Meh. I don't like this beginning chapter. It's just an introduction, though. I know it's a really over-used idea, but I've had this sitting in my flashdrive for a while so I wanted to post it.

…

A boy no older than twelve burst through the trees at an amazing speed, racing back to the ANBU Headquarters to report and quickly get to school. It was around 2 am, but he'd have to get at least a bit of sleep before school started at 7. Silently, he pressed his hand to the seal, pushed in a bit of his chakra, and when it was recognized, watched the door silently swing open to let him in. The ANBU raced inside, his black clothes allowing him to become almost invisible in the shadowed hallways except for the telltale glint of his katana strapped perpendicularly to the standard wakizashi on his back, the hilt lifted just a centimeter because of his hurry. His katana was two feet long and specifically created for him after he had shown a tendency for kenjutsu as well, having already specialized in ninjutsu and taijutsu. ANBU needed their own specific weapons in order to complete their A-ranked or S-ranked or possibly even higher ranking mission as easily as possible, and the boy was no different.

He knocked quietly, handed in his report and the body of the enemy he had recently assassinated sealed inside a scroll to the Hokage, was dismissed, and proceeded to hurry back to his small apartment. The few hours of sleep he caught passed quickly, and suddenly it was 6:45 am before he could even blink.

"Shoot!" He cursed a few more choice words, some a variation of the first word and others not, struggling to pull on the orange jumpsuit over his ANBU outfit he had fallen asleep in. After going through a quick morning routine, one which sadly did not consist of a shower, the boy checked his tattoo was covered before grabbing a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku's and hurrying to school. He ate it along the way, moving along slowly, trying to enjoy the new beef miso soup, sprinkled with more onions and some other unidentifiable—at least to him—vegetable, but it was good, so he just slurped it down with the rest. At least it didn't smell like any known poisonous plant.

Once at school, he hurried into his classroom, almost 20 minutes late, called out an, "Iruka-sensei, I'm here!" before quickly claiming his seat in the back row. The class snickered, except for some who were too lazy to and some who were too "cool" to. Yes, he could've set an internal alarm clock to get up on time, and yes, he could've gobbled up his meal in five minutes (there were times on ANBU missions he had to eat in less time than even that), but he didn't want to. Besides, Iruka-sensei was pretty lenient with him.

"Naruto! Stay after school again, today! When will you ever learn your lesson?"

Or maybe not so lenient this time. "Yes, Iruka-sensei," he sighed.

Today was a history lesson, and since he already knew all the Academy would teach and more, there was no need to pay attention. Well, really, there was no need to pay attention to anything at any time at all, since anything they taught, he had already learned in ANBU. But he liked to give respect to the brown-haired chuunin, who cared for him like an older brother or even…a father. It felt nice to be cared for in that way.

Iruka-sensei started explaining the progression of the Daimyo of Konoha over the years, until to the current Daimyo, who was doing something or other for Konohagakure, Leaf Village. Naruto did try to pay attention, really, but found his eyes drawn to his charge. The mission assigned to him years ago. He hadn't been a fully-fledged ANBU then, as no six year old could ever, no matter how much of a prodigy or hard worker or both, be able to get that far, but as he continued through the Academy, maintaining a cheerful, dumb cover, he had advanced to be captain of a team, better than anyone could be at killing. It was a sad thought.

He laughed.

"Uzumaki! Would you like to explain what you're finding so funny about the Fourth Hokage, the Yondaime?"

Ah, so they had moved from Daimyos to Hokages. Well. He cleared his throat.

"Well…I just thought, what if the Fourth Hokage wasn't actually that nice-looking? And he was just a smelly, old man underneath a henge, like the old man?"

Heh. Pretending he thought that of his own father felt strange.

Iruka knew, with the "old man" comment, he was referring to their current Hokage, the Sandaime.

"Don't be so rude!" Iruka chucked a chalkboard eraser at Naruto for good measure. Naruto ducked.

"Another hour added to the hour after school!"

He groaned internally. He wouldn't be able to get dinner then, because he'd have to report to the ANBU Headquarters by 5:30 pm. School ended at 3:30 pm. He cringed. He'd definitely be late.

"Aww, come on, Ir—"

"Do you want me to add on more time?"

Naruto gulped. He shook his head, and the rest of the day passed by uneventfully.

After staying for the allotted time and receiving a good 'ol lecture from Iruka-sensei, the blond raced out, shedding his orange suit and tossing it in his apartment before grabbing his fox mask and running at full speed towards Headquarters.

