/N: I do not own Naruto. Kishimoto, you monster, destroyer of worlds and all things good, owns the rights to Naruto. Though, saving grace of this story is no way are we ending up with a kid named Boruto that Naruto ignores and somehow only has one Byakugan eye when the little sister (Homicidal Hinata Clone) has both. Genetics don't work like that Kishi.

~*~ Academy, Two Years from Graduation ~*~

Naruto sat in his desk as he waited for his class to be dismissed for their afternoon training session. Iruka sat in the front of the class in his Chunin garb as the class quietly finished up a written analysis of one of the running battles between Iwa and Kumo during the Third Shinobi War. Naruto blew blond locks out of his face where they were starting to cover the orange lensed, blu goggles that he was wearing. A pair of blue shorts with orange trim rested over his legs with white tape holding a kunai and shuriken pouch on each leg. White tape covered his knees and ankles with blue shinobi sandals on his feet. A blue shirt and vest combo were on his upper body with tape on his elbows and wrists to reinforce those joints. An orange Konoha leaf resided on the left breastplate of the vest that vaguely resembled the sturdier flak jackets of the Chunin without the pouches on the upper chest and just two scroll holders on the side that were occupied by red scrolls. On the back of the vest, a large Uzumaki swirl in orange and blue was the main adornment.

"Class, remember to have your written analysis done by class on Monday. This afternoon and the next two days will be running survival exercises conducted by various veteran shinobi. I will read out the names of the teams that will be assigned together for this exercise."

Naruto perked up as he awaited his name to be called. "Blue Team will be supervised by Uchiha Shisui. Designated trainee leader will be Uzumaki Naruto. Katsumi and Aburame Shino will join Naruto on this exercise. Yellow team will be supervised by Shiranui Genma. The designated trainee leader is Haruno Sakura. She will joined by Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Choji. Finally, Black Team will be supervised by Mitarashi Anko. The designated trainee leader is Uchiha Sasuke, and he will be joined by Hyuga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru."

The class started to break off into their groups for the exercise as they exited the classroom for the Academy parade grounds where their supervisors would be waiting for them. Aburame Shino was soon behind Naruto, clothed in the volumous robes of the Aburame clan prefence. Black shinobi sandals were on his feet with a black shiobi pant taped down over the top of them. A dark grey, three quarter length sleeve windbreaker sat over the top of a full sleeved chain mail shirt. Wraparound sunglasses sat over his eyes with earmuff like extensions on it. Katsumi was beside Naruto clothed in black shinobi sandals, magenta shinobi capri-like pants, and a pink mixed with magenta stripes shirt with chainmail inserts over the neck and wrists. Her orange afro still stood out like a sore thumb in the classroom, but it was shorter trim to it with a six-pointed shuriken clip in it instead of the traditional four-pont that had adorned her hair in the beginning of the academy. Naruto knew through several rough-and-tumble spars that the class had been through that that clip was also a real shuriken, just made at half weight of the standard.

Naruto zeroed in on an average height man that stood in a black full length bodysuit with a Uchiha clan fans on the chest and a messy head of spiky black hair held down around the temples by a blue Konoha headband. "Uzumaki Naruto and Blue Team reporting for duty, Shisui-senpai."

"Rest easy, Blue Team. From here, we will head for Training Ground 41. There, we will set up an area of operations where you will establish a camping area and a defensible area for defending against staged attacks as if you were an advanced site for an invasionary force into Land of Grass territory. Training Ground 41 is high grasslands with very little sturdy greenery like the open plains within fifty kilometers of the village of Kusagakure and their capital."

The group marched behind their supervisor as they cut a path across the village to the northwest quadrant of the training grounds. Naruto was running his hands through his pouches on his legs, taking out one scroll or the other to glance at, and looked at his hip pouch for medical supplies and emergency rations. Shino had conducted a similar check of his supplies as they left the school grounds and was walking with a leisurely gait. Katsumi was blissfully unaware of any type of pre-check of her supplies and was admiring clothing and wares for sale in the merchant's square.

Naruto was counting something off on his fingers as they started down the row of shops that belonged to many of the village blacksmiths and armorers that were the last line of the main village square. Naruto looked at some of the signs they passed before seeing one that was of an anvil and lightning bolt marked Quicksilver. He rushed into the building and emerged about thirty seconds later. He was strapping a small dagger to a loop that had been in the small of his vest's back. He then juggled a couple packs of kunai in the air before tossing one each to Shino and Katsumi and stashing his own into his right pouch where Shisui could also spot a push dagger with his usual gear. "Need to make sure we have enough before we enter the field. I had to pick up my order and the old man from Lightning was nice enough to throw in a couple packs for you guys. Guess he has a daughter that went through these excersises last year and she burnt through kunai like they were going out of style. At least that's what he said."

