Naruto 1. A new begining!

The Phantom of the leaf.

"People- Speaking".

'People- Thoughts'.

**Jutsu/Tailed beast/Boss Summoning **

**Disclaimer- This is my first attempt at a Naruto Fanfic and before I begin I would just like to say that I picked this series up back in 2008 and have been going strong ever since and while I am doing this because of what if's like everyone else and it goes without saying, Masashi Kishimoto I really love your work, your characters are some of my all time favorites and when it does end I really hope you have a sequel in mind.**

And now for the normal introductions:

KNOK KNOK KNOK!

SoujiroxTenken: Hello? (Jumps out of way from door flying off of hinges)

Wrath: Let me tell you something SoujiroxTenken, first time fanfic writer, Major Narutard, where the hell is some love for Wrath?! WRATH NEEDS LOVE TOO!

SoujiroxTenken …? WTF? WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO RIP THE DOOR OFF THE WALL WRATH? YOU COULDN'T DO THIS OVER THE PHONE?

Wrath: WRAAAAATH!

SoujiroxTenken: Oh just do the damn Intro already you damn crybaby.

Wrath: LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHIN READERS! SoujiroxTenken does not own Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin/Phantom Requiem for the Phantom or any references made herein, BECAUSE IF HE DID HE WOULDN'T BE SUCH A CHUMP!

SoujiroxTenken: Yeah what he said…Hey…? (Develops tick mark), that's it I don't care who you are nobody calls me a chump (body flickers behind Wrath) **THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!**

Wrath: LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHIN READERS THAT REALLY HUUUUUURRT!

Chapter 1: The Shadow of Inferno

Atop the Hokage Monument.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze could be seen standing overlooking the village he had been born to with a blank stare on his face that would make even Itachi Uchiha shiver, and that in itself could be considered an act of Kami. Naruto was of slightly above average height for a fifteen year old boy, standing at five foot ten inches tall. Naruto was normally easiest to spot by the three whisker like birthmarks adorning his cheeks or his bright golden-yellow spiky hair, but at the moment neither of these things would be able to represent our favorite blonde shinobi. Naruto could be seen wearing loose fitting black shinobi pants with cargo pockets, a sleeveless red form fitting shirt, a light black windbreaker, black shinobi sandals, a standard equipment pouch strapped on his backside to the left, a kunai pouch on his left leg, a scroll holster on his right, and strapped across his lower back you would see _"Ravager"_ his personal chakra conducting dagger that his first teacher had made for him. Naruto was currently under his guise of Reiji Azuma or _"The Phantom"_ as many in the assassination business had come to know him by now. Using his skills in sealing jutsu and the base formula made by his clan members of the Uzumaki, Naruto had actually recreated and improved a very basic sealing formula for disguise. Naruto had grown his hair out and it was almost a match to that of his late father's, Minato Namikaze. Naruto had grown his hair out in the back and kept it tied in a small ponytail to conceal a modest sealing tattoo, that when pulsed by his chakra would actually perform three very specific tasks. The first would be that due to its proximity, the color of his hair would shift from its bright blonde to a dull brown. The second function would actually place an almost imperceptible illusion over his face to conceal his whisker marks, and change the color of his eyes to that of a light brown. The third function and probably the most important function of the seal but the only inactive one would be the "forget me not" function. Naruto had painstakingly taken a full year and a half to perfect the final function of the seal; just so he could know that none of his secrets would fall into unworthy hands. The "forget me not" function of the seal on his neck worked in a simple two prong stage, so that he could try to take his assailants life along with his. It is a well known fact that the chakra circulatory system is vital to those that have awakened it, so much so that if one was to deplete all of their chakra the individual would die. It is also known that upon death itself, one's chakra goes into a stasis mode and it is recognized by the body as if you no longer have chakra. Naruto worked it into the seal that if the one bearing the seal was to die or their chakra was to disappear in the case of the stasis; the first thing would be that their mind would actually be wiped of all memory as if they never existed. The second and better part of the seal in Naruto's opinion was simple; it comes with a ten second countdown… and that should pretty much tell you what happens to those trying to loot/collect anything from someone felled wearing this particular seal. Naruto took a deep shuddering breath as he stared out at the village he could have spent his life growing up in and a simple thought came to his mind 'Why am I so worried about this'. Naruto had finally accomplished his goal and come back to the village of his origin and in all honesty while it felt familiar, I didn't feel right like he had come to expect it to.

Tomorrow would be an interesting day of that Naruto was sure; after all how one is supposed to react when they are recognized as the top assassin in the entire elemental nation's, and they are then asked to be slapped into a group with kids who have never even killed before… well it was beyond him. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage had asked Naruto personally to take up his now future position; and that alone left Naruto in a tight spot. His new apparent _"Leader"_ was asking him for a favor and while normally he would be all over this for a chance to cash in later, something was screaming at Naruto that this whole mess was going to be an outright cluster-fuck. Pushing the revulsion he felt for his new and upcoming assignment aside Naruto couldn't help but drift back to everything he now knew had led to his life as it was now; and really only one thing was to be said… Danzo Shimura and his little band of miss-fits were going to die by his hands and his alone, because _"The Phantom"_ was definitely someone you should not fuck with.

The village hidden in the leaves, one of the five major shinobi villages, considered among many to be the most untouchable… until one fateful night.

Village Hidden in the Leaves Main Gate 15 years ago:

The village hidden in the leaves was known for many things, its bustling marketplace, its beautifully created houses that if one looked hard enough could see some were actually merged with the tall oak tree's they appeared to just be leaning on, and the expanses of beautiful forests that were littered with streams, gulley's, and even a few lakes. The most eye catching thing about the village though would have to be its main gate, which was not just an entry way but truly a symbol because painted upon the red face of the gate was the kanji for fire the representing symbol of the village and the land it was sworn to protect since it's conception. Connected to said main gate you could see a gray concrete wall that stood just as tall as the gate itself (a whopping 30 stories tall mind you) wrapping around the border of the village until reaching the dark brown rock mountain face that housed the true sight of the village hidden in the leaves, the Hokage monument.

The hokage monument had been created as an effigy for the Kage's of the past, currently being adorned by that of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth great leader's faces of the proud village. Though, on this night one wondered if the monument would survive to see the next sunrise.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was known as many things: the professor and the god of shinobi to name a few but never had he seen anything like this. The destruction he was currently viewing was unspeakable (and he had lived through 3 shinobi wars dammit… but this… this was just unbelievable.) "Get back in line and throw another volley of burst kunai. Dammit push the demon back!" Hiruzen yelled. Hiruzen could be seen wearing his black battle armor with thick samurai-like shoulder pauldrons, chest plate, battle leggings, and his round battle helm while wielding the monkey king "Enma" in his adamantine Bo staff form.

What he was referring to was the nine tailed demon fox, the greatest of the nine biju. Many good shinobi had died and Hiruzen feared for the lives of the rest of his villagers, all seemed lost to him but at that moment salvation arrived. "Look it's Lord Fourth!" one of the many assembled jonin shouted as he pointed out into the dense forest only to show a humungous toad easily the size of a mountain. Said toad was red in color and was seen to be wearing a happi vest, with a dosu blade strapped to his side. This toad however was recognized by all as the chief toad Gamabunta (Bunta for short, and only to those he respects dammit), and he was currently doing a quick onceover of his opponent.

"**I don't know about this one boy, why'd you have to go and summon me to such a damn troublesome situation?" **the chief toad bellowed to his summoner who was currently perched on his head.

"I am sorry Gamabunta but I feel that I will really need your help with this battle, in all honesty I'm not sure if I'm going to be walking away from this one."

Said one Minato Namikaze; the Fourth Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves.

"**Let me tell you something boy **(Ha see what I did there) **don't you go talking about dying on me now, you've got one on the way and I'll be damned if I let you leave him without so much as hello beforehand you got me?" **the chief toad barked out.

The fourth stood atop Bunta wearing a standard Konoha-nin uniform with two blue wrist bands each on both of his sleeves, a leaf green flak jacket, and blue sandals, his short-sleeved long white haori decorated by orange flame motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down the back and the most important but a blue hiate wrapped around his forehead holding back his yellow hair. He began a long string of hand seals and then stopped holding the ram sign.

'If this is really to be my end at least I can save the village, I just wish… Naruto… I hope you can forgive me and endure what's to come'.

The last anyone of the village hidden in the leaves saw of their dear lord fourth, was his disappearing visage in a brilliant flash of golden light with a giant nine-tailed fox in tow to the backdrop of a vibrant moon-lit night.

Later on that night…

10 miles west of the village hidden in the leaves:

If one were to wonder what young Megumi Takani was doing in the woods at three o'clock in the morning, well the answer would simply be she was supposed to be meeting a contact to drop off a new poison developed by Inferno. Now what Inferno is (well that's a story for a bit later but the point is, One Megumi Takani went looking to make a sale not pay witness to the greatest sealing of the greatest of the nine living Tailed beasts.

Young Megumi was a standard six year old girl at the average height of 41 inches tall with a beautiful alabaster completion, with long flowing black hair that reached around the middle of her back, with onyx colored eyes, and a small regal nose. This night you would see her wearing a violet kimono with her hair tied and held up at the middle of her back by a violet ribbon, and a blue pair of shinobi sandals adorning her feet.

'Why does father always wind up putting me in the worst situations…? I'll never know I guess', Megumi thought to herself as she watched the giant nine tailed fox disappear in a flash of blinding light.

Megumi tentatively made her way over to the open acre surrounded by the same oak trees all over the land of fire. Most of the area had been destroyed by the giant tailed beast and it was then that Megumi came upon a most horrifying sight, two people lay slump on the floor in front of a new born babe.

Megumi made a slow approach to the huddled silhouettes and was now able to make out their appearances. The first she made out by his back which even with the one foot hole in it, it would be impossible to mistake looking at the legendary haori of Minato Namikaze the fourth Hokage. If the haori hadn't been enough now she was standing nay two feet from the pair in front of the babe, looking as though they were trying to embrace the child she could now see his golden yellow hair and even though they were now half lidded his piercing blue eyes. To his front could only be described as probably one of the most beautiful women Megumi had ever seen, with long flowing crimson hair and a pair of violet eyes in a round yet slim heart shaped face. The woman was wearing a white blouse with what looked like a forest green dress over top of it. As Megumi rounded the pair to get a look at the quietly sleeping baby('seriously how was the kid asleep after all that' she thought to herself) she was brought out of her musing when all of a sudden she felt pressure on her tiny left leg.

