What's up! This is a time skip chapter, and is also my first attempt at a time-skip. Hopefully it's good! You guys can expect weekly or 10 day updates now. I'll explain the Bear-Cat thing, don't worry. Italics are for thinking and flashbacks; might have to change the previous chapters if I forgot to implement that hehe. The time skip might be two parts- it's turning out really long so far. (Ok finished this chapter I'm going to split the time skip into two chapters, otherwise, it'd be super long.)

Chapter 4: Time Skip

Two ANBU members walked into a shady underground office, one with a mask signifying a Bear, the other with a Cat mask. They walked in a robotic motion, almost as if they'd been brainwashed, until they bowed before an old man.

In front of them, at a desk, sat Danzo Shimura, an older, wrinkly man with bandages covering the right half of his face. He wore a white robe, with a black coat covering it. Black bangs rested on the bandages covering his face. To the right of desk was his cane, whether caused by the shinobi life or old age, was unknown. On either side of his desk stood his guard, two shinobi that looked to be ANBU members. He commanded a fearful presence. It seemed as if he was a conniving, evil, old man.

"Report." Danzo told the ANBU bowing before him.

"Sir." They spoke simultaneously as they stood up, "We proceeded with the mission you assigned us. Reporting for duty."

Flashback (Night of Naruto's Capture):

After Bear and Cat had left their task of monitoring Naruto, they began to return home.

Cat was walking down an abandoned street in the Uchicha district, when she was suddenly knocked out by a Root ambush. Three members of Root's stealth division easily accomplished the task. Many Root members were former ANBU, after all. Bea'r was obtained, similarly, without being noticed.

Fū Yamanaka, one of Danzo's top Root members, brought the two before him. He was a former member of the ANBU, and had the ability to use the versatile mind-abilities of the Yamanaka clan. He had orange hair in a ponytail, with a bandaged-sword across his back, and yellow eyes. He seemed to be Danzo's perfect soldier: an emotionless, loyal, shinobi.

After the two were placed before him, Danzo revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan. Formerly belonging to Shisui, a deceased Uchicha, Danzo used Kotoamatsukami on the sprawled out in front of him. He implanted the instructions to not mention Pakura's presence or her role in Naruto's disappearance to the Hokage. He also instructed them to only mention Pakura's capturing of the boy after three days had passed, to give the appropriate time to escape.

"All to protect Konoha, and move my plans forward." he sighed out as his brain-washing mission began.

"Fū, please make sure they don't remember any of this, or our role in the boy's disappearance." he told the orange-haired man to his left as he waved him over.

"Yes, Danzo-sama." he told him as he moved in front of the two to proceed with his newly assigned task.

'One step closer to where I want to be…yes, this is proceeding nicely. A perfect plan. Konoha will be respected by all." the crippled old man thought.

Meanwhile the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha was debating on whether he should send an undercover agent into Root, or not. 'On one hand, we might be able to disband his underground organization, but, the damage caused will be severe.' Hiruzen thought, scratching his forehead. 'It will show that we've control of all our shinobi, yet, I'm just not sure.'

"Your decision Hokage-sama?" An ANBU member standing before him asked.

'Yes, that's a good idea.' The Hokage thought to himself, "I want to…"

(Three Days after Naruto's arrival, Suna.)

Naruto woke up to shouting in his ear from his recently appointed, favorite person in all of Suna.

"Get up Demon!" Leader shouted in his ear, lingering dangerously close to his bed, "Don't force me to make you!" he shouted, raising his fist.

Yes, he was joking. Yes, he really hated this man. Yes, if he had a kunai he would kill him and shave that disgusting beard. Not to mention carving 'Property of Naruto Uzumaki, Future Hokage' into his arm.

"Yes, Leader." Naruto said, jumping to attention.

"Good, Demon. Follow me, we need to work out your schedule." The huge man told him, "You've been lazy recently, Demon." he said chillingly.

"I was uhh..." Naruto started to respond, "Examining the walls of my room! I need to know the sand if I'm to live in a sand-covered village!"

No response.

Suddenly, faster than you could scream, "Oh, shit!", he found himself on the floor- thanks to a hard punch to the head.

"Demon" Leader punched him in the stomach, "You.", he received another shot, "Will.", he was kicked in the stomach, turning him over, "Respect." Leader turned him over before punching him again, "Me!" he received a shot to the head, knocking him out cold. 'Another day in paradise.' Naruto thought sarcastically, before seeing stars.