"Good thinking, Naruto. A captain of a squad can never be too careful when it comes down to how equipped his team is. It's usually smart to be prepared to take on a nation and only need a fraction of your equipment." Shisui smiled down, a touch of prideful approval on his face as he rubbed Naruto's mop of blond hair.

The rest of the walk went on in silence as they approached the edge of the field. "Ok, Blue Team, welcome to Training Ground 41. I'll be observing your stratagems and then staging attacks at intervals to keep you on your toes. You are relagated to the back half of the field to make your encampment and defensive position. You have today to set it all up. At 1700, I will return and escort you all back to the village where you can finish procuring sleeping and food supplies. From this moment on, you cannot enter any of the shinobi supply shops, blacksmiths, or armorers. I will arrive tomorrow by 0800 and you three are to be here by that time. If you arrive even by 0801, you will be classified as a deserter for the exercise and the other members of the team will be tasked with your capture and imprisonment through the rest of the exercise. There is also a chance that one or more of the other teams are being tasked with the objective of driving you from your area of operation and capturing this scroll." Shisui took out a medium sized black scroll with white edges from his flak-jacket and tossed it to Naruto. "You can hide that anywhere within the camp, but once placed it cannot be moved from that spot till the end of the exercise. It represents an intelligence briefing, whether it be invasion plans, supply routes, or even a counter-cipher to enemy encryption."

"Understood, commander." Naruto snapped a Konoha salute of right fist to the middle of his chest before bowing slightly to the Jounin in front of him. Shino and Katsumi echoed Naruto as they too snapped off salutes. "Are there any other special rules that we should be aware of?"

Shisui smiled again and motioned for Shino to take a step forward. "In certain circumstances, one designated team member, in this case Shino-san, is allowed to act as a forward scout and can exit the area of operation for up to two hour intervals. When he is sent out, the two remaining teammembers are liable to stay within fifty meters of the main defensive position. He also is obligated to then stay in the campsite for double the amount of time that he was outside the perimeter. So if he is out for thirty minutes, he has to stay for an hour before he can head out again. I will be keeping track of that. This is a thirty-six hour exercise not including the four hour prep period this afternoon." He then smiled at the three as they started to go over the information amongst themselves. "Good luck and Kami speed you along. Now get in there, grunts."

~*~ Hokage's Office, Late Evening ~*~

Hiruzen sat behind his Hokage's desk, back turned so he could look out the window over the village. Jiraiya and Fugaku sat in chairs pulled up to either side of them as they both sipped on small saucers of warm sake. The twilight of the sunlight dropping behind the Hokage Monument cast an orange glow over the village. The view seemed to be holding the three men in a miraculous trance that they were unwilling to break. A creak of the door opening and a cane thumping across the flooring did break the spell as Danzo made his way around the desk and sat in an unoccupied chair next to Fugaku with three sets of eyes now watching his moves.

"Hokage-sama, the preparations for the first survival exercises of this term have concluded. By this time tomorrow, we will start to weed out those unsuited for frontline duty of the first graduating class of our revamped program. The second class will just be having cut and dry exercises to start seeing how well they operate in three man cells instead of the eight man platoons that they've been practicing in for the first two years." Danzo let out a deep sigh as he settled into his chair after saying his piece.

"Good, that puts some of our lesser worries to rest. Jiraiya, what do you have to report?"

Jiraiya finished his saucer and set it on the edge of the desk and rubbing his hands over his face. "The international situation with the major countries is in a delicate five-way tug-of-war. Kumo and Iwa are in the process of tugging at it and trying to get allegiance of the Land of Frost and Ishigakure. Ishigakure seems like they're willing to play ball with Iwa mainly because Suna has cut ties within the last two years because of their economic dip caused by the Daimyo. Ishigakure needs the money, but they aren't willing to let a power like Land of Fire or Konoha put in even an audience request. I've been rebuffed every time I've even tried to speak with the Chief Jounin and the lesser court nobles got similar results. Frost is still holding strong, but with the princess having gone into hiding because of Kazehana Doto's coup, I can't be sure how long that will hold. Doto doesn't strike me as someone that wants to be a warlord's flunkie. He wants to be the warlord himself so he's just as likely to attack Kumo as help them."