Ha. Him, being the container for the demon fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune, was called Kitsune, or Fox, as his code name. His moniker, known throughout the village as one of the most feared shinobi, was the Red Slash. Yes, how ironic. Again. Considering the fact that he contained a demon, which tended to be imagined as a red made-of-lava, evil being, and his chakra affinity was wind—wind "slashed" at you, right…? Okay, so maybe that was pushing it. In all reality, the moniker meant if you saw the Red Slash as your enemy, you were as good as dead—the last thing you'd see would be a red slash. Hm. That didn't make sense. How would his moniker have come about if all his opponents were dead? Except for a certain few…

But anyway, he arrived ten minutes late, with the backpack containing all the scrolls he always sealed everything in slung over his shoulder. At least he wasn't as late as Hatake Kakashi, one of his team members that he was the leader of, was. Kakashi had been leading a life of depression, self-wrecking, and guilt for as long as he could remember. But when he had befriended him when he was seven, the ANBU had recovered a little, and had personally requested to be on his team after quitting the role of an ANBU team captain when Naruto, or Kitsune, was skilled enough to be lead an entire team of ANBU.

Fortunately, nobody in ANBU knew who Kitsune was except for the ANBU commander. He had been the one to recruit him and help him, but that was a different story for another time.

"Kitsune…you're late." The woman who always handed out the missions frowned at him, although she couldn't see the young ANBU member's face.

He bowed slightly. "I am sorry, Amaya-san. I will be more punctual next time."

"Of course you will; I won't report you."

He sighed in relief. That would save him from a lot of trouble from explaining why he had misbehaved in class to the point of earning detention. Ridiculous, for a skilled, professional ANBU member. At that time, Kakashi chose to arrive, his shock of silver, gravity-defying hair brushing the top of the doorframe as he entered.

"You're late, Kakashi-san," Naruto told him, although it was kind of pointless.

"Maa, only a little, senpai," Kakashi murmured, seeming to smile. Amaya rolled her eyes.

"Here, Kitsune, your mission will last three days, at the most. You need to capture maybe four of twelve Kiri-nin attacking one of Fire Country's villages. They're Jounin, or high Chuunin. I'm sure you all can handle it."

They nodded, and with just a faint breeze, were gone, already heading towards the city indicated in their mission details.

…

"Inu, get One, I'll get Five—they seem to be combining their chakra affinities, although I know one of them is wind."

"Got it."

"Watch it, Neko!" Kitsune jumped forward and slashed at a man behind the ANBU member Neko, as she fought three opponents at once. She turned, her porcelain mask portraying the slight resemblance of a cat.

His slash decapitated the man, and the grown shinobi howled, clutching his bleeding chest, large amounts of blood spilling out every frantic beat his heart made. Naruto slammed the handle of his wakizashi onto the enemy's head, hard, then healed a bit of the man's injury, his hands glowing green before hauling him to Hikigaeru, the woman with the toad-like mask in charge of keeping their prisoners imprisoned and not too damaged.

Inu was still facing down One and Five, although judging by the red liquid seeping out of One's clothing and the red spatters in Inu's silver hair, he had gotten a good hit on at least one of his opponents. Kitsune jumped in, and used the wind against the man with wind affinity, as he had better control. People who used their chakra affinity often were obviously more talented, but they weren't ANBU for nothing. Kitsune was even better than them at using his wind-type ninjutsu in battles. His katana came in contact with the wind Five was using to counter him, but he smirked and cut through that too, after wrapping the blade in wind. The men's screams were cut short as Kitsune hit them as well over the head. He stood up, surveying the damage.

"Good job, team, not too much damage to the surroundings and too little evidence for anybody to assume a battle took place, although Neko, seriously, remember to watch your back. Haven't I told you that already?"

Cat shrugged sheepishly. "Well, Kitsune-senpai, I know you'll always catch them before they get to me…"

"That's no excuse! And besides, it's not a guarantee."

Cat bowed slightly. "I'm sorry. I'll train that aspect more often."

Kitsune nodded. Then, he turned to Hikigaeru, silently asking her if their prisoners were stabilized enough so that they wouldn't die on the way back—after all, their mission was to capture, not kill. She nodded, and they bent down next to the four of them, the other eight destroyed with quick fire jutsus, placed in a single neat row. Neko, Boar, Inu, and Hikigaeru all reached into the unconscious men's pouches, but Boar suddenly halted.

"Stop! They have a sensor!"

Too late. Blindingly bright flashes of light immediately exploded in front of them, stinging their eyes and blowing up all their unconscious enemies, but unfortunately also extending the damage to them as well. They had all sensed it, instincts warning of an unknown danger seconds before the explosion had thrown them like rag dolls and propelled them into the branches of trees, sharp pieces of metal also exploding outward and embedding themselves into the ANBUs' skin. The two women, Neko and Hikigaeru, went immediately unconscious as they hit their heads on the trees, unable to react quickly enough, along with Boar—that bomb had to have been blown out with the force of at least 200 mph—and only Inu and Kitsune had been lucky enough to have been thrown higher in the air and have those few extra precious seconds to catch themselves.