Naruto woke up, chained to a desk, in a room with sand-covered walls, as well as the floor and roof. It was a room slightly larger than his own, though. With a desk, right in the middle, and a whiteboard on the wall directly in front of it. Standing next to the whiteboard was the devil: Leader.

"Leader, where am I?" Naruto asked the creepy man.

"Ah. For once a good question, Demon. You're in your new classroom." The aforementioned man said motioning to the room they were in, "This is where you'll l proceed with your first step in becoming a loyal Suna citizen. Learning the history of Suna."

Naruto sighed, he had just graduated and now he had more school. 'Being captured sucks' he thought.

"You'll have biweekly tests. If you fail, you'll be reminded what's at stake, and set back on track." Leader said ominously, "Suna history will last three months. Longer, and we'll have punishments.

Following Suna history will be: Famous Suna Shinobi, Manners, and lastly, Following Commands. In total these all will take a year." Leader told him.

Naruto began to sweat bullets, 'Darn it! I've never been good at tests!'. "Umm… Leader? I've never been good at tests is passing a requirement? I don't want to be a Suna shinobi anyways."

"If you don't pass", Leader raised his fist, "this will be reintroduced." Leader said ignoring the second part of Naruto's statement.

'This guy's the worst' Naruto thought sighing, 'And he didn't even answer my second question! What a jerk!'

Leader placed a book on Naruto's desk titled The History of Suna, "Get learning, Demon!"

'This book is bigger than any book I ever got in the Academy. Not that I ever read them anyways.' Naruto thought smiling, 'Wait… Did I even get any books in the Academy?

(One week after arrival)

Naruto woke up at 5 A.M. Leader had given him an alarm four days previous. Leader designed a new schedule for him as they started his new "lessons". He was to start the morning with daily exercises: Leader said it was up to him for now- but eventually they'd have physical tests as well. Naruto decided on upping his normal morning exercise routine and settled on 5 sets of 50 pushups, 5 sets of 10 pull-ups, and 5 sets of 60 sit-ups. He was still a young teenager, after all.

After his exercises, at around 6:45, his breakfast would be slid under his cell-door. Mostly, it was a gooey white substance. Naruto was really missing Pakura's ramen visits, she hadn't come in a week!

After breakfast, at around 7:30, was 7 hours of studying. Naruto fell asleep a lot during this stage- Leader wasn't around to monitor him so no punishments… Right?

Then was lunch, another 45 minutes. The next 4 hours were supposed to be for himself, but they never gave him anything to occupy this leisure time. Maybe Pakura could bring him something?

The last 2 hours of the day were for dinner, another exercise routine (Naruto used a shortened version of his morning routine) and sleep.

Right before he began to proceed with his evening exercises, Pakura entered his cell. The orange-green haired woman had a shopping bag over her shoulder. Unfortunately, she had caught Naruto at a bad time: he was getting pummeled by Leader, over, and over, and over, and over again, right on his face.

"Demon! What have you been doing during this free time I've given you?! You're weak! You're useless! You definitely don't resemble anything near a shinobi!" Leader yelled as he continued the one-sided fight.

Pakura was shocked, had Naruto suffered a week of being treated like this?! She ran towards the large man, "Get the hell off him Aoki! He's not a demon! He's definitely not a weapon! He's a person!" She shouted as she threw him to the ground, "You aren't a 'Leader'" she said mockingly, "You aren't even a Jounin!"

After a few kicks to the stomach in retaliation, Pakura forced the man to leave. 'What an excuse for a shinobi' she thought, shaking her head. She then noticed the bruised, battered face of the boy who was getting beat on. Bruises covered his whisker marks, and he had two black eyes. It seemed as if he hadn't been sleeping a lot either.

Pakura went to take the ramen out of her bag, "Here you go Naruto, ramen." she said handing him the ramen. If she had any doubt before, his slight smile at the mentioning of ramen made her feel he was grateful for her presence. Or at least her bringing him food.

"…Thanks" Naruto mumbled between bites of his favorite food. 'I still haven't forgiven her, but she's the only one who treats me like a human-being around here! I should at least speak when spoken to.' he thought as he continued slurping the warm noodles.

"No problem." she said smiling slightly. She motioned towards his newly acquired bruises, "What were Aoki's reasons for beating you like that?"

Naruto paused his eating and went to feel the spots she had referred to, "Oh these?"

She nodded.

Naruto cleared his throat and began to speak, "He wanted me to write 'Suna is great' 50 times. I did write it 50 times- except for I switched Suna with Konoha. He wasn't happy." Naruto said grinning, as he scratched the back of his head.