"That is both good and bad, but much more on the good side of things. We still have the plans from the Third Shinobi War for Ishigakure that we never had to use because Suna had already put them down before calling for our help with Iwa in Grass and Rain." Fugaku said as he sat back in his chair.

"True, we still have that. Danzo, make sure to go back over that plan and update it with Fugaku to what our current stockpile and troop numbers could handle." Hiruzen said before looking back to Jiraiya, "I'm sensing that there's something else as well."

"Yes, the Land of Rain was taken over by a group named Akatsuki. The civil war with Hanzo finally ended within the last couple months. Hanzo is currently missing and there is no confirmation that he might even be alive at all. I would have to say that at this point, he's very much dead. The problem with Akatsuki is that they have a very anti-Konoha lean. Apparently, there was an operation that might have affected them that ANBU carried out in helping Hanzo expunge them before the full outbreak of the Third Shinobi War. Danzo, any input?"

"Root forces were the ANBU to take care of that operation, but I was led to believe by my own observations for the first part of the operation that they were wiped out. Hanzo even forwarded full payment and the information that none had survived when he sent Root back a week after my departure."

"It appears that Hanzo wiped out the foot soldiers, but somehow missed one or two of the co-leaders from that time. What was Root doing in the area at that time?"

"Protection of Konoha assets in preparation for the outbreak of war. Hanzo agreed to pay for the help to exterminate them that we could funnel to our acquisitions for the front with Kusagakure. He also promised that he would personally rebuff any advances by non-Konoha forces that crossed with violent intent. He ended up leading four sorties from Amegakure to repel Iwa and Kusa forces that were trying to circumvent the bulk of our border defences."

"Well, then it couldn't be avoided. What type of threat do they represent, Jiraiya?"

"A very heavy threat on a national scale. Akatsuki, now, seems to be made up of about five to six S-rank criminals right now. The two leading parties of Akatsuki still haven't been identified. Orochimaru is, or was, a member of Akatsuki since about two years after the Kyubi incident. I haven't been able to one hundred percent confirm his continuing presence in the group."Jiraiya breathed deep as he saw the surprise come to the other men's faces. "I have been steadily trying to nail down an infallible route for information, but they only seem to approach highly powerful, unaffiliated shinobi and kunoichi. There's two identified members that I have gotten photographic or visiual confirmation of membership. The first comes through visual by Momochi Zabuza. He was approached by Hoshigaki Kisame for membership about six months ago. He said that Kisame was clothed in a black cloak with red clouds and a straw kasa hat. There was a second person with him in the same uniform that Zabuza couldn't identify at the time. I was able to get a picture of Kisame and his partner from a deep cover Amegakure source that was involved with one of the main border stations facing Kusagakure. The picture was confirmed to still be the same guy by Zabuza and I was able to identify with an Iwa blackbook addition to their Bingo Book, Deidara. Deidara is fourteen to fifteen years old, ex-member of the Explosion Corps, and a defected student of Onoki of Both Scales. He defected roughly eight months to a year ago."

Danzo and Hiruzen exchanged glances with each other as Fugaku started to knead his hands as he thought over ramifications. "Jiraiya, do we have any idea on the remainder of the membership?"

"Not at all. Best I can say is we know half of the day to day people. The two officers of the organization are also unknown to us, so realistically, we know a quarter of the organization. Orochimaru, if he is still in the organisation, seems to be right below the two leaders. We do know that they operate in pairs. While I haven't been able to identify anyone, there is still the hearsay that has spread over the minor countries and information networks there. Anyone with a black cloak and red clouds is always seen with someone with the same get-up in the same general vicinity. They've only got full support of Amegakure still, though, and rumors indicate that some of the operatives do mercenary work for Iwagakure from time to time as well. Kusagakure, Takigakure, Hoshigakure, Yugakure, Shimogakure,Tanigakure, and Ishigakure have rebuffed initial contact from the representatives of Amegakure that have gone out. If it comes down to it, we are going to have to decide how we want to expand the Land of Fire borders and which would be worth the battle to absord."

"Careful, Jiraiya, this is wandering dangerously close to very dicey territory." Fugaku said as he looked to the Hokage.

"As much as I hate to say it, I am having to look at this as a survivor of the Third Shinobi War and a hero of the Second Shinobi War and not the peaceful sage that I have been since those chaotic times. Danzo, it might be time for you to take the stage since Root has more experience operating in battlefield zones. The village needs these plans for our safety and the betterment of the world."