When Megumi looked down she found the woman actually looking intently at her, it was as if her violet eyes were boring into her soul for Kami's sake. Megumi actually became frightened at the intense visage the women held, and then she noticed the twin wound that seemed to come from behind where then nine tails had obviously pierced her and the fourth hokage and immediately went into doctor mode.

Having grown up the daughter of the illustrious ninja-swordsman Saito Takani, she had begun her training at the age of four. While not as adept at battle as her father or her brother Sano, Megumi had easily followed in her mother's footsteps. Megumi was not only a healer but in all honesty was beginning her indoctrination into the art of becoming a walking poison. It is a well know fact that while an arcane form, it is easy to prepare oneself by taking amounts of a poison into the body to become used to the effects of said poison to make one-self immune and also grant the ability to poison ones foes through touch. Immediately Megumi began using a diagnostic jutsu to try to ascertain what to do with her new patient, but was immediately horrified that the women was even still alive let alone conscious.

Megumi planned to begin using the mystical palm technique to heal the women even though she knew it was futile, but then the women stopped her by speaking.

"Li…List…Listen...To...me." the crimson haired women said to the scared youth. "I...Don't care what hap...Happens…promise...Promise me… you'll take…Na…r...Naru…Naruto…Away from here." Tears were now forming at the corners of the women's eyes, it was clear to Megumi that this was the women's final request.

Megumi watched as the light finally died in the women's eyes, the last of her energy spent.

Megumi took a deep shuddering breath and quickly picked up the orange wrapped bundle holding the child, and with a quick glance towards the flickering lights of the fires coming from the village began her trek back to her father's position. All the while as she walked Megumi could only wonder, 'what will life be like now with this little one with me'.

For the record as it stands Saito Takani was known by reputation as a very patient man, however tonight was really pushing the boundaries of his propriety. Saito stood at a decent height of six feet one inches. It was easy to see his raven colored hair tied back into a long ponytail, gleaming in the moonlight, while his coal black eyes held a certain air of steel to them. Saito had a very angular face with a strong pointed chin, and an imperial looking nose. He was wearing his typical attire of a black kimono with his traditional Tabi shoes on his feet, but seen strapped to his back was what would draw your attention because on his back you could see a green handled Nodachi more specifically the legendary Hitokiri Battosai or(man slayer).

Saito had carved his name into the age, quite literally. The man hailed from the land of grass and was one of the few renowned swordsmen to not hail from the village hidden in the mist. Saito had come from humble beginnings like most and had planned to join his village's ninja force, much to the dismay of his mother and disappointment of his father (who was an ex-samurai himself.) At the age of ten however Saito lost his parents in a fire and the only things he could salvage from the fire were his father's sword and scroll forms, his mothers jewelry, and a few sealing scrolls his father had bought him. He himself went on to rise to fame with his defeat of multiple enemies at the border of grass coming from Takigakure-the village hidden in a waterfall at the age of twelve. By the age of sixteen Saito's renown as a swordsmen had skyrocketed, and it was even rumored that he was the one to finish Kisame Hoshigaki's (The Monster of the Hidden Mist's) training though it had yet to be proven.

The years had gone by and Saito had come to be known as the "Lone Wolf" due to his record of defeating upwards of fifty enemy shinobi single-handedly at once at the very beginning of the Second Great Ninja war.

Many said that Saito had even run into and faced the legendary Kakuzu a missing ninja from Taki that fought the First Hokage, and actually lived to tell the tale. Further bolstering his status as a legendary warrior, he was the first on record to actually face the Gold and Silver brothers and walk away (not so much in one piece but still). Even with the accolade though, it was not well known that Saito was actually a freelancer and not a shinobi of one of the major villages.

Oh sure he had the skills of one. He had ascertained a large fortune through fighting and looting throughout his young teenage years, Saito then spent that hard earned money locating tutors of the shinobi arts to train him. Now being seen at what would be considered by most the golden years of his life, he was now trying to even out the future for his daughter.

Saito had waited a long time to settle down; in fact it had been near impossible to find a woman even willing to go near him with his blood-stained past.

He had finally married a beautiful woman named Natsumi in the middle of the Second great Ninja war, and at the time he had been thirty-nine and she herself had been seventeen.

Now however Saito was fifty-six and it was starting to finally wear on him (He was trailing right behind Hiruzen Sarutobi for Kami's sake.). He would often reminisce about his wife, and the intense circumstances in which they had met.

Natsumi was considered a beautiful young woman at a height of five feet five inches, with long brown hair that had been pulled into a braided ponytail at the back, light pink eyes, a very slim hourglass figure, tight behind, and mid-b class sized breasts. She had been left in a bad way by her own family; they had sold her to a ring of smugglers operating out of Takigakure and she was being bartered over when Saito had descended upon the camp. Saito cut every mercenary in the camp down easily (when you only have two Jounin in the camp with a bunch of normal bandit's what chance do you really stand against a higher A-class/Lower S-class shinobi right?) Saito had just impaled one of the Jounin easily on his blade when he heard her scream; he turned to find Natsumi in a headlock clutched to the female Jounin's left side with a kunai angled at her skull.

Needless to say Saito beheaded the Jounin and then proceeded to free all the slaves at the camp including Natsume, and from there it was pretty much history. Saito and Natsumi then spent the next few years traveling, visiting the different towns throughout the land of rock. When the time finally came for their first child to arrive Saito and Natsumi returned to the hidden grass village, a nation known for its farming and beautiful green rolling hills, and it's slightly muggy climate(since it did actually rain half the year, nowhere near as bad as Amegakure right?) They spent the next few years enjoying what they considered to be a relatively peaceful life in Kusa. Sadly Natsumi took ill after getting pregnant with their second child, it was a rare disease and even though they had money they were told they would need the likes of Tsunade Senju to treat her. Saito being the kind of man he was, went in search of Tsunade for three months and always wound up a month behind her trail.

Saito began to tire in his search and when he received a scroll by messenger hawk from Natsumi, he knew it was time to return home. As time went on Natsumi's condition worsened, but even so their family knew love and peace. Finally though, as it is that all good things come to an end, Natsumi succumbed to her illness by young Megumi's fifth birthday.

Saito had since taken to working with a group of individual's looking to rival the five great ninja villages, though they were only an organization they already had many influential partner's. He had done this all for his children's future and anyone that would dare object to his motives…well… let's just say the last had actually been a missing ninja from the bloody mist one Kushimaru Kuriarare a member of the seven swordsman of the mist, and even this supposed legendary swordsman had fallen to the viciousness of the "Lone Wolf".

This night in all honesty had been a gigantic mess (cluster fuck… he would say when his daughter wasn't around) it was supposed to be simple: drop off of a new poison his daughter had actually made for Inferno, to sell off for a tidy profit of 3.5 million ryu to a surly character named Danzo Shimura. Saito by nature was a cautious man and something about this deal was screaming trap, and if it was one thing Saito Hated it was walking into a trap. His skills portrayed a certain image and falling into traps went against that image.

For starters why travel so far into one of the Big Five's territories, and second why only offer up this one vial. Normally Saito would have turned around and killed the person asking him to take such a ludicrous job but the fact's stood, it was not just one man but all "five burning pillars" had unanimously voted for "him" to specifically take this job and utilize his daughter's unique talents as well.

The pillars were the ones who had established the organization he had been working for the past ten years, and it was known simply as Inferno. They had established this standing organization as a result of the tempestuous times at the beginning of the Third Great Ninja War, and had begun simply by buying minor businesses' among the lesser villages and even hired out missing ninja they bought into their folds for jobs at a lower price than what any ninja village would charge "_at first anyway_." Soon though it was much more than minor businesses' and occasional hired assassin's, no now at this point they were known as an organization and while many of the hired guns they had were weaker their numbers were nothing to scoff at, they were bordering on having a quarter-million strong under their belt though most of that number comprised of foot soldiers/bandits. Inferno had flourished under the leadership of a man named Shishio Mokota, and the funniest thing about it was few had ever met the man. Saito had actually had the _"Pleasure"_ of meeting the man face to face two years ago, and if Saito was honest he actually feared the man. Shishio had demonstrated a level of swordsmanship akin to his own and he was in his early to mid forties; it was practically like meeting Minato Namikaze in person. Shishio stood at the same height as Saito, but was just a little leaner and seemed to be wirier than him even.

The man had a very regal looking face with sharp cheekbones, a strong pointed chin, and a slightly angular nose. The thing about Shishio that threw Saito off though was the man's eyes; they were a light yellow color and contrasted greatly to his almost grayish-blue hair. Saito had met many in his years of battle and few could unnerve him but something about Shishio's stare, it was almost as if he was looking through him instead of at him while they spoke. It had been a relatively short meeting and it also struck Saito as odd because all the man did was thank him and comment on his skill from his latest job, which if Saito was honest had been really easy. It was at that moment that Saito replayed the mission in his head and realized it; the whole thing had been a set up so he could be evaluated. It was perfectly clear to Saito now; the man either needed him, or he wanted to gauge him so he could decide how to dispose of him.

The worst part of it all of this was Saito knew it but there was nothing he could do about it… you try proving something like that to anybody and you'd either get laughed at or reported right back to Shishio. The other part about it was that Saito knew Danzo; oh he knew that old bastard very well. In the beginning of the third great war he had actually had the audacity to send his "_ninja" (_if they could be called that) after him to collect the sizeable bounty he had acquired from Taki. (Dead or alive of course)

He had "politely" declined the offer to be brought in alive and had killed all twenty-seven of his operatives, and then beheaded them and sent the bodies back in scrolls without the heads (hey bounties could be found under the strangest of circumstances right). Needless to say the old fool was persistent; he had actually contacted Inferno two weeks later hoping to commission someone to hunt Saito down. This of course led to retribution… that which of course had gone quite well, and had really put a hitch in the old fossil's plan's.(Whatever his plans were anyway).

Saito had actually stopped Danzo's attempted infiltration of Amegakure; he slaughtered another one-hundred and twenty-nine of Danzo's men that day, and even gained the interest and favor of one Salamander Hanzo S-class shinobi and leader of Ame.

Hanzo immediately introduced himself and claimed "No matter what it is you need, I Salamander Hanzo shall abide you; you no longer need to be the Lone Wolf." In all honesty that had gotten Saito's attention, Hanzo was known for being a shrewd and should we say "_difficult_" person to deal with and yet there had been no lie in his eyes.