Pakura sat next to him on his bed, "Naruto you can stay loyal without telling Aoki about it. The less punishment the better, right?" 'It's not like he'll be loyal to anything after the time the council assigned for him to stay here passes, anyways.'

Silence. 'Not this again.' Pakura thought. "Well if three statements are your maximum for today, I guess I'll have to fill in the gap." 'I can tell him about the stupid missions they've been giving me, maybe even my attempt to get him out of here.'

Pakura lied down across the bed, still to the left of Naruto. The position showed off her ample chest, restrained by her sleeveless black top. "I'll tell you about the reason I've been gone, Naruto. The council has been assigning me longer missions, recently. They leave me little time to rest. The mission they had me do was a bodyguard mission, A-Ranked."

Pakura turned her head to look at Naruto, he was staring at his feet. 'Looks like I've got a long way to go. I need some more people to vent to anyways, though. Even more so if these missions continue on this upward-trend' she thought, turning her head back to stare at the ceiling. She was tired, being an Elite Jounin didn't mean you weren't human.

"You know I tried to get you out of here Naruto" Pakura told him.

Naruto lifted his head.

"Yup, I talked to the council- even the Kazekage himself trying to get you out of here. I even offered to take you as an apprentice to ensure your loyalty. Refused, of course." she sighed out.

Silence, still.

"I have to go rest Naruto. I'll be back with more ramen. I can't guarantee when though, the missions I've been receiving have only been getting harder, and longer." Pakura waved to him, "Stay strong, Naruto."

Naruto was alone, again.

(Two weeks after Naruto's arrival)

Naruto was currently staring at a blank piece of paper, covered in questions. 'I probably should of studied more instead of sleeping. Whoops' he thought, sighing. 'Well I should at least guess, let's take a look at those questions.'

'Hmmm… The name of the current Kazekage? A: Rasa… No, he sounds cooler than that, believe it! B: Tasa… That sounds exactly like the first name- definitely trying to trick me! Can't trick Naruto, though, believe it! C: Akuma… That's badass! Definitely C!' Naruto circled C.

'Next: Suna relations with Iwa have been shaky in the past. True or false? Eh? Who's Iwa? False definitely! I would've heard of them if there had been conflicts between the two.' Naruto circled false confidently.

'Puppets were first used in ninja techniques by Suna. True or false? Bahhh! This is too easy, wait until Leader sees me get a perfect store. Obviously false! Dolls could never be used by ninjas. It's a trick question! Naruto grinned at that answer, he was acing this test.

A couple hours later, Naruto stood up and handed the test to Leader. No words were exchanged as he handed the test to the intimidating man. After, he returned his desk to await the scoring.

5 minutes passed, then 10, soon enough 20 minutes had gone by and he was still without a grade. 'What's taking him so long all he has to do is write 100, and be done with it.'

"Demon, come up here." Leader said chillingly as he also moved in front of his desk, looking down on Naruto's now 5'1 stature. "You've managed to impress me." Leader said waving him to take a look at the grade on his test.

Once Naruto saw what he had gotten, he paled.

"Eight out of 50, Demon. Eight out of fucking, fifty!" Leader crumpled the paper up and threw it on the floor, "Trash, Demon! Just like you!"

Naruto didn't know what had happened next- it was a blurry memory. One time he remembered getting hit 2 times, another time 200 times; there was one constant though, he was always beaten.

As soon as he woke up though, he saw a smirking face staring right at him, right in front of his face. Apparently, he had ended up on the floor after being hit "Hello, again Demon." Leader had obviously not had a change of heart.

Leader grabbed his collar, "Do you still claim to be loyal to Konoha, Demon?! Do you?!

No response.

"They haven't sent anyone to recover you, I'll have you know. Seems to be one-sided if you ask me." Leader said as he walked out the door.

Naruto whispered an inaudible, "yes…" in regards to his loyalty to Konoha as Leader left the room. He didn't want to be pummeled on again, after all.

(1 month after his arrival)

Naruto was currently standing in front of Leader's desk, in the same room that he had failed the Suna History exam two weeks prior. He had been mentioning his loyalty to Konoha less frequently, after he learned of their reactions to his capture. He had just finished his retake of the Suna History exam, and was waiting upon the man in front of him, seated at the desk, to find out whether he had failed or passed.

"Well, well, well, Demon. Looks like you finally passed." Leader stamped a red Passed next to the scribbled 44/50 on his exam. It was the highest score Naruto had ever gotten on any test- including those from the Konoha Academy.

He had little room for excitement, though, as Leader reached into the desk drawer, and pulled out a Suna forehead protector signifying a Suna shinobi.