Danzo didn't quite smile at the deferrence that the Sannin was showing him. "Hiruzen, I know that this sounds like what got us involved in the Second Shinobi War and how the misstep back then let it all spiral out of control. Land of Iron is going to stay independent no matter what shinobi force invades. I think we can allow the concession of Iwagakure taking over Tanigakure because Suna's northern border is the greater desert compared to the rest of the country. Kusagakure, Takigakure, and Yugakure already have alliances with Konoha and could probably be convinced to fall under our umbrella without any bloodshed whatsoever as long as we convince them of the threat of Amegakure and other radical minor countries trying something like the Land of Sky did during the Second Shinobi War. Uzushiogakure has been abandoned for roughly twenty-five years, but we will have to occupy it to make sure we have a barrier force to repel Kumo, Kiri, and pirate forces while also having a strategic swing access to the land bridge. Tanigakure we will have to leave to Suna, a better appeasement than bolstered aid like we have been sending. That will boost food and water supply so that they can try to countermand the Daimyo and establish a pro-shinobi Daimyo and strengthen our alliance."

"What about the forces in the north and southeast?" Fugaku was absorbed in Danzo's talk. This had been the first he had heard of these plans that seemed to have been in place from when the Second Shinobi War broke out thirty years ago.

"Yes, Danzo, what are the plans for the north? The southeast would still have to go through Uzushiogakure and I don't think Kirigakure would be to keen on that since they lost three quarters of their forces at the close of the Second Shinobi War to Uzushio and it's seal traps when they and Kumo attacked out of spite from being repelled by Konoha." Hiruzen was smoking his pipe non-stop at this point. The talk had gone to the disturbing areas of what Hiruzen had never wanted to have to plan out again. His initial missteps when he was a young Hokage had been in this vein and had led to the initial sprawling battles with Suna and Iwa in the west that started the second war he had been involved in on a major scale.

"The Land of Tea and Mountain's Graveyard are insignificant at this point. They hold no value strategically and resource-wise are outdone already by Grass, Hot Water, and our own Fire farmers and artisans when it comes to production. We will need to keep Shimogakure and the rest of the Land of Frost out of Kumo's hands though. We need to isolate them to the maximum just as much as we need to isolate Kirigakure. They are the only ones that can threaten us on the open seas and Frost would provide technological superiority by diverting a lot of our, sensitively put, under-the-table deals to enemy forces. A-dono and Kirabi-dono will not be happy, but as long as we keep the pressure up on their southeastern border A will send Kirabi there to 'protect the country'. From there, we will only have to contend with the Nibi's container. Jiraiya, I will need your network to start ferreting out full profiles on the Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, Nanabi, and Hachibi containers. We know that the Ichibi container is pretty unstable at this point and while the Nanabi container is allied with us through Takigakure, but we will need an idea on how to counter them if Takigakure doesn't want to come to our side peacefully."

"I'll get my network on it immediately and try to see what exactly we will be able to dig up. It's rather interesting that the levels of difficulty for information to get files on any of the jinchuriki really. Naruto's file doesn't even mention the Kyubi at all and neither do any of the other children's file. It would be on pure hearsay at this point on who the jinchuriki is within Konoha since we have been able to bury the secret better with the new Academy machinations keeping most of the students out of the public eye almost entirely. Kirabi and the jinchuriki for the Nibi will be along the same level as Naruto's file. Both are loved by the populace because of sacrifices made by Kirabi during the Third Shinobi War. The jinchuriki for the Rokubi hasn't been seen within Kirigakure, and even the Land of Water, since the outbreak of the civil war about four years ago. His file is assuredly outdated, but with the missing-nin angle we should be able to get something just not a whole lot of it. Han and Roshi are both well known to us, and they are reclusive sons of bitches. They took the freedom that their dear, beloved Uncle Onoki gave them and ran with it. They haven't run a village sanctioned mission in close to three years, but they did go through an international Bingo Book update when they acted as Onoki's bodyguards for the Chunin Exams last year in Kumo. Subaki no Gaara, Yagura, and the Nanabi jinchuriki will be the three easiest to get a detailed file on. Zabuza and Terumi Mei both have thoroughly detailed files that they can forward on Yagura and the old files on the other Kiri jinchuriki, Utakata I believe his name is. Gaara is an allied shinobi trainee and our planted agent within the Kazekage tower can sends us the file and missions that have been handed out in regards to the boy. The Nanabi jinchuriki will have a file that goes along with Suien, the Chief Jounin, and the Chief Jounin's heir that was put together by the planted seed that is the Chief Jounin's wife."

"Good. What plans do you have regarding the classes advancing through the new academy structure?"