It was not an unwelcome alliance; in all honesty Saito was more than welcoming of it as it was that Inferno had no idea of Hanzo's declaration, and Saito knew that he would need an ally if he was to break free of Inferno. The feeling creeping up Saito's spine was the clinch; he would need to make a move and most probably sooner rather than later, if he was going to allow his children to be safe and happy.

And one thing was truly certain; Saito Takani lived for his children, and only them it was just a fact.

"Where is she…?" Saito mused to himself as he awaited the return of his beloved daughter. Though he could not bring himself to say it to her Saito loved Megumi more than anything, but he had to keep his emotions guarded even around her. She resembled her mother in a lot of ways and in others he could see himself in her, and it was that part that worried him. While she was not overtly longing for battle, she did have some skill with a tanto, and what was worse is that for a six year old girl she had a strange detachment when it came to death. Saito suspected it had to do with the loss of her mother, it had hit all three of them but none harder than her, and it seemed to leave a void in the girl that she now filled with habits. Now habit is something all creatures have it is understandable, but for a six year old girl to clean a room from head to toe after Saito just killed five men in it and then have there be no trace; that just screamed obsessive compulsive disorder.

He had meant to take his children and break free of this life, in all honesty Saito was tired… tired of fighting… tired of it all. He just wanted a place to rest now and finish watching his children grow. He longed for the chance to actually be a grandfather and not just look like one, but it seemed like a fading dream because of his involvement with Inferno. His son Sano was much like himself, the only difference in him being his personality quirk of flying off the handle at times. The worst part of that though was that now Sano wanted to work for Inferno to prove himself and move up the ladder so he could attain a station much like his father, and Saito didn't want his children working for Inferno if he could help it. Saito had attained the moniker of head Assassin for Inferno as such that everyone in the organization called him Wolf, even if he himself felt it a bit unnecessary.

Sano resembled Saito in every aspect of life; from the way he fought down to his very looks, it was almost as if Saito was looking at a younger version of himself. Sano had just turned fourteen and he was already in Saito's honest opinion a competent swordsman, even though Sano himself favored a zanbatou. His birthday had passed just last month on the fifth and Saito had gotten his son a new blade, a zanbatou that was actually double edged and was jet black all around in color. Sano had been practicing mercilessly against Saito, and Saito was now more than confident that his son could fight with the new weapon and not injure himself. Sano was a wonderful boy and while brash he definitely had the spark of a warrior, he was even working a taijutsu to use in tandem with his blade.

"Father…" Sano called out to his father as he entered the bluff his father was standing in. There were many tall oak tree's around them but in the center of the bluff the moon shone down prominently as the light breeze brought out the smell of the year round sunflowers, just next to the tiny stream outlining the west side of the bluff.

Sano Takani was everything his father was in his youth… he stood at roughly five foot six inches tall, and had his long brown hair pulled into a ponytail bound by a black band with only two strands hanging in his face. His lightly chiseled face bore no scars and only just the hints of an in-coming goatee.

Sano was dressed far differently than his father however; he had on a jet black haori with no shirt on but a set of white bandages covering him up to the middle of his six pack abs, a pair of loose fitting black shinobi pants and a pair of black shinobi sandals. Strapped to Sano's back you could see "Purgatory" his double-edged zanbatou, being held in place by a single dark brown strap.

All things considered Saito was proud of his son's battle prowess and his very presence; most grown men didn't have the clout Sano had and he wasn't even really a man yet.

Sano approached and reached out his right hand and his father clasped it in a show of respect for his oldest child.

They stood side by side in the moon-lit bluff in front of the sunflowers awaiting Megumi from her delivery, and while it was quiet they both knew that this kind of silence was one that only came after a battle; there wasn't even a cool breeze now and it was as if the world had stopped.

"Father what's going on it's quiet as a tomb, and the air's thick with malice." Sano said as he was now starting to get fidgety.

"You couldn't see it from where I had you positioned but I know you had to have heard the bellowing of the nine tails". Saito said as he threw a brief glace at his son.

Sano blanched white and then took a brief moment to remember the strange roaring, and then it all made sense. That oppressive killing intent he felt and that strange explosion he saw happen to the north, so it really was a tailed beast that did all that well…('shit on me') was all Sano could think after the knowledge hit him.

"Brother… Father…" Megumi called as she entered the bluff a little out of breath now holding an orange bundle in her arms instead of a scroll as her father had been expecting.

Now to most this would be extremely confusing but Saito could recognize that kind of bundle anywhere, after all he had dealt with two of those before in his own lifetime when he had his children. As Megumi got closer Saito began to wonder what the hell was going on, they had gone to deliver a poison and now his daughter had returned _and _she now had an infant with her.

"Megumi, I presume you have good reason to be here with an infant, and not the money we were supposed to be receiving" Saito stated as his daughter reached him and his son.

Megumi took a deep breath and quickly divulged what had transpired while she had been waiting to meet the contact meant to finish the business transaction with her, and then she promptly fell down from exhaustion due to the events of the evening.

Saito was now holding the orange bundle in his hands looking upon the face that so much resembled Minato Namikaze, and in all honesty he now for the first time in a long time had no idea what to do in his current situation. He was now holding effectively a child with the future potential to be the greatest shinobi… possibly ever, but on the other hand the leaf would no doubt be after the child. Saito quickly decided that the boy would come with him and if time and fate permitted, the boy would grow under his tutelage much like his son had. In his honest opinion he was doing the boy a favor; most hidden villages isolated their jinchuriki at best, and hated/tried to kill them at worst. As Saito began to turn that's when it hit him, the smell of iron, light copper, and an almost indescribable earthy smell-blood. The smell was thick and it was coming from the north east headed in their direction, the only question was why. Immediately Saito knew why and he knew in that same instant that he and his family had to move before nothing less than seven ANBU black ops agents (a standard kill squad) were upon them, and even with Sano he had no interest in being delayed long enough for the whole village to descend. Saito turned to his son to tell him to get ready to move when he realized it; Sano was walking in the general direction of the threat.

"Father… we both know even you can't take them all. You're getting slower even though you don't wanna admit it, and I probably wouldn't make it through anyway; you can't help me, protect Megumi and the kid, and get us out of here." Sano stated with his back facing Saito.

Saito bit back a shudder at the tone his son had used; it was one he recognized that many men he had killed had used before charging to their own deaths.

"You should take Megumi and the kid and go, I'll hold them back for a bit and for you that'll be enough. We both know that this is the best way… you need to do this, besides mom would just beat you to death if we all wound up to her this early together" his son said still facing away from him, his right hand trembling being the only thing that giving

Away that he might be afraid.

Saito dug deep and tried to hold onto his calm; but the dread that washed over him when Sano finished his statement, it was enough to push him over the edge. For the first time in a little over a year Saito Takani let his emotions show; in the form of tears that gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"I know I don't say it enough… but I love you… _my son._" Saito said as he took one step back and grabbed hold of Megumi and tucked her under his left arm as he cradled the sleeping babe to his chest with his right hand.

"I promise you… I will see you again one day… and on that day we'll go to your mother together… so I can apologize for my failure." Saito said as the tears finally fell cascading down his cheeks to his sharp chin where they gathered and then fell to the cold night ground.

"You never have to be sorry Father… I couldn't have asked for a better life… or father." Saito said now barely looking at his family as they prepared to bolt for their lives.

Megumi's tears were flowing freely and she was lightly sobbing but managed to choke out "I love you… big brother" in between her sobbing. It took everything Sano had not to break down and weep with her and their father but he knew now more than ever that he had to do what his father had taught him- banish his feelings; he had to hold it together until long after they left to get the job done.

"You need to go they'll be here any minute now, I love you both and it's like you said father I'll see you again… that's a promise" Sano said as he threw up a thumbs up as he spun back around and drew "Purgatory" off his back. Sano steadied himself for what was to come knowing that he probably wouldn't live the next hour out, but that if he was going to go he wasn't going alone.

Saito had so many things to say but he knew that there would be no point now; he was going to lose his son. He did what was natural and slipped into routine and let all feeling fade with a final thought for his son 'I couldn't have asked for a better son Sano' and with that turned and disappeared in a body flicker into the thick trees heading in the direction of Kusagakure.

Sano stood his ground taking slow deep breaths, a small bead of sweat trailing down his brow. He could smell the blood easier now his enemy was approaching and now he not only had to fend off the sorrow he felt, but now his adrenaline as well for the battle to come. He tensed and placed his weight on his back right foot, preparing to launch the moment they entered the clearing. With that thought they descended into the clearing and finally he could look at them, and in all honesty Sano was not impressed. For the entire rumor mill that followed behind the boogey-men that were the Anbu of each village, now after being able to look at them Sano knew the stories were exaggerated. Sure the masks were all different for each village and unsettling in their own way but still, initially the stories Sano had heard made them out to not be human at all. There were nine of them in all and they now stood in a semi-circle in front of Sano, and now he could see they're state of dress. Six of the nine were in standard attire for leaf Anbu with short sleeve black form fitting shirt's, underneath light gray body armor on their torso's, with loose black pants down to their calves which were wrapped in white medical tape leading down to the black shinobi sandals each of them wore on their feet. Each of those six had two equipment pouches strapped to their backsides, while each had a standard Anbu style ninjato strapped down their back parallel to the spine. Out of the first six masks were Bird, Rabbit, Ox, Bear, Deer, and Cat, each one being of their singular design and each bearing the same mark on the left cheek a splash of flame covering most of the left side of their mask. The other three stood in the middle with three of the other Anbu on each side, the other colors fading into the middle. Two of the last three had on black cloaks without their hoods pulled up, these two being Dragon, and Wolf respectively.

The apparent leader was seen wearing a white cloak with the hood pulled up and was wearing what Sano presumed could only be a Monkey mask.

The leader in the white cloak actually took a small step forward shaking lightly; if Sano didn't know better he would say the man was afraid, it was probably due to the chill in the air. "We are here by order of Hiruzen Sarutobi acting leader of the village hidden in the leaves to retrieve a blonde infant by the name of Naruto Namikaze, failure to provide us the information of his whereabouts and or the submission of yourself to questioning will result in use of deadly force on our part, are you willing to comply?", the man said in a monotone voice starring and Sano.

Sano took on a slightly perplexed look and began to shift on the balls of his feet, causing all of the Anbu to tense momentarily before his body fully relaxed. He cast his gaze to the ground shadowing his eyes from the Anbu and as he slightly began to raise his head a moment later the Anbu actually believed he would stand down, oh how wrong they were.