"Here you go, Demon. Here's your ticket to your new life." Leader handed him the headband.

Naruto took the headband, and placed it in his brown shorts. Naruto still wore his brown shorts that Pakura had gotten him the day of his capture. Those, and a toss-up between the dark-green and orange t-shirts that she'd gotten him. Usually it was the orange one, though.

"Demon, you have to put the headband on! You're a Suna shinobi now, start acting like one!" Leader shouted at him.

"No thanks." Naruto responded curtly. He was rarely rebelling against his orders, anymore, only the ones regarding Suna did he stand up to. Still, though, his responses had been getting briefer during the last month, as if he was scared to be beaten.

"Ok, Demon. Then we'll have to do something a little more permanent to show your loyalty." Leader reached into his desk, drawer again. This time, he pulled out a metal rod with the word Suna on the end.

'Is that a branding iron?!' Naruto thought frantically, 'I heard about those being used on prisoners when I studied Suna History, apparently they hurt a ton!' he began to sweat at the thought of Suna being tattooed on his body. 'I have to do something!'

"Leader? I didn't mean that- I'll put the forehead protector on." he placed the headband over his arm, "See? No need for that thing." Naruto said pointing to the Suna rod.

"No this'll teach you, Demon." Leader said holding him down with one hand, he was unnaturally strong. Leader then used a Fire Jutsu, to heat the iron up, and then, after taking the orange-shirt off Naruto, upper right side of his chest.

'Gahhhhhh' Naruto grit his teeth, as the heat overwhelmed his senses. Tears began to flow out of his eyes, he'd never felt this much pain before. The villages had never branded him before. Soon, the heat began to fade, and he ventured into blissful unconsciousness.

Naruto awoke in his bed, fully-clothed once more. Remembering the events that caused him to lose consciousness he reached for the right side of his chest. He was greeted with a rough texture, outlining he could see that it was words.

'Seems that I now belong to Suna' he thought, amidst chuckling lifelessly. 'Leader is right about one thing. They definitely haven't sent anyone after me or I'd be out of here by now. The old man probably forgot about me. They probably don't even realize I'm gone…' he thought rubbing the back of his head. A look at the clock: 10:38 P.M.

'One day, I'll get out. Where I'll go, though, or when I have no clue…' he though as he lied his head down and fell asleep. One thing hadn't change over his duration in the prison- he still slept like a rock.

Naruto woke up to orange bangs resting over his head, as he rubbed his eyes he noticed a pair of amber eyes were staring at him, not far from his head. Naruto retreated from the eyes, he didn't want anyone noticing the Suna mark on his chest- and his shirt was getting tighter during the last month. He was now nearing 5'2.

"Ramen, Naruto." Pakura said.

Naruto still waited for her to give it to him, he was extra-cautious after the branding. Pakura definitely wasn't working for Leader, yet, Leader could always be watching. This forced him to be hesitant, even with ramen.

Pakura handed him the hot bowl of noodles. "I sealed this one from a nice restaurant- I forgot the name, though."

Once he'd acquired his food, Naruto began slurping, albeit noticeably slower.

Pakura immediately realized that she'd have to do all the talking, again. Not that she minded, she would've liked to hear the blonde-boy speak, though.

"Sorry about not visiting you sooner Naruto. Like I said last time, ever since I began visiting you here I've been getting harder and longer missions. I've been getting fringe S-rank missions now! S for suicide!"

Naruto chuckled at that, dark humor had become more appealing to him after his recent affairs. He did worry though, currently Pakura was the only constant in his life after being imprisoned, even if she was the one who did capture him. She visited him, brought him ramen, even talked to him! Even in Konoha, there was no one who did that for him!

"I'm going to be gone a lot more than I have been." she said, beginning to pace around the room as she frowned.

"I know I haven't seen you much recently- but once I get over the hump of these missions I'll be able to visit more." she said stopping to stand in front of where he was sitting on his bed.

"Stand up really quick, Naruto."

He did. He finished his ramen, after all.

"Look at that! You're going to be taller than me soon!" She raised her hand for a high-five, which Naruto hesitantly returned.

The contact warmed her heart, she was getting closer to the boy! 'Next time he'll be actually talking to me' she mused silently.

Pakura walked to the door, waving to Naruto "Gotta go Naruto, I'll bring double the ramen next time for the amount of time I expect to be gone." she said, smiling brightly, as she exited the room, not before she heard something from the mute-boy, though.

"Thanks, Pakura. Be safe." Naruto mumbled falling back to sleep.