Danzo and Fugaku paid close attention to the coming discussion. "I have an obligation to pass on the Uzumaki sealing techniques that have been passed to my safe keeping from Minato and Kushina. Naruto will also start training on some of the other signature techniques that I can pass on as Minato's legacy to him. I also plan to check into a few interesting possibilities from his written reports to see which way his elemental nature may take him in the ninjutsu department." Jiraiya had stars in his eyes as he recalled some of the more creative ideas that the men and woman of the High Council had read over from Naruto in action reports and assault ideas that had been assigned. "I also seem to have a feeling that while Tsunade is getting ready to pick one apprentice from Naruto's class, I want to try Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke as more running apprentices as I'll only be here for a month or two at a time over the next two years till their graduation."

Fugaku was awestruck with the last proposal. "Thank you, Jiraiya-dono. I would be more than honored for you to take an interest in Sasuke's training." He bowed slightly in his chair towards the present member of the Sannin before sitting back and refilling his saucer with sake.

Danzo spoke next. "Jiraiya, what do you plan to do about Akatsuki? We need a surefire way to collect information on their movements."

Hiruzen interrupted at this point. "I actually have an idea at this point. They would be looking for S-rank threats to recruit as we do not how large they want to grow the organization. We have a few close to S-rank jounin that would be bumped to S-rank should a certain type of incident occur. The question at that point would be which jounin do we have take on this task to infiltrate a dangerous organization with no potential help ever forthcoming from the village."

Fugaku was the first to respond. "I have an idea..."

~*~ Training Ground 41, 18 hours into 36 hour excercise ~*~

Naruto was on watch for the dead of night shift. Katsumi had taken the first shift and awoken Naruto two hours ago. He had an hour left till he woke up Shino and settled back in for the last couple hours of sleep available. He stood in the only choke-point that he had left open in the field of traps that they had added to this afternoon by his planning and Shino setting the traps on his advanced scouting times.

They had survived attacks from Shisui on at least four occasions over the day. They had only had to redo the inner cordon of traps because Shisui had always appeared wtihin their fifty meter active operation boundary every time. No other teams had tried to assault their position, but Naruto wasn't counting on that holding out much longer. A rustling of grass on the edge of the field caused Naruto to snap his head in that direction before hefty a small rounded stone disc that he threw out at a ninety-degree angle from him away from where the rustle had occured. He slowly and quietly drifted back within the edge of the camp and heading to the small grass covered lean-to that the three had constructed and then covered with the grass that they had originally dug up to create the floor of their lean-to. He touched each of his compatriots lightly on the shoulders and then motioining for silence in sign language as their eyes opened immediately. He crept back to the flame that had served as their dinner fire and security light covered over by a dirt and grass ceiling. He dumped his canteen to kill the fire before lowering the dirt side of the ceiling over the fire pit.

The small cleared out area they had created was submerged back into the light of the full moon that had covered what little glow of the fire under the ceiling. "Enemy contact, they are at 10 o'clock approximately three hundred meters out. Sent out distraction noise immitating a sentry reacting to our seven o'clock position at one hundred meters. Outer cordon should be tripped, but inner cordon should be unbreached till ambush or full assault, whatever team decides to attack first.

Shino spoke in a whisper that was pretty much his normal tone anyway. "My hive alerts me that it is two three man teams advancing. Leap frog with a smaller manji formation for movement pattern. I would suggest that I use some of the forward scouting time allotted to me for me to move to our six o'clock at one hundred and fifty meters. Katsumi should stay at our seven o'clock at forty five meters in case one of the teams moves to sweep within the inner cordon. Naruto, I would hazard a guess that once we two are engaged with one team that you could lead the opposing team through the kill zone of the inner cordon while remaining unharmed and able to engage afterwards to mop up survivors."

"I think Shino's idea sounds pretty good, Naruto." Katsumi, eyes open more than a squint for the first time all day said as she looked back and forth between the boys using the talk to adjust fully to the night vision that would be required for this attack.

"Ok, Shino, head out in t-minus twenty seconds. Katsumi, first head to our established inner chokepoint and then circle our fifty meter border back to the seven o'clock position and line up your ambush point to the outer chokepoint. I'll skirt our radius counter to you, check your positioning, and then draw in the second team using the sentry-line through the killzone. Shino, mark!" Naruto's harsh whisper at the end immediately preceeded Shino disappearing into the night. Katsumi and Naruto sat in the dark for another twenty seconds before Naruto nodded and Katsumi lead the way out of the camp.