With speed beyond a simple Jounin Sano was upon them already having swung a sideways blow that connected with tender cloth and the flesh beneath severing the head off of the Anbu Captain's shoulders. 'So...fast.' was the last though one Shinto Sarutobi had as he left this life.

From that moment on it was pandemonium, and yet it only took three minutes to actually play out. Sano deftly spun on his left foot already bringing Purgatory to bear on not one, but now two of the Anbu before him. Finally the others got themselves to regroup and those that had been on the left of the Anbu captain jumped back, and began drawing weapons or weaving hand seals. Sano released one hand from the hilt of Purgatory and quickly tossed a kunai with an explosive note attached to the ring on its bottom two feet in front of the group of four that had jumped back, causing them to quickly jump back a little farther. Sano then readjusted his grip bringing his second hand back to Purgatory's

Hilt and began to add more pressure to the two Anbu. He absent-mindedly noticed they had actually drawn their ninjato's to block his swing, and that now left him wondering when they had gotten the chance. Sano quickly rectified that by channeling his fire nature chakra into Purgatory and added so much that the blade instead of just catching fire actually looked as though it had just been pulled from the forge, and proceeded to bisect one of the black cloaked Anbu and his obvious subordinate with no cloak. Now Monkey, Dragon, and Rabbit lay dead their life blood pouring onto the cold forest floor as a violent gust of wind picked up and Sano took that moment to charge directly at the two left on his left side. One quickly threw a set of six shuriken at Sano who simply knocked them away with Purgatory, while the other went through a string of hand-seals…

"**Wind style: Gale palm!"** the Anbu in the bird mask yelled as she let loose the torrent of wind at Sano, only for him to body flicker behind her and bring Purgatory in a downward arc hoping to cleave the Anbu member in two.

It was not to be though as Bird suddenly disappeared in a pool of smoke and a log now broken to splinters in her place. **'Substitution'** Sano thought before his instincts saved him from being blasted by a wave a basketball sized fire-balls coming from his blind-spot.

Sano jumped five feet to his left spinning trying to bring Purgatory to bear but instead wound up with a kunai to the gut thanks to the Ox masked Anbu only for his **"Inferno clone"** to detonate into a shower of bright flames coating the Anbu member bringing the women down to her knees, where she was then met by the sound of sizzling only to see the clone had slapped an explosive tag on her stomach. The women's world which was already in a haze because of the mind numbing pain from the second-third degree burns she had sustained on most of her left side, ended when the tag detonated and sent her scattered in pieces throughout the bluff singeing most of the sunflower patch that had adorned the area.

Now Sano was facing the five remaining Anbu and then something happened he couldn't believe; the Anbu he had killed began getting back up, thinking quickly Saito made a half-ram sign and proceeded to dispel the illusion by flooding his chakra coils.

"Release." Sano called out just in time to release the illusion to see two Anbu (Wolf and Bird) charging at him from his flanks. Sano jumped up and spun one-hundred and eighty degrees and proceeded to kick both Wolf and Bird kicking them into the brush, while then digging Purgatory into the ground and used the hilt as leverage to spin over the blade and face his three other assailants. Upon hitting the floor Sano ran through his hand seals…

"**Fire style: Searing Migraine**, Sano called out and then launch a volley of flame out of his mouth at the three assailants.

Thinking quickly Deer and Bear ran to the stream and performed the same string of hand seals…

"**Water style: Ripping Torrent**, the duo yelled as a humungous blast of water fired from the stream emptying it to half its original amount. As the water approached Cat, now undoubtedly a Female (due to her curves and obvious bust behind her gray armor) ran through a short set of hand-seals…

**Lightning Style: Electromagnetic murder**, Cat called out as she generated and then released a shock of lightning into the water, hoping to not only bash and wash out their opponent but to stun and disable the young swordsman as well.

Sano quickly did the only thing he could think of at that moment he took the hit, only to go poof to reveal…Wolf.

The other three Anbu were by his side in an instant and Deer was already doing a **"Diagnostic Jutsu"**, when all of a sudden they heard the yell…

"MOVE NOW", Wolf bellowed from beside Bird from across the clearing but it was too late… the **"Inferno clone"** detonated and this one had a great deal of chakra in it because when it went off it actually disabled all three of the Anbu.

Wolf clenched his fists and began scanning the clearing and tried sensing for the swordsman's foreign chakra signature only to realize with horror that he was below him, and by then it was too late.

Sano proceeded to pull the Wolf Anbu underground and then popped up right next to his head and placed a kunai to the man's throat; he then took a moment to analyze the area and realized he was still in dyer straits.

The Bird Anbu was standing maybe ten feet from him and she seemed fresh as a daisy; while her comrades although injured were now rising to their feet and were bound to be pissed off. Sano took a few quick breaths and realized he had no way out of it; he was going to have to go on his fall back plan. Sano looked at the sky briefly and took in the smell of the forest which even with the fighting he could still smell what was left of the sunflowers, and in all honesty it gave him a strange sense of peace.

Sano knew he was running on empty, his chakra reserves were pretty high for someone like himself (low-mid jounin he'd say if he was in a bragging mood), but as of right now he had less than an average genin; and that only left a few options.

"You guys are no slouches there's no doubt, but I'm not going to tell you anything", Sano said as he looked at the Bird masked Anbu. He reached into the lining of his haori and touched the **"Dead man trigger seal"** over his right breast pocket; and the last any of the other Anbu saw of Sano or the Wolf masked Anbu was a rather bright flash followed by a large explosion with enough concussive force to actually shake the ground and send Bird flying toward her compatriots to land in a heap at their feet.

'Funny…that the last one I took out…had father's nickname for a mask… I'll have to rub that in his face when I see him.' Sano thought as he passed to the after-life.

30 minutes Later…

After finally gaining her bearings and getting her squad on their feet after being looked at by Deer, they started a slow track back to the village. At that moment all Bird (or Mikoto Uchiha) could think of was how she had failed her best friend Kushina, and how she had failed to retrieve her son and give him the chance to grow up in his home village like she thought her friend would have wanted.

The team sat down and Deer began healing his own wounds so he could then begin tending to the rest of the team properly, and all the while Mikoto could only think one thing…'Lord Sarutobi is not going to be happy… not at all.'

1 hour since Anbu's encounter with the enemy…

After debriefing his Anbu squad and learning of what had transpired Hiruzen Sarutobi could only sigh and lean back in his chair, '_I'm too old for this shit'_ he thought to himself as he began filling his pipe. All Hiruzen knew was that his wife Biyako and son Shinto were dead, Minato and Kushina were dead, Naruto their new born and the villages new nine-tails jinchuriki was missing, and his village was in ruin from the nine-tails attack. Yeah in all honesty Hiruzen was getting to old for this shit but somebody had to step up, and he knew it had to be him just to hold it off long enough to find an acceptable replacement because (Danzo would get it over his dead body.)

The last thought Hiruzen had before falling into what would be the most restless hour of sleep he had in his life was ' Naruto… where are you…are you safe…and Kami forgive me for asking… but is it better this way?'

50 miles east of the border of The Land of Grass

Saito had put his daughter to sleep about an hour ago and had just finished setting up camp, and was now finally sitting down for the first time in hours. Saito found his thoughts drifting to his wife, and then ultimately…Sano. Saito was now allowing a steady fall of tears to go down his face as he gazed into the embers of the fire he had made to keep his daughter and his new charge warm. Of everything Saito found he was thankful for that hadn't gone wrong… it was actually that the babe had not woken once since being taken from his home. Saito was looking upon the boy and in all honesty his first thought had been to kill the child; for placing him and his family in danger, but he quickly dismissed that idea. Oh it was not this child's fault no… the people who had asked him to take this job, it was their fault Sano had died. Never once before had Saito Takani taken a job that had wound up going anywhere near this bad, and that was why Saito knew in his bones that someone had planned this. The people responsible may not have planned it to the letter but it was clear, the end game had been to eliminate him or his entire family altogether. Saito was now sitting in a much denser part of the forest where the trees were much closer together, and the hearty earth smell was permeating his very being. The air was still and the chill that had lingered for most of the night had actually faded to give way to the warmth the land of fire was famous for, all in all Saito was uncomfortable. It was in this place that Saito Takani decided he would have his daughter and their new charge help him; he would have his revenge or die trying it was just a matter of principal now.

The people who put the plan in motion were already dead they just didn't know it yet, and they would only know when he wanted them too, and by then the "Wolf's" jaws would already be around their throats. He would wake his daughter in a few hours, they had to get back to the village and gather their supplies; the first place they were going was Amegakure to call in a favor from a new ally… Salamander Hanzo.

It was time to show that the Lone Wolf still had some teeth.

**Wow… guys I hope you like this as much as I enjoyed writing it, I had to do it in bits while at work on my breaks but I think it's great. Please let me know what you think and again please no flames, JA Ne!**

**As always this is SoujiroxTenken and just as a reminder if you're having a bad day you can always just throw rotten fruit at civilians, I mean what are they gonna do…nothing that's what.**


	2. The start of a new Journey

The Phantom of the Leaf.

"People-speaking"

'People-thoughts'

**Jutsu-/'Tailed beast/Boss summoning thoughts'**

"**Tailed beast/Boss summoning" speaking**

**Disclaimer- Hey ya'll SoujiroxTenken here just wanted to drop in again and say what's up. Got a lot going on so updates are going to be slow but I hope they turn out to your liking!**

**Intro:**

"**Hey guys you know the drill I do not own Naruto… Phantom Requiem for the Phantom… or any other references made herein, but know that one day I WILL have my own story that makes money and I will be counted as one of the greats just like those other guys. One Day I will ride on the backs of my adoring fans to the stand at Comic-con, One Day I will own twelve cars, and One Day I will learn to stop yelling out loud when I get excited like that…:) **

Chapter 2: The beginning of the spiral.

Last we found Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze (or Reiji Azuma depending on his state of dress) standing atop the Hokage monument inside the village hidden in the leaves, contemplating the future and how he was going to handle having been thrust back into the position of having to listen to someone else as his commander.

The thoughts and feelings rushing through Naruto's head at the moment began reminding him of how he felt when he had been a young boy and had begun to receive instruction from Saito Takani, and his handler from the organization formerly known as Inferno. His Handler was a beautiful woman by the name Izumi Hamada or better known by Inferno as "Scythe master". Izumi Hamada was a woman of relatively elegant nature and was obsessed with perfection and everlasting moments. She considered herself an artist for in her opinion she had created a mental conditioning program that exceeded what the leaf villages Danzo Shimura had built.