They plunged into the branches of the surrounding trees, but at least on their feet, and hurried themselves to the terrible scene. Bits of human bodies were scattered everywhere, charred pieces lying around and the air immediately stinking of burning human flesh. That was not the horrifying part, though. It was normal enough. No, it was their teammates that caused them to widen their eyes and rush forward, blindly feeling for a heartbeat. Kitsune pressed on Neko's neck gently, his two fingers leaving a trail of someone's blood on her neck, straining to feel for even a slight pulse, and let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when it was found. It was irregular though, so they had to be careful.

Inu was relieved when he found it on Hikigaeru and Boar, too, although theirs were stronger than Neko's. Neko had always been a little too reckless. He turned to his unit commander, the boy's black hair stained with rusty blood and clear gray eyes squeezed tight. It wasn't right for a child to have to do this, and commit these heinous acts of silent killers—something grown men often broke down over, but Kitsune refused to listen. No matter how much he tried to convince the young ANBU to quit, he stubbornly refused to "stop doing his duty", and said that it was for the better. He shook himself from his musings, carefully slinging two of his unconscious teammates both over his back, taking care not to jostle their wounds or worsen any of them, and adjusted them until they were both kind of half hanging on, half hanging off, side by side on his back. At least the two were both pretty lean people.

Kitsune stood too, doing the same, minus one teammate slumped on his small back, and they moved quickly and evenly, the older ANBU stumbling every now and then, his wounds not healing as fast as the boy's. But he had endured worse, so he would be fine. They landed in a clearing, where Kitsune stopped, and said, "Come on, Inu, hand me Boar. You're killing yourself."

"You're…you…you're also…exhaus—"

His voice cut off as he fell over, too much blood loss having caused him to faint. They had not had enough supplies to bandage Kakashi's wounds too, but he had shrugged it off, saying he was fine and that his wounds would not slow them down. What a liar. Kitsune shook his head, and focused what little chakra he hadn't used up to speed up his healing and heal up his would-have-been lethal wounds, then pressed scarred, rough hands on Kakashi's leg and back, applying green chakra on the worst wounds. When he was finished, the small ANBU pondered how he'd transport them, knowing he couldn't seal them into his scrolls he had made to be able to seal in human beings, or other living things, as it would cause a little strain on their bodies. He really didn't think they could handle anymore. But he could use the wind. Kitsune manipulated the wind to carry the three, maneuvered them behind him so that they would always follow his path and not collide with any branches or other objects before taking off again, letting the wind take care of them.

...

Seven hours passed, with multiple breaks inserted here and there when he felt he was going to faint. It had taken them five hours to get from Leaf Village to their destination, but he knew they still had about a quarter of the way to go. Boar had woken up, but then fallen asleep after Naruto had forced some water down his throat. The women hadn't, and Kakashi hadn't either. They were still in danger, and Kitsune couldn't stop now. His chakra had replenished a tiny bit, so he picked them up again, and sped off.

…

The two guards rushed over to the five of them, taking two people at a time off of the wind. Naruto dropped to the ground, exhausted, unable to maintain his henge any longer—of course he hadn't kept it up while carrying his team through the forest; that would have been stupid—but he couldn't let the guards know he was Uzumaki Naruto, the stupid little boy still enrolled in the Academy. They would blabber it away to anyone and everyone, and his long-standing mission would end as a failure. No. Fortunately, during that small lapse, they had been tending to the other shinobi's wounds, and only afterwards, five minutes later, had glanced over to the blond-turned-back-to-black-haired boy, eyes still tight with worry. They were relieved to see him stand up and walk over as if he was not tired at all, and when the Red Slash instructed them to bring his soldiers to the hospital, they complied immediately. That left Naruto standing at the gates alone, and he sat down at one of the posts, keeping a lazy eye out for any intruders—after all, it couldn't do to have anyone infiltrate the village, no matter how little time it took for the original guards to get back—and rested, waiting.

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu came back eight minutes later, only to see the small boy still standing—or in his case, sitting—guard, waiting for their return. He sensed the two beings, and turned around, gave a lazy wave and smiled, although they couldn't see that behind his black mask wrapped around his nose and mouth, and walked back to his apartment. His henge disappeared as he rounded the corner, and he walked back home, his blue eyes drooping as he stumbled into bed. He didn't even bother to check for the usual drunks that liked to beat up the "helpless" little Naruto.

…

Weird end, but like my other story, it's also 'cause I have all of it written in one big word doc and I wasn't sure where to put chapter breaks. I should've done that originally…

Anyway. Thanks for reading! No flames please.

~paracuties