future you're –"

"Silence. You are a Mist nin and with the upcoming war we need all the help we can get. Your morality and/or self-will means nothing in the long run as this war is not only against the Sound as you well know. It is also against the Akatsuki, whome is a threat equal to that of the entire Sound Village, if not greater."

Naruto grimaced as he thought of the whine he had just made. After a moment, he spoke again, "So, what exactly are the Akatsuki?"

Atsutane spoke again, interrupting the Mizukage, "The Akatsuki are essentially demon/demon-vessel collectors bent on world domination using the power of the Makai. They number nine in all, one for each demon."

With a raised eyebrow, Naruto questioned this, "If they are only nine people, how do they make such a powerful threat?"

"Let me finish, boy. The Akatsuki may lack numbers, but they more then make up for this with quality, as all their members are reputedly S-Class criminals, including one of our former members, Hoshigake Kisame, whose form you are masquerading around with."

"So, we're basically up against a whole Shinobi Village, and ten S-Class nins if we count the Sound leader?"

"That sums it up. Yes."

Naruto's eye twitched, "Sounds fun."

"Indeed."

An awkward silence followed, which was interrupted by the Mizukage, "Given you now know the details, you are barely a B-Class ninja yourself, you must train hard and fast once we have unlocked the Kyuubi to be able to face your own threats. You will have no rest until the Akatsuki lies in tatters and Orochimaru, leader of the Sound Village, lies dead."

"Yeah. As I said, real fun." The boy blinked glanced back at the Mizukage, "You said something about me getting a new sensei? Who is he?'

The Mizukage smiled, "She. And her name is Hamada Hisae, a member of the Seven, and formerly engaged to your first sensei, Zabuza."

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Hisae smiled coldly as she stayed crouch on the treebranch. If a person saw her, they'd notice she was wearing a grey tank top with combat camouflage pants as well as combat boots instead of the usual shinobi sandals. Over these, she wore a trenchcoat which trailed a ways off the branch she was stationed at, and on her back was a massive blade, most well known as a zanbatou which she was well known in the bingo book for using.

Behind her, near her position were a pair of Mist ANBU who acted as her backup, both bearing traditional katanas rather then the oversized blades. Hisae brushed a thumb across her forehead-protector which was strapped at her right upper arm, before her gaze focused on the small mansion below.

The mansion was the home of Baisotei Amane, a retired Stone Nin who has been everything ranging from foolish thug to a brutal, criminal businessman. Strangely enough, the contract for his death came from Iwagakure, as if someone did not want him to be outside their influence. Given that the retired ninja was pretty much was imitating an Orochimaru, gathering stray nins for a whole new Village, this seemed prudent.

As Hisae watched, out of all the ninja in the area, it was Baisotei himself who was the biggest threat as an A-Class ninja, and former Tokubetsu Jounin. Even though the man was retired, he continued to wear his Iwa Chuunin/Jounin Vest which showed that he remained alert for battle. In his compound were now twenty or so shinobi, the largest threat amongst them was at Chuunin level and from his attire, he was a former Leaf nin.

Hisae only snorted.

This would be a piece of cake. Not even worth my time.

Raising an arm, her index finger tilted forward. The two ninja behind her nodded and disappeared with the use of the shunshin, disturbing almost nothing in their movement. She waited.

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Mizuki was not having a good week. He had always coveted power, power that Orochimaru-sama could provide, and as such, he followed his instructions to steal the scroll. As he had been promoted to ANBU for his part in the battle over Konoha, he easily drugged the ANBU members guarding the Hokage Tower's storage room. He had fled with the scroll, making it a fair distance before curiosity got the better of him and he opened the scroll.

Within moments, he understood that the majority of these techniques were not useful for him, and only the Kage Shuriken no Jutsu was the only one he could afford to use without too much a dent in his chakra reserves. As it took few seals, he learned it quickly. That was when the other ANBU caught up with him.

Mizuki was no fool, which was why he specialised in stealth, spying and assassination rather then combat. Had he remained loyal, he may have eventually entered the Konoha Black Ops ANBU. As he was no fool, he saw that he would not be able to defeat four ninja that all probably have more combat experience in him. So he fled, leaving the scroll lying there as it would slow him down and get him caught. Throwing a couple smoke bombs and concealing Jutsu around, Mizuki had disappeared and reappeared right in Baisotei's arms. So now he served an Orochimaru wannabe as he couldn't go to the actual Orochimaru as he had failed his mission and all other Villages were barred from him as his status as a Missing-nin.

Currently, he stood at the door of the mansion, acting as the Gatekeeper as he was arguably the most powerful of the band of shinobi that the businessman had gathered around him. He grunted.

He was, as usual, bored as he watched the ninja doing their usual things, sharpening kunai, sparring, training and etc. What he wasn't expecting was for the two sentry's at the corners of the compound in their make-shift tower's to just drop dead, their silhouettes' collapsing like rag dolls.

A large fuuma shuriken came hurtling out of the dense forest surrounding the mansion, tearing apart one of the ninja before heading straight for Mizuki himself. The recent Missing-nin yanked the oversized shuriken from his back with a snarl and threw at the advancing weapon. The two collided and they both imbedded themselves into the ground.

Drawing a kunai, he and the surviving criminal ninja leapt up to find the enemy. As he leapt, he had to twist in mid-air to avoid a barrage on kunai, which while they missed him, his comrades were not so lucky. Four more were cut down. With these skills, Mizuki realised that he was battling against true professionals who had cut down seven of them in the span of ten seconds, leaving only sixteen of them and if things continued, he'd be the only one left.