Izumi stood at five foot six inches tall and had a short bob cut hairstyle with one bang of her blond (not to be confused with blonde hair blond has more of a silver characteristic) hair covering her right eye.

Her marble colored skin contrasted greatly to her hair but even more so to her Canary yellow eyes which sat behind a pair of D. Viation black framed glasses which sat on a petite nose on a semi heart shaped face. The Forty-three year old woman sat at the measurements of 34B, 25W, and 34H and her breasts were a respectable high B bordering on low C. Her attire consisted of a white lab coat that hung down to about mid-calf, a tight mocha colored corset blouse that clung to her body like a second skin, a form fitting black skirt that cut to just below her knee's, and a pair of black shinobi style heels. Naruto upon remembering the women that had trained, nurtured, beaten, broken, and molded him could only shiver at the memory of her smirking visage and the sound of her maniacal giggle. (Yes a maniacal giggle, as terrible as is sounds such a thing exists) After that passing memory a slew of others quickly surfaced and even though they brought pain some as he knew brought pleasure as well. While he could easily admit to himself he would never admit to anyone else that she had been his first hug, first kiss, first… everything. Every experience with that woman had taught him something, and not just the application for seals in combat. No Naruto could still hear her husky voice from that night a little over a year ago clear as day even now _"This first one is for me. It has nothing to do with you… and you will view this as nothing but another training exercise."_

She had come to him after another grueling day of physical training followed by what would have been classified as an A rank assassination mission by any normal village, and she set herself upon him like a snake to a defenseless baby bird. He could remember she smelled of cream and plums and other than that he really had no words for her or what had transpired… she had come in behind him quickly and placed a paralysis curse mark on him and then blind folded him. She proceeded to strip him and committed herself to her ministrations at her pace and never once gave him the satisfaction of his own release, hell she had even threatened to castrate him if he failed to reach her expectations. Of course the threat meant nothing to Naruto even the fact that she had had the audacity to take his innocence from him wasn't what had bothered him. For this first time since committing his first mission when he was five years old he was helpless. Naruto of course didn't falter in the slightest and the woman had her fun until the wee hours of the morning, and then… left without a word. Standing atop the monument Naruto again let out an involuntary shudder remembering his deceased lover and that the act she committed had been returned to her in spades later on. After reflecting over his long gone lover he then returned to thinking of the man that he had called father, even though said man only referred to him as family on his death bed in return. Saito Takani had been a complex man in the eyes of some on a good day and impossible by most everyone on a normal day, but to Naruto though it was all a matter of knowing what motivated the man and in that sense his "adoptive father" had been an open book. Naruto had been smart and intuitive since the age of four and honestly it wasn't surprising considering he was being trained by "The Lone Wolf" Saito Takani and Kusa's "Mistress of Murder" Megumi Takani. Megumi had almost literally beaten into him to "Look underneath the underneath", and to use his environment to his advantage and Naruto could honestly say that those two lessons were two of the most important he had ever learned before beginning his career.

Naruto continued to view the village of his birth and could only remark on the differences between all the other villages, whether one of the "big five" or not, as opposed to what was the home of his birth.

He could still remember Megumi taking him back to Kusa before the time of her murder and telling him what it had been like to come back only to say goodbye to her childhood home a few hours later…

(This Flashback is from someone else's point of view that is why I didn't list it as a flashback like in the last story because there will be other flashbacks this is how I will be handling this in all my stories)

Kusagakure village hidden in the grass 14 years 11 months ago…

Okay so in retrospect things could be worse; sure only half a day ago Saito Takani had not only lost his son Sano, but now this baby that his daughter Megumi had found was now awake and wailing so loud it could positively wake the dead, (but hey he wasn't dead at the moment so…) yeah things could be much worse but that didn't mean that they didn't outright suck at the moment.

Saito had taken the young babe that he now knew was named Naruto and his daughter and fled the Land of Fire as fast as he could. He now was already standing in the very Spartan living room of his single story home, that he and his wife Natsumi had bought and was beginning to pack everything he could possibly use. He had told Megumi how to prepare the baby a bottle and was starting to get everything in order.

It was a well known fact that Saito was rarely in the village and an even better known fact that he and his family though well-off, had very little in their home. Saito had taken his children and basically lived on the road since the death of his wife, and while he would never admit it to anyone even his children it was because of her presence in the house. The house still smelled like lily and jasmine, the very perfume Natsumi had worn while alive and every moment surrounded by it crushed Saito. He had waited his whole life and truly believed that his wife had been delivered to him by Kami, and for that he would be forever grateful. Every room in the house even the bathroom with its simple hard-wood floor, cream colored walls, and light green matching curtain, shower curtain motif screamed of his wife. He could still remember the day they had come to Kusa and found the house…

**Flash back Jutsu**

It was mid May in The village hidden in the Grass, and if anything was to be said about Kusa is this; it is a really muggy place. The climate was a strange blend of the lands of Fire and Water but never seemed to reach their obvious extremes. Unlike the land of Fire's Village hidden in the leaves and its climate, Kusa rarely had dry blistering heat.

Also of the same token Grass very rarely had any sort of mist whatsoever, as opposed to the ninja village of the land of water. No hidden grass was known for a season almost perfectly split down the middle, between rain and the ever present muggy sunny day.

It was a Thursday afternoon that Saito and Natsumi Takani could be seen walking down one of the main pathway's from the Kage's office to head to their new home; and Natsume was positively glowing at the moment. Natsumi could be seen wearing a light teal green kimono, with a pink sash crossing over her much engorged belly, with a pair of geta sandals. Natsumi had her hands crossed over her belly as she walked side by side with Saito with a small smile gracing her light pink lips, as she quietly sang a song to herself and her budding baby.

"I don't know…what words I can say… the wind has a way… to talk to me…Flowers sleep… a silent lullaby… I pray for reply…I'm ready. Quiet day… calms me…Oh… Sereni...Ty…Someone…please…tell...me…I don't know… what is it they say…Maybe I will know… one day."

"You sing beautifully my dear; I doubt I've ever heard anything so beautiful before." Saito said as he cast a quick glance to his left.

"Thank you love… I hope our baby boy knows we love him." Natsumi said as she looked to her husband.

"I'm sure he does my love, and soon we will have a place to raise him." Saito said.

The two had been searching for a home for weeks now and still couldn't find anything that caught their eye.

It would be another hour until they came upon what would wind up being their new home. It was a simple one story home with a cream colored five foot high wall separating their compound from the main thorough-fair of the shopping district, with a nice layout of lily bushes lining the outside of the wall.

It came with a simple two acres of land which Saito later used to place a small training ground and personal onsen for himself and his family to use. It took only two months and then Saito and his wife had a simple but elegant home.

**End Flashback**

Saito shook himself from his musings to take a tally of what they had in their possession. Saito counted upwards of two-dozen scrolls of sword katas and jutsu, a dozen empty sealing scrolls, two sealing scrolls that had most of their camping gear, and a third master sealing scroll usually used for contracts that he had made at the village of artisans. Saito finished loading all the scrolls with everything they needed as Megumi was feeding the babe a bottle of warm milk, and it then dawned on him that the last thing he had to do was sell his home and in that respect is where he would run into his biggest problem. Now normally something like this would be easy for anyone after all people moved out of ninja villages all the time due to various reasons, expenses, death in the family, and so many other things could attribute to someone moving out of one of the more militarized villages. However in Saito's case two things would be a great hindrance for him in trying to make a quiet getaway, one simply being that the Kusakage would be expecting a good reason for him to up and decide to just leave. The snot nosed brat of a woman leading the village hidden in the grass was known simply as Keiko, and as far as Saito could tell there was no reason for her to be a Kage in the first place. For starters she was just a child as far as Saito was concerned as it was that he was almost three times her senior in age, and then of course there was the fact that the girl had little to no experience in the field and to Saito that was just downright criminal. The girl had inherited the title of Kage from her mother who had passed due to a combination of age/illness, and Saito really hadn't liked the old crow Misora either. The Arakawa family had held the Kage seat for the past forty years and Saito had honestly only worked for the village because they paid him well, if not for that he may have actually killed the whole lot of them if only to give someone else the chance to improve Kusa. Saito told Megumi to handle the boy and proceeded to his onsen and cleaned himself from the long journey back, and then dressed himself in a new garb as opposed to his usual traveling kimono. Saito had cut his hair and now it gave off a more wild appearance being slightly spiky but slicked back, with three thicker strands hanging in front of his face. Saito had now donned his outfit from his small stint in Kusa's Anbu as the Captain of "The Hedged Blades". Saito had excepted but never used the specially made ninjato that his crack unit had become famous for during their missions.(Unlike most ninjato's the blades used by Kusa's Anbu were serrated from the base of the blade halfway up until it turned back to the normal edge of a blade.) Saito was now wearing the his black shinobi sandals, hunter green cargo shinobi pants, hunter green long sleeve shirt that clung to his body showing his chiseled muscles(even for someone of his advanced age) his Cole-gray Anbu shin and wrist guards, and his Cole-gray battle jacket with gold buttons which reached just four inches below his backside. As Saito exited the onsen he advised his daughter to have everything on the bed sealed into the master storage scroll and to have their bags packed and ready to go when his business with their Kage was complete. As Saito passed through the gates of his small compound into the bustling thoroughfare that is Kusagakure's shopping district, he could only be overwhelmed by the smells of the various stall vendors. There was an abundant amount of cooking establishment's ranging from ramen, BBQ, stir-fry, and many other assorted stands. The shopping district in Kusagakure was also the only other village to have many import vendors from the famed Village of Artisans; that being one of their biggest appeals to any foreigner coming to the village for a visit, caused a great deal of shopping in the village hence the crowd Saito found himself standing in.

Even the situation being so the second Saito stepped passed his compound everyone froze in what they were doing; whether it had been the vendors of the food stalls cooking, or any number of the shoppers bartering, or even the few small children playing at one of the game stalls everyone stopped to gawk at the legendary man stepping out of his house. The looks he received were also quite varied, ranging from fear to outright worship as it stood for the case of two young boys who would always be nearby being that they aspired to be just like "The Lone Wolf". Saito could only smirk and walk down the path leading to the single story high Kage building with the symbol for grass branded on the side, and marvel as the people would split and crowd the stand's just to let him pass; as if he would lop off their heads for being in his way. (Maybe in his youth once upon a time, but that is for a flashback later in the story ) As Saito traversed to the Kage's tower he could only begin to imagine what the petulant child of a leader he currently worked for would do to try and get him to remain in service to the village.