The night air was still as the light of the white full moon was splaying out in front of Naruto. He used a small mirror to periodically check around him as he stayed low in the five foot high grass of the plain. The check he was conducting stopped as he heard a loud grunt from several tens of meters to his left and slightly behind him. The shuriken and kunai that the traps were armed with were really a grey clay that had red paint filling them to denote an injury or kill if they were to strike a person. He felt a crawling sensation of a kikaichu beetle on the back of his neck that signalled Shino was in place. That grunt must have been the first shinobi-in-training springing one of the traps. His mirror moved again in the direction of the running confrontation so he could try to pick up the second team's movement. He tossed the mirror in the air after seeing movement and watched as a shuriken hit the mirror and both shattered into a spiraling debris field on the edge of his operation zone.

He dashed down the trail that only he and his team could recognize. They had carefully walked the circumfrence of this trail a handful of times before erasing any trace of its existence in the daylight of early morning before even Shisui had arrived. Naruto let a mischievious smirk break out over his face as he heard a small bark and heavy breathing follow along behind and to his right. The smirk started to fall as he realized that if Kiba and his new puppy Akamaru were behind him, then his crush would not be too far behind. Sakura was traditionally book smart to his street smarts, but she wasn't afraid to speak her mind clearly and that had been what had caught his eye over the last year of the Academy and led to the small crush that he now harbored for her.

'It's a part of the exercise, Uzumaki. Get your head in the game.' He thought to himself as he lead his pursuers straight into the teeth of what he and Shino dubbed the killzone. Kunai and shuriken launchers were strewn about either side of the walkway just waiting for Naruto to trigger the first line and then divert to the safety path that he had set up for the rest to do their part along any convential avenues of escape. He turned in place to hear the stalks start to crunch as Kiba and Choji barreled towards him, unknowing of the danger that represented. He took out a regular kunai and threw it straight down hard to where five ninja steel wires intersected with each other. As soon as he let fly with the kunai, Naruto jumped into the air and back to his left so he was truly on the very edge of the fifty meter radius that Shisui had authorized for the mock mission.

Clay shuriken flew in arcs barely a foot above the ground as the first line of ambush. A small yelp echoed out as Akamaru must have been struck by one hard enough to cause it to shatter open. Luckily, no lasting damage would exist as the clay had a seal that caused it to go to powder once broken on flesh, an expensive feature but one the Hokage had been happy to authorize to increase the quality of shinobi the village produced. Kiba let a short howl of anger as the other four launchers started to fire. Shuriken fired to the right and left side of the path as two launchers of kunai spit their contingent out in a six foot high line straight down the path. Grunts and moans echoed from the two shinobi that had been hot on his heels, yet no sound of a girl being hit greeted Naruto's ears.

Sakura hopped into his vision as the launchers stopped firing. She deflected the closer trailing kunai before throwing four shuriken towards Naruto causing him to hit the dirt and somersault backwards to his feet again. He turned and dashed back down the path with a kunai now in each hand, cutting more wires as he went. A trip-line that would send Sakura onto a camouflage sheet coated in the paint simulating a tiger pit trap sprung up as more shuriken flew just above the top of the grass. She gracefully executed a forward dive through the air landing just on the other side of the sheet and returned fire with two kunai that jammed the shuriken launchers. 'Damn, she's good at this.' Naruto's wandering thoughts nearly cost him as she jumped with a small chakra boost and landed beside him.

Naruto slid forward on his below the swipe of a clay kunai courtesy of Sakura. He threw a dummy kunai with his left hand, still weaker though the Academy had spent the last six months teaching the students to be competent ambidextrous fighters. His right hand found a seemingly stray wire that caused a shuriken to be launched from the ground and catching Sakura in the left triceps as she couldn't quite react in time. A muffled gasp left her mouth before she threw out a handful of clay shuriken and jumped back to the edge of the tiger pit trap to give her space.

Sakura then took out what looked like a baton and spun it in her right hand as she let her left arm hang free. She charged forward again into close range with Naruto and started swinging the baton like one would a long dagger or tanto. He met her baton with two wooden kunai lined with paint and parried the strikes that got too close while slipping around the wider strikes. He heard rustling coming from Shino's direction and stood his ground in the fight, waiting for the reinforcements that would be his teammates. Sakura must have heard the rustling too as she soon redoubled her attacks in an effort to finish off their confrontation. Naruto went to block a sweeping strike with his kunai before, purposely, dropping the kunai and letting the baton go by under his arm. His arm then braced against Sakura's outstretched ones allowing him to push off and roll inside her guard where he ran the edge of his right kunai that still had paint on it down the spine of her shirt and backing several feet away as they both fought to catch their breath.