Now was when he saw the threat that faced them. In his vision, a lone shinobi was crouched sideways against a tree. He bore what he recognised as the armour of Mist ANBU as Mizuki noted the cloak had been discarded and lay on the forest floor. The Mist ANBU braced his legs and leapt forward, parrying a stray kunai with a drawn katana before gutting another of their number, both bodies falling to the floor unceremoniously.

Roaring in rage, Mizuki drew a kunai, an explosive note attached to the end and threw it at the two tangled bodies on the floor.

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Hisae smiled when he saw the explosion. Dipping her shoulder forward, in one smooth motion she had drawn one of the seven tenken of the Mist.

She noticed the mist rolling in and covering the area, and nodded approvingly at her ANBU subordinates. Leaping forward, she joined the fray, her first action was to let off a round house kick which sent one of the ninja hurtling into the ground, her second cleaving another nin into two separate parts.

Blood, guts and screams splattered the area as she and her current team mates generally slaughtered the low level ninja.

And this is supposed to be an A-Class Mission. Ha!

As she tilted her zanbatou side ways to block several shuriken sent her way, she noticed the ground rumble, so she did the smart thing and leapt up into the air just as the floor turned into a mudslide.

Doryuu Taiga!

The Doryuu Taiga was an earth based technique designed to turn the ground beneath the opponent, no matter how hard or perfectly horizontal, into a mudslide, sending said target tumbling away. The technique; while not costly in terms of chakra, required nominal chakra control and would be beyond these targets. As such, Hisae deducted that Baisotei Amane had joined the fray.

Landing a distance away from the still running mudslide, she threw her sword so that it began a spinning arc towards the former Jounin. With her hands free she began a line of seals, "Suiton: Hahonryuu!" (Water Release: Rapid Crasher)

As expected, the balls of water sent hurtling to the Jounin missed, but successfully interrupted any seals he had begun to make. As the Jutsu ended, Hisae's sword came hurtling back towards her, her hands already extended, she caught it. Bringing it forward in a backhanded grip, she sprinted towards Baisotei for hand-to-hand combat.

Swinging her sword in an arc, Amane ducked, a kunai falling into his hand as he went for a thrust at her stomach. She used the hand not clutching the sword to partially yank out a katana, which successfully parried the blow. She raised her foot and jammed the heel into the Rock nin's stomach, sending him tumbling backwards as she allowed the katana to slide back into its sheathe.

She smiled, "I'm surprised a Kage wannabe has the arrogance to believe himself capable of running a village at this level of power."

Coughing, Baisotei glared at her, "What's to say that I'm not only gathering bodyguards from my many enemies?"

"Because you have over twenty ninja guarding you instead of the usual samurai. Even if you hired ninja to protect you, you'd hire a few high level ninja instead of a quantity of low level ones."

His lips quirked at that as he got back on his feet, "You caught me. And as you said; I should hire high level ninja, and you don't seem the part to hold too much loyalty to your current master, so why not join us? When we are settled as a power to be reckoned with; you will be greatly rewarded."

She snorted at the foolishness of the man, "And you call yourself ninja. You aren't even Kage level and you seek to raise your own village. I may be powerful, but I have no illusions to how I would manage should larger measures be taken to suppress this uprising even if I joined. As such, I shall decline and kill you for money and my own gain instead."

He grinned, as his moustached lips twitched," I'm not surprised. Which is why I've been preparing a surprise for you while we've been talking.

Doton: Retsudotenshō!" (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)

The earth twisted around, dragging the Mist nin down with a scream. As the earth compacted around her, she abruptly splattered into water.

"Mizu Bunshin!"

Spinning around, just in time to see the huge blade descend, he made a rolling dive to avoid it. What he didn't expect came next from the rolled up sleeves of Hamada Hisae.

"Shikomishindan!"( Prepared Needle Shot)

The Jounin froze as the needles penetrated through his vest, hitting him in the shoulder and back. Moments afterwards, he was dead.

Mizuki saw all of this, and as he prepared to flee he was shocked when a jolt went through his body. His saws looked down to see a katana's blade protruding from his chest, extending out from his ragged ANBU uniform.

"ANBU killed by ANBU.", he sighed as his body sagged downwards. His eyes closed just in time to see the rest of his recent comrade ninja die.

Hisae smiled coldly as she stood over the body of Baisotei Amane. She brushed black locks off her face before she looked down at the motionless figure. Lining up the strike, she swung her enormous sword upwards and then letting it fall down from its own weight. A wet 'thunk' sounded as Baisotei's head was separated from his body.

This would earn her enough cash to live off for the next couple weeks and buy Jiraiya-sama's newest addition. If only all her missions were just as easy, she'd be content.

Facing the two ANBU members, one who was cradling a broken arm and several burn marks from the explosive tag, she tilted her head towards them.

"Its time we headed back, boys."

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Naruto lay on his new bed in his new home staring at his new sword. Everything was new, kind of like the entire day. He was made aware of things that he hadn't known about for several years, which he should have known about much longer then that.

To him, his new life was currently a mess, a mess that had to be sorted out. He supposed he'd get used to this as soon as the information properly sunk in. He was a Jinchuuriki, he had an entire organisation bent on tracking down demons and demon-hosts after him and he was the one who had the greatest of the Makai trapped. Fun.

Shaking his head, he turned over on his side. He'd take things as they come, for now, he'd prepare for the future by training and becoming stronger. And meeting his new sensei as soon as the fox was unsealed he supposed.

Right now, life is strange. Strange, but interesting.

He shrugged as he closed his eyes.

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Author's Notes/Review replies

Khadon: Zomg! I can't believe I did that. Must be cause I haven't written in weeks for this story. Off to edit chapter 6 then.

KPhusion: Thank ye, I knew I was making a mistake somewhere along the line. :P

- Nuebus