As Saito stood pressed back first against the door leading into the Kusakage's office with said women grinding into him trying to basically molest him in her office Saito could only sweat drop at the whole situation, having expected a plethora of things but definitely not this. 'This is the behavior of my "_Kage"_ behind closed doors, Kami above I need to get out of here' was all Saito could thing as he began to push the overly assertive Kage away from him.

Keiko Arakawa was a young woman of renown in Kusagakure, being that she was the youngest Kage for the village hidden in the grass since its inception. She could boast that she was a combatant of great skill(In her own opinion, considering most hadn't seen her fight) and that she was able to remain at the top of list as the most beautiful kunoichi of Kusa. Keiko stood at above average height for a woman at five foot eight inches and had a very slender figure. (Not that you could see it under her battle kimono) Keiko had straight shoulder length raven colored locks of hair that she let go in an almost wild about fashion on her head, with one or two bangs hanging in front of her face. She had a creamy complexion and a slightly angular jaw line. Her eyes were pupil-less and the color of storm clouds but held a mirth befitting someone of her tender age of twenty-six. She hid a very lithe form behind her battle kimono. Her kimono was the traditional hunter green that all of her soldiers mixed into their uniform; however on the upper half of her kimono she had a pattern of vines with budding white Camilla's trailing down from her upper left shoulder crossing her mid b-cup breasts down to her right hip. Tied around her slender hips she had a red battle sash which she had her head-band and the emblem of her status as Kage attached too with the symbol being directly above her headband hanging off of her left hip. Keiko had a hunter green mini-skirt with black leggings underneath leading down to her feet where you could see a standard set of black kunoichi style heels.

Smiling coyly Keiko began to stalk Saito until the S-class shinobi was half-sitting on the front of her desk, and she had no shame in admitting to anyone that this situation alone was giving her a perverse amount of pleasure.

She understood that the man had not taken a lover since his late wife and while that was all well and good for most, but Saito had entered her office and said something that completely changed the game for any Kage when it happened…he was looking to tender his resignation code and cease being an active shionbi/warrior for her village. Being that he wasn't a registered shinobi it meant he could just walk really so immediately she did the first thing that seemed appropriate, give him reason not to leave. It was common knowledge that S-class was a title that was given out so rarely that there honestly weren't that many, and even fewer still that weren't listed as missing-nin.

"Now why on earth would you want to leave, when I could easily make your stay so much more… comfortable…? Saito?" The young Kage asked as she sashayed her hips while she slowly approached the man sitting on her desk.

She knew of her status and honestly didn't care what people thought of her because for one she was doing the village a service in trying to retain Saito's impressive services, and secondly… aside from the age difference he was not bad looking. Far from that the man in all honesty was one of the most eligible bachelors of the shinobi nations, if she could put her vote up. While Keiko made her slow advance on her guest the Anbu stationed in the room discretely excused them-selves, not really wanting to stick around and possibly incur the wrath of their Kage…or worse the former ex-captain of "The Hedged Blades". As Keiko felt all the Anbu except one leave the room she made a half ram sign and activated her **"privacy seals"** for the office, and then turned to face the current leader of her Anbu. "Mui… please step forward." As her command passed her lips a man wearing the standard outfit for "The Hedged Blades" with long black hair, and bull mask stepped out of the camouflage technique he had been concealing himself with. "Why are you still here… can't you see I am in the middle of a very important meeting?" the young woman asked with irration evident in her voice. "Lady Kusakage I merely want to ensure your safety and to do so might I recommend that you move this _"meeting"_ to your private quarters where you will not be disturbed?" the man suggested with a hint of worry.

The Lady Kusakage at least had the decency to blush while her _"guest"_ just sweat-dropped at the fact that this girl needed someone to remind her that anyone needing something handled by the said village leader could show up and intrude on her advances. Saito quickly seeing the opportunity needed from Mui's interruption quickly intruded into the now separate conversation "Lady Keiko I say this with as much respect as I can…while you are an attractive young woman I have no interest in your advances nor in remaining in the village; I have personal matters to attend to and they must be dealt with at their origin and I intend to finish with this death dealing way of life as soon as my next endeavor is complete."

It was at this point that the Lady Kuskage could only stare in slight exasperation and obvious annoyance at "The Lone Wolf" for easily swatting her aside her advances, and while he had commented on her beauty he made it obvious that no matter what she looked like he would not budge on the matter. Now Keiko became desperate and began offering other things like money, land, weapons, anything to try and convince the man to stay but he simply would shake his head indicating his disinterest.

Keiko was now bordering on out right rage if the tick mark on the upper left side of her head meant anything, not to mention the leaking killing intent she was producing. Saito being the ever uncaring man that he was for anyone else's comfort then laid out the ultimatum "Lady Keiko…while I respect your tenacious efforts to convince me and while I also understand your reasoning and respect them as well… do not think for a second that I was actually asking you if I may leave I was merely being gracious and wanted to do this in the most pleasant way possible for all involved. Now if you don't sign my release form know that I will simply walk out of here and that if you send anyone after me no matter whom they may be… I will send them back to you in bits like I did those dogs that attacked our fair village all those years ago when I earned my moniker; do. I. make. Myself. Clear?" As the entire speech was made slowly but surely Saito began to leak his own killing intent to half of what he was capable, and even it being only half his eclipsed Keiko's and brought her and Mui to their knees in the office. After nearly pissing herself and staring into the void like eyes of the Wolf, Keiko knew that he would have no qualms about ending as many lives as he had to so that he could leave the village. After finally looking down in defeat knowing that even she the Kage of the village could not halt him she could only ask "Why…why dessert us now? I know you have no love for my family but if it is the case that you feel I am unfit to give you orders than take my place, or train me for Kami's sake but please I beg of you don't dessert us. The world is in chaos and you are our only chance at holding back the larger villages, you are our only S-class warrior and no one here not even I can hope to best you, without you we will surely fall." Keiko was now on her knees tears rolling down her flushed face from having not really stopped to breathe since she had started her speech. Keiko Had fallen into a fit of being a young girl instead of a Kage and that is why what happened next truly surprised her…Saito picked her up placed her back on her feet and then hugged her. Keiko's eyes shot open and she took in the fact that his embrace reminded her of her late father, and it made her feel safe. Saito leaned back with his hands on Keiko's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, and what he saw was genuine fear. It then occurred to him that this girl was trying so hard to sway him because she had no idea what to do without him. Saito decided he'd confirm something that had always been at the back of his mind here and now "Lady Keiko…you never wanted to be Kage…did you?"

After that question Keiko had quietly led Saito to her private quarters and had Mui standing guard outside with a "**privacy jutsu"** in place so only he as her closest confidant could hear what was happening. Keiko then went into the tale of how her family had remained in power so far and why she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

According to Keiko her family as instructed by the previous Kage before the beginning of her family coming to power in the village hidden in the grass, had a sacred yet terrible duty. The Arakawa family was instructed to locate and utilize a very powerful and forbidden artifact "The Box of Ultimate Bliss" which was said to have made Kusa the dominating power in the elemental countries during the time of the fabled "Sage of the Six paths". As the conversation continued Saito became aware of four presences in the room with him and Keiko and had to quickly grab the girl to help her avoid being split in two by a kusarigama. Saito then proceeded to disappear from sight and the sound of four bodies hitting the floor resonated from inside the bed-chamber of the Kusakage.

Saito proceeded to step out of the shadows dragging the only one left alive out of the four assailants, and then threw him against the nearest wall where said person hit with a resounding grunt of pain. Saito approached the man with the full intent to interrogate and then be-head the fool but he was cut off when he heard a whimper of pain; to which he then turned and faced the lady Kusakage who was now being held by the throat from behind by the same Anbu that was supposed to be guarding the door. "I am sorry Lady Keiko, Lord Saito, but I am afraid that there has been a change of plans now that you have discussed 'The Box', and I am afraid I can't let either of you leave here alive" Mui said as he pushed a kunai against the Kusakage's neck.

"Why Mui… why would you do this? You're betraying your country..." Keiko began to say before a small chuckle behind her stopped the words in her throat as she attempted to look over her shoulder at the man she once trusted. "What about this situation makes you think I… am being viewed as a traitor?" Mui asked while staring down at Keiko. It was then that it dawned on Keiko and some color actually drained from her face, the council had set her up. They hadn't wanted her in power in the first place and now they had the perfect way to remove her, they could claim she committed treason and have her executed publically to serve as a warning to anyone else that might even consider such an act. Keiko's mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to do to fix this diplomatically, but before she could the right side of her face was doused with blood as a blood curdling scream rang from behind her accompanied by the sound of a kunai clanking against the floor. Keiko quickly found herself swept up, and now standing on the same side of the room as Saito as he looked at Mui minus his left hand which was lying on the floor next to the kunai he had dropped.

"Understand me when I say this and pay close attention Mui because I will only say it once; stand down and I will let you go home to your wife and child, or so help me you will find yourself bisected at the waist before you watch me and the Lady Kusakage walk from this room so I can end your benefactors next" Saito said as his eyes took on the stone-like expression many had come to associate with the "Lone Wolf". Mui began to tremble in fear staring at this man…no…killer standing in front of him knowing that the man would indeed slay him where he stood. Mui began to consider his options and decided to relent, 'Harumi is not well… the doctors do not believe she will last long and if I die Mukoo will be alone… I will never let that happen' Mui thought as he bent down and grabbed his severed hand. "I accept…your most gracious offer Lord Saito, and I am sorry Lady Keiko but I was only doing as ordered" Mui said as he stood back up to face the other two occupants of the room. "Who ordered you…am **I **not your Kage…who would dare try to send you for my life?" Keiko asked him as she turned her now cold eyes onto him.

Mui proceeded to lower himself to one knee and then explained the truth to Keiko and Saito. It seemed that the civilian and shinobi council of Kusa had decided that Keiko was not the right fit to lead the country in the trying times due to her age and they were hoping to be rid of her in lieu of a stronger more…seasoned leader a man by the name of Ichigo Hoshino.