"So close, shannaro! I'll get you next time, Naruto." Sakura said as she stood straight and tall to allow the maximum amount of air into her lungs. "These tricks won't work twice, ya'know."

"That was pretty good, Sakura-san. I'll be waiting for next time." Naruto was just glad that a cloud had started to obscure the moon some so that Sakura couldn't see the blush that still resided on his face from being in such close proximity to his crush.

Before anything else could be said Shino and Katsumi entered the cleared fighting area and a flare ignited in the sky a ways to thier left by the edge of the training field. Shisui materialised out of the darkness as he waved to the four students. "Follow me, everyone. The other supervisors and I are going to give each team a debrief together and then we will separate to cover the good and the bad that we saw with each team individually." Naruto smiled and high fived Shino and Katsumi as they fell into line with Shisui and Sakura leading them towards the gathering point.

Shiranui Genma stood facing the students askance with a heavy-duty, elongated fukiya dart in his mouth. His bandana that held his forehead protector was done up so the knot was in the front and he had the standard Chunin and Jounin attire on. Another man that Naruto hadn't met stood next to him. He had spiked up, gravity-defying dark hair, regular Chunin and Jounin garb, and was still wearing a pair of red sunglasses even in the dark. The man stepped in front of Genma as Shisui joined them. "Hello, I am Yamashiro Aoba. Tonight we saw a running battle take place with two-to-one odds in a simulated version of Kusagakure's surrounding fields. Anyone want to venture a guess on what battle this would be a simulation of?" Sakura's hand shot up. "Yes, Haruno."

"This would have been a reconstruction of the forward assault of Konoha forces during the middle of the Second Shinobi War that came to be down as the Battle of Blood Fields where Konoha faced two-to-one odds made up of Iwa and subjugated Kusa forces. The outcome was a stalemate in the casulty columns but led to the demoralization of the home Kusa forces that led to them turning on Iwa occupiers and the eventual closing of Kusa's borders to Iwa and Suna fighters and focused the rest of the advance by those forces through Amegakure controlled lands for the rest of the war."

Genma answered for the supervisors. "That is completely correct, Haruno. Now, does anyone else want to venture a guess on how tonight mirrored the actual battle?"

Shino answered this time. "Konoha forces were ambushed in the second watch to begin altercations with the enemy. Traps laid around the camps dealt heavy casulties to the Kusa forces that had not been expecting the ingenuity of Konoha troops. The battle was joined by Team Sarutobi at the beginning of the third watch as they arrived from a reinforcement order from Ame by the Hokage. Afterwards, Konoha forces experienced a breakdown in communication from the higher ups of Team Sarutobi and the reinvigorated Team Sakumo that had been in command before. They broke ranks and charged after the retreating Kusa forces into the advancing Iwa forces and only the intervention of Sakumo Hatake on the frontlines saved the battle from turning back into a rout and ending in a stalemate of several days before Iwa and Konoha both withdrew to their forward supply depots ten kilometers from the Blood Fields."

"Correct, Aburame-kun." Shisui said. "Blue Team, start heading back to your campsite. I will meet you there in five minutes to go over our personal debrief. Yellow and Green Teams, head to rendevous point alpha to await your supervisors arrival. Dismissed." The nine students snapped standard salutes before turning and following their respective team leaders to where they were to meet.

"Your team did good, Shisui-san. I will report the conclusions we have to Hokage-sama come morning. What did you notice about Yellow Team?" Genma said as the supervisors turned to each other to compare notes of the training battles so they could better critique what happened.

~*~ Hokage Office, Morning ~*~

"Hokage-sama, you asked to see me?" Shisui bowed as he saluted once he had entered into the office.

"Ah, Shisui-san, at ease. What can you tell me of Blue Team?"

"Well, Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto and Aburame Shino seem to work together well though they will probably grow into different areas of expertise. Katsumi is a decent enough for a young kunoichi, but I have reservations of placing her on a frontline squad. I would more likely set her as a research or cryptology department designee. She has interesting ideas and an eye for detail, yet she doesn't excel at the execution of those things. Naruto-kun is rather unorthodox, but it's more unorthodox in the way that Kakashi-senpai or Itachi-kun would be considered unorthodox. Shino-san is by the book and would be a good backbone to build around with an advance team or first responder squad."