At that name Saito actually faltered for a moment and then realized what was going on, Inferno hadn't sent him to the leaf to get rid of him no it had been a diversion so they could slip one of the lieutenants of the "five burning pillars" into a position of power while he was away. Saito knew Ichigo well the man was a scoundrel and a liar, in fact the only talent the man had as far as Saito was concerned was he was a silver toung. Ichigo by all accounts owned a great deal of businesses in the area of Tanka Gai two days from Tanzuka Gai and was a well-known broker for the criminal underworld. "Lady Keiko, I will carry out one last mission with your directive and end the lives of every single member of the council including the civilians, you merely need to send the Anbu to gather their replacements" Saito said as he straightened his arm guards underneath his long sleeved battle shirt. "I would very much like that, in fact I have a way to make this an easy send-off SS rank mission for this village's top warrior" Keiko said as she threw on her most devilish smirk.

Forty five minutes later Kusagakure's council room was filled with every member of the council except one Ichigo Hoshino, and the Kusakage herself. Four members in particular were beginning to wonder what was going on as it was that they had issued the order to the assailants recommended by Ichigo from Inferno to eliminate the Kusakage, and they had still yet to carry out the order. "I am beginning to wonder why we listened to that man at all" one of the members of the "flower group" a slightly portly man by the name of Kenshin Araki stated as he spoke quietly with his co-conspirators. Kenshin had light purple hair and wore the standard hunter green kimono of the civilian council, along with an extravagant gold medallion emblazoned with a red lotus flower hanging at the middle of his chest. Kenshin pinched the bridge of his large pock-marked nose and narrowed his light green eyes in disgust. "I hope that those fools carry this out today I am getting tired of looking upon that _girl_ in the seat of power for our nation" Kenshin said with evident disgust in his tone. " Oh relax Kenshin we hired Inferno because their reputation for getting things done proceeds them, and I for one have heard that they never fail to deliver on their contracts so please be quiet" said an older looking women named Motoko Shimoda. Motoko was the oldest among the "flower group" and was the only retired shinobi while Kenshin was the only from the civilian sector. Motoko was a wrinkled and pocked marked old crow with light red almost orange hair that was even more faded due to her advanced age of seventy-two years old making one of the oldest on the council in general, not that she would let anyone remind her of that. Like the other three of her group she wore the hunter green kimono and the same gold medallion around her neck drawing attention from here worn face. Her Light pink irises had lost their luster and she had many wrinkles signifying her advanced age. "Besides you young upstarts fail to realize that Lady Keiko should have already been here perhaps they have made their move…perhaps…" Anything that Motoko was going to say died in her throat as the doors to the council chamber; burst open and in walked the said woman she had been speaking of' holding a brown satchel to her left side as she was flanked by Saito and Mui respectively.

"I apologize for my lateness esteemed council but certain things have been brought to my attention and they needed to be dealt with as a matter of security to Kusa, I know that you all value and understand the severity of something like that" Keiko said with a small smile adorning her face as she took her seat at the head of the council. At that the four major perpetrators began to sweat a little and were going to try to subtly ask what the situation was but at that blanched when in walk two squads of the villages Anbu, before they slammed shut the council room doors and they witnessed Keiko perform the hand signs for a **"privacy jutsu"**. As the four along with the rest of the council turned back to face their Kage they realized that not only had her stormy looking eyes turned menacing but she was also leaking out a massive amount of killing intent causing a good deal of the civilian side of the council to empty their stomachs onto the floor. "After a private investigation into rumors brought to my attention by my attendant Mui, I discovered that every last one of you put forth funds to hire a squad of rouge ninja to take my life…and I must say after finding out the reasons for this most grievous betrayal; I find your lack of faith disturbing" Keiko said as she slowly began to raise her voice until the very end of her triage that she was shouting at the council.

"But fret not my dear, dear comrades rejoice in knowing that I have passed word to your families of your betrayal and have already paid them reparations for what I must now do"

Keiko stated as she could now be seen preparing herself a cup of tea. (Where on earth did she get that stuff…Many of the councilors thought as they witnessed the events before them?)

"How dare you…you petulant child, you are not fit to be Kage I hereby call for…"

Anything councilor Kenshin would have said was cut off as he watched Keiko pull out the severed head of Ichigo Hoshino and set it atop an out rolled scroll that actually had a list of demands from the civilian side of the council. 'Demands being made of me by them…pft how ridiculous' Keiko thought with contempt as she laid the head atop the scroll as she looked up to see the awed and fearful faces of the rest of the traitorous council sitting before her. "You people would dare try to rest my seat of power from me with hired assassins… you lot are a sorry bunch of… what was it you called them Saito... Limped dick fools that's what you all are!" Keiko called out to them triumphantly as she watched their faces look aghast at the insult she had delivered onto them. Saito and Mui could only sit back and sweat-drop at the fact that the young woman had actually used Saito's insult 'It really doesn't sound right coming from a young woman like that' they both thought as Saito attempted to clear his throat while Mui could only shake his head. "With that being said I hereby enact docket law five under the founding charter of Kusagakure and hereby disband the current council and am giving the order for the immediate execution of all of you…presently as it were" Keiko said as she put back on her small smile before beginning to sip her tea as the Hedged Blades began to systematically end thirty two lives in a matter of seconds.

The carnage reminded Saito of his time during the war when he had been employed to hunt enemy camps at night, and cut down any forces attempting to enter Kusa. The Hedged Blades proceeded to cut down every member of the council and even the current active duty shinobi on the council didn't stand a chance, it was an outright slaughter.

Arms, Legs, Heads, nothing was spared as Kusa's Anbu cut every last council member down leaving only four members remaining after the carnage that had followed the Kusakage's order.

Huddling in the corner near the door now stood the four members of the flower group, every single one of them struggling to remain on their feet as they were leveled with glares from Saito, Lady Keiko, and Mui respectively. Motoko attempted to step forward to explain their actions but the moment her foot budged the other three members watched in abstract horror and awe as she was cleaved in two by the "Lone Wolf', who then turned a sneer in the remaining members direction. "If there is one thing I cannot stand it is cowardice, and you lot are the sorriest bunch of cowards I have ever see" Saito said as he raised the man slayer above his head again and proceeded to lob the head off of another member of the flower group. It was at this point that Kenshin attempted to speak only to watch in fear as Mui ran forward with his trademark **"Blazing Lance jutsu"** and pierced the second to last member's skull with a solid blade of flame from his right hand.

Kenshin decided that now would be the time if any to get in a last remark "You fools will all die…you can't hope for that wench to lead you…**YOU LITTLE BITCH YOU'LL ROT IN HELL FOR YOUR FAILINGS AND I WILL WATCH AND LAUGH**" Kenshin declared as he put a twisted sneer on his face as he turned red with his rage.

The next thing that happened surprised all present Kenshin the most…Keiko stepped forward and placed a small chaste kiss on his forehead before stepping back with a small but frightening smile on her face.

"Did you know that my mother was a great sealing specialist Kenshin… oh yes she had actually studied in her travels before coming back to Kusa and she had a wonderful teacher by the name of Maseru Uzumaki. The man had actually survived the purge of the land of whirlpools when his mother and father fled with him when he was a boy to give him a chance at a long life, and what a life it was I can tell you…after all my mother told me his tale. But none of that is important what is important is this…you believe me weak yet you have never seen why my mother dubbed me a capable successor so…**ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU;** **YOU INSOLENT DOG**!" Keiko yelled as she jumped forward two steps while her hands traced the air in the fabled way that the Uzumaki clansmen did to draw seals for battle.

By the end of her tracing the air a round sealing array stood before Keiko glowing a brilliant gold before she actually jumped through it and slammed a palm to Ichigo's forehead and one to the floor underneath him respectively before she deftly cartwheeled away and slammed her hands into the tiger sign; "**Uzumaki Sealing Art: Forbidden Seal- ABYSS BREAK… SEAL**". The rest of the remaining people in the room watched in fascination as the man struggled to move but was held in his kneeling position by an unseen force. Suddenly the bottom of the seal changed from brilliant gold to blackish purple and began to generate black lightning and light blue fire which then began to attach itself to the man as a violent dust filled wind picked up within the confines of the seal the spectators watched now in horror as the wind, lightning, and fire began to charcoal the man as Kenshin threw his head back; and let out a silent scream as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The process itself took exactly sixty seconds, but by the end all that remained of Kenshin was a charred black pile of ash and the outline of where his legs had lined the ground due to his kneeling position.

After a few tense moments of silence Keiko turned back to the rest of the people in the room with a pleased smile on her face "I'm hungry how about we get something to eat now?" she said with a pleasant tone causing everyone else's eyes to grow comically large for their faces as they became pure white with small black ringed outlines while their mouths dropped clean to the floor. 'How can she think of eating after watching that happen right in front of her' was the shared thought by all the other occupants of the room…even Saito had a hard time understanding how this girl he previously thought had no experience with death could watch something like that and go straight to thinking of food; leaving him with nothing to do but blink owlishly at her behavior.

"For anyone who didn't know my mother that well she was a bit of a sadist and would regularly take me to witness interrogations made against criminals, terrorists, and all other types of undesirables so I am not the squeamish type as you all may have been brought to believe and from those looks your sporting well I can assume that is what you thought of me" Keiko said with a no-nonsense tone as she swept her gaze over her subordinates.

Keiko stepped forward and again surprised everyone by taking Saito into a hug which completely threw everyone else but the Lone Wolf and Mui off watching the exchange which Saito seemed unaffected by, the man didn't so much as budge for Kami sake he just stood there and let it happen and many believed he was incapable of normal interaction with people. "I hereby as the reigning Kusakage release you of all your duties and responsibilities Lord Saito, and know that if you ever need anything at all you _and _your kin are more than welcome under Kusa's borders from this day forward" Keiko said as she stepped back from the temporary embrace with the S-ranked swordsman. She then proceeded to hand out marching orders of going about cleaning the council chamber and convening a new council meeting within the hour for all the new members. Keiko then escorted Saito along with Mui to the outside of the main administration building, and dismissed Mui to go continue having his now re-attached hand looked at to make sure there would be no further problems. Keiko then turned to Saito and thanked him one last time for all he had done for Kusa and herself personally, and then bowed as a show of respect which to her own surprise she received back in return. "Lady Keiko I must say you surprised me the way that you handled things…and even though it may not mean much I believe Kenshin was wrong and that you will lead Kusa to a bright future. Additionally however since you have given me leave to return I would ask that if and when I do you do me a small kindness…" Saito said to her and then began to explain what he had in mind in full detail.