"Hmm, I see. I am glad that they are still advancing at a nice pace. I have seen these qualities start to develop from the reports that I have been getting from the other Jounin supervisors and the Chunin instructors. Now, I called you here for another reason as well." Hiruzen paused at this point as the ANBU left there positions and moved out of the office. Hiruzen then activated the privacy seals in the office. "This is a mission through your ears only. You come highly recommended from Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Fugaku for this assignment. Before we continue this talk, do you accept the mission in its entirety?"

Shisui paused for a second as he looked at the serious expression of the Sandaime Hokage who was now inspiring trepidation and fear. 'This must be the face of the Kami no Shinobi.' "I accept, Lord Hokage. What is your command?"

"You are going to be taking a very important role in the Sanin Jiraiya's information network by trying to infiltrate a terrorist organisation called Akatsuki that just took control of the village of Amegakure. We will stage an incident of you killing Konoha teammates and going rogue. The teammates you will kill are really captured enemy shinobi that we have doctored the papers of to say they were deep cover agents that we have just finished debriefing and you are leading on a vital search and destroy mission in the territory of Amegakure. You will finish the exercise today with your assigned team and then take the next five days to prepare for this mission. Jiraiya will give you the instructions on how to contact him with information drops over that period of time. You will make your way to the border of Amegakure and execute your team within the next six days. Use the best of your skills to do it as quickly as possible. Report to Root Rally Point Bravo at 1930 five days from now."

"Understood, Lord Hokage. I serve the great tree of Konoha."

"The Leaf always gives shade to the worthy." Hiruzen sighed as Shisui disappeared via Shunshin no Jutsu. "I just hope we are still worthy of your loyalty, young Uchiha prince."

~*~ Amegakure, Six Days Later Late Afternoon ~*~

"Hold here." Shisui raised a fist as the other four men behind him came to a stop.

"Fucking finally. About time we took a break, you damn Uchiha prick." A tall bald man layered in muscle said as three average looking men paused on either side of the taller man. They gasped in quick intakes of breath as they started to look between the two as the tension started to rise.

"You know the problem with the rest of my clan?"

"What? They a bunch of spineless dirtbags that can't even get it up anymore?" The man answered with a sneer before spitting towards Shisui's feet.

"Almost. They're too weak to stand up to the vermin that think they are our equals. We descend from the Sage of the Six Paths. We were meant to rule this world, while you all were meant to be our footrests." Shisui noticed a two-tone man that seemingly had a plant growing out of him watching the confrontation from behind a tree fifty meters to his left. "Now, do me a favor and die, Konoha scum!" Shisui slipped into an instantaneous Shunshin no Jutsu. He reappeared with his ninja-to buried through the throat of the bald man. He released his blade and flashed through hand signs, ending and holding the Tiger sign. "Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!" A large ball of fire in the shape of a dragon's head shot forth from his mouth and incinerated two of the other men.

The last man jumped back and away, flinging a kunai towards Shisui as he dodged underneath the man. Shisui made a quick handsign that allowed the seals holding the man's chakra captive to release slightly. The man felt the chakra rush his system and started to weave handsigns of his own. "Water Style: Water Bullet!"

Shisui looked up at the man before smirking. His eyes spun in the Mangekyo Sharingan that he had gained years before and kept secret from all of the clan except for Itachi. "Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!" The lightning bolts flew from his hands as he thrusted up and towards the man. They blasted through the water bullet, scattering it, and continuing on. The bolts connected with the man causing his mouth to open in a silent scream as his nervous system fried and muscles no longer responded to his commands. The man landed in a heap and Shisui approached his involuntarily twitching body. "Ah, freedom from the shackles of the ideological fools." A kunai wiped out of his pouch and to his hand in a milisecond before flying straight and true connecting with the man's forehead.

The two-tone man stepped out from behind the tree as Shisui struck a line through his Konoha symbol and replaced the protector from his forehead to his bicep. "You are rather interesting, my young Uchiha. Wait here." The white half of his face conveyed curiosity, even in his speech, while the black side continued to glower at him. "Don't leave, or I'll find and eat you." Shisui shivered slightly at the tone of the black half, evil incarnate. The man disappeared back into the underbrush.

Minutes passed as Shisui waited in the clearing. Finally, the two-tone man reappeared with another man that had black spiky hair, a black robe with red clouds, and an orange swirl mask over his face. "I am Madara Uchiha, my clansmen, but you can call me Tobi."

A/N: Thank you for reading this installment of Hammer of Titans, Splitters of the World. Please leave a review with any questions or constructive criticism. Enjoy your week and hope this added to some of your happiness and enjoyment.

DS04Oonga Out.