At the beginning of Saito's words Keiko blushed from the praise but upon him further going along into his request her features went into a shocked state holding until the very end to which if anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen a mischievous smirk and a slight glimmer in the young woman's eyes.

"Lord Saito… I believe the next decade is going to be a veery interesting one indeed" Lady Keiko said as she turned and disappeared into the dark corridor leading back into the Kage's building.

After collecting his pay for his final mission with Kusa which was quite considerable (850,000 ryu is nothing to scoff at) he went back home to find the his daughter had everything packed, but curiously was laying on the ground with whirlpool like swirls where her eyes had once been while giggling holding Naruto who was laughing as much as an infant could. Saito questioned Megumi as to why she was in this state, she went on to explain that she had been trying everything to keep the infant quiet because after he was finished eating he had begun to weep like there was no tomorrow. In her efforts to calm him she had tried funny faces, goofy noises, tickling, and then finally fell onto dancing and that seemed to be the only thing that would quiet the boy. After Megumi stood with the boy to speak to her father she noticed that the infant was now sound asleep, so she set him down in the middle of the bed in the master bedroom and placed a pillow on either side of him to cease his movement while she pulled up a chair next to the bed.

"Megumi…we need to talk my daughter" Saito said as he also pulled up a chair next to the bed so he could explain the situation to her. For the next hour Saito explained the situation and what he had planned to deal with it. He explained that they would be going to Amegakure and that he would be training Naruto once he came of age and that it also meant that he would need her help, to which of course she stated she had no problem. The only thing that gave the whole conversation pause was Megumi's argument to keep the house in Kusa, and while Saito himself knew of the benefit's to keeping the home the ache of being here without Natsumi crushed any kind of desire to keep his first real home. In the end that was the reason he relented and decided to keep the home so that Megumi would at least be able to remember her times with her mother, what few she could remember in any event. After the conversation Saito took the few items the Kusakage had given and added them into one of the storage scrolls and re-sealed it into the master scroll for the upcoming journey. Saito then gathered up there things and handed Megumi her pack and strapped on a carrier for Naruto and placed it on her back, and then took her bag telling her to worry about the boy more than anything else. They then stepped out of the house and Saito set to activating a set of seals the Kusakage had put together out of the Uzumaki scrolls to protect the house and grounds, and then with a final wistful glance he turned away and began walking with his daughter towards the village's main gate. "_Goodbye my love_" those words rang out through Saito's mind and actually caused him to spare a glance at the entrance to his compound one final time when he and Megumi were halfway through the market district. 'I'll return when I can…_my beloved_' Saito thought as a stray tear actually fell down the left side of his face as Megumi and him crossed out of the market into the farther out residential district headed toward the gate.

As they continued on out passed the gate little did they know that atop one of the higher watchtowers of Kusa's outer gate stood a cloaked figure with a messenger bird on his shoulder, watching them as they disappeared into the forest border headed towards Ame. 'Interesting, very interesting the five will want to know that he is on the move again, and about the child' the lone figure thought as he quickly pulled out a scroll and wrote down the details of all three traveling companions and the direction in which they were headed. "Go now Nori and bring the masters this turn of events while I await Ichigo's report" the lone man said to his messenger hawk companion before with a great screech the auburn colored hawk took flight in the opposite direction of Saito to a land far different than Amegakure; the Land of Stone…not knowing that he would be waiting for quite some time.

While these events were transpiring though unbeknownst to Saito, and also our lone cloaked figure, two other sets of eyes had been watching what the Lone Wolf was doing. One being a figure that as soon as Saito was out of eyeshot seemed to meld into the earth's floor and disappear as if he was never there, the second of these two had been another dark cloaked figure but this one you would clearly be able to see a plain white mask on it with the only distinguishing mark being that of the "Ne" symbol, above the left eye meaning that it was one of Danzo Shimura's Root Anbu. After writing down what was seen the operative promptly popped a soldier pill in their mouth and turned and began to jump through the trees back toward Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

Back atop the Hokage Monument…

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze reached up behind his ponytail and deactivated his seal for carrying out missions, and allowed his brown hair and eyes to fade to allow his golden locks and cerulean blue eyes to blink back into existence along with his whisker-like birthmarks. Naruto then turned around and walked to the catwalk leading down the side of the monument to the streets below, so he could begin his long trek back to the very standard apartment the Third Hokage had supplied for him. He began to take in his surroundings and began to compare this village to all the others he had been to throughout his career as The Phantom, and in all honesty looking back this village would be easy to wipe off the map. 'Inferno really could have achieved their dream if I hadn't intervened I guess huh' Naruto mused to himself as he rounded a corner to prepare to head in the direction of what most would call "cheap-side", in any of the other four big villages.

**Flashback jutsu**

It came as no surprise that when he arrived at the gate earlier that day in the middle of the afternoon that the chunin had immediately jumped from their sitting posts, and attempted to apprehend him seeing as he was outfitted as a shinobi but bore no headband at the time to show his affiliation to any village. Unfortunately for the eternal gate guards Gotetsu and Izumo however this was no ordinary visitor, in fact Naruto couldn't even be classified as a normal shinobi. In the blink of an eye Naruto under his guise of Reiji grounded and immobilized both Izumo and Gotetsu, and when the two looked up they were now looking at two copies of the boy on each of their sides restraining them while one was crouched in front of both of them; holding a wicked looking dagger drawn and pointing it at their throats. The next few moments had been quite tense as after that Anbu Black Ops had arrived ready for battle, but the most interesting thing to happen was the appearance of the Third Hokage.

"Young man you should know that if you do not let my subordinates go this instant you will force me to cut you down…_do you understand me_?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked as he punctuated every word with a greater blast of killing intent. After taking stock in the situation Naruto actually had to admit if he meant to cause damage, (which he didn't mind you) but if he had been coming looking for a fight it may actually have gotten him killed. Taking in the appearance of the Third Hokage he was not really surprised at the level of killing intent the man was letting out after all he wasn't known as the "God of Shinobi" for nothing. Naruto quickly dispelled his "**Shadow Clones**" with but a thought and quickly processed the information they had taken in, and after looking at it the villages defenses left something to be desired in his eyes. 'Their response time was terrible I could have easily ended these two and made a break for it, not to mention why are they only sending forward four plus the Hokage…granted I'm one guy but if I let off the "**Reverse Tetra gram seal**" I could easily take down those four and maybe even the old man plus a ton of civilians' was Naruto's errant thought before preparing to drop a proverbial bomb on the aged Hokage.

"My deepest apologies Lord Third but you should know that these two jumped me first and I was merely looking to restrain them, in all honesty I'm glad you showed up in person as it is that I have some information for you." Naruto said as he looked upon the group trying to decide if they should jump and kill him or not.

Now as this was going on everyone from the Leaf village was also taking in the situation none more so than the Third, and it was abundantly clear to him that this young man whoever he was may mean no harm. As it was that while Naruto (unknown to him) had picked apart the villages defenses so had the aged Hokage and he also noticed that Naruto had left the gate guards alive. 'He truly means no harm… if he wanted he could have ended Izumo and Gotetsu and yet he didn't, the question is what information could he have for me' the old Hokage questioned himself as he continued to observe the young man before him.

"Well young man by all means speak your mind but know that depending on what it is you would like to discuss we can move this to a more private venue…if necessary" Hiruzen said as he gave a discreet hand sign to have the Anbu disperse the small crowd that had gathered. Taking that as his motion to continue Naruto wisely or unwisely depending on who you ask decided for one of the few times that he had done it to completely abandon any tact he had developed "I have information regarding a certain infant that went missing from the outskirts of this village a little over fifteen years ago now" said the young average looking boy as he stared at the aged Third Hokage with a very bland look.

An errant breeze past through the village hidden in the leaves at that moment and everything went deathly still, not a sound was heard, not a single body moved, and that's when it happened, Hiruzen Sarutobi showed exactly why he was considered the "God of Shinobi". The killing intent that hit the area gave a few in the area flashbacks of when the "Nine Tailed Fox" had attacked the village, most of the civilians in the area actually collapsed and passed into the realm of blessed unconsciousness, and… for the first time in little over a year Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze felt fear. The entire time since the Hokage had arrived before him he had been wearing a neutral expression; even when he had first released his killing intent(which compared to now was absolutely nothing) when addressing Naruto earlier his face had been like a pond on a summers morning calm… but now his face looked down right thunderous. The man's face had hardened and Naruto could honestly say he had only felt killing intent like this from four others in his life, three of those four people being dead and the other taking up residency in his gut. (I'll let you guess who that last one was) If Naruto hadn't had gone through the training and hell that he had been through in his life he could honestly say that he would probably have passed out by then hell even at that moment he couldn't stop himself from shaking just a little. The situation being what it was Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath so he could speak again only to find that the moment he opened his eyes the Hokage had entered his personal space.

'Ho...Ly...crap. I didn't even hear the old guy move let alone feel him standing in front of me.' Was all Naruto could think now that the third was standing directly in front of him.

The next words out of Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth actually gave Naruto pause and caused his mouth to go dry…

"Young man, I am going to ask that you let an old man give you a piece of advice at this moment. You need to be very careful with what you say to me next…because depending on what I hear from you will determine whether or not I have you permanently incarcerated at Anbu's Torture and Interrogation Unit or simply cut you down here and now myself" and the Third Hokage had said it all with an unblinking façade causing Naruto an even greater amount of discomfort.

"Trust me when I say this Lord Third the boy is alive and well…In fact he is closer than you think" was all Naruto could say before giving the Hokage a foxy grin and a wink.

Let it be known that Hiruzen Sarutobi would look back on that moment and kick himself for not having caught on to the hint that Naruto had been obviously giving him, but at the time he was quite angry so I am sure most can overlook this laps in observational awareness. "Perhaps we should reconvene in my office at the tower and discuss this" was all the Third said before placing a hand on Naruto's should and body flickering himself and the boy to his office followed by the group of four Anbu.

After all was said and done a random very plain looking civilian was passing by the gate and came to realize that the two chunin that were on guard duty were passed out with whirlpool looking swirls in their eyes, and after that merely shook his head and began walking away. 'Youngsters just think they can sleep wherever they want these days huh, oh back in my day…'(and that's all I'm going to go into on the random old guys rant as you can probably guess where I'm going with it)

After body flickering to his office and putting up a "**privacy jutsu**" Hiruzen Sarutobi turned back to his guest and began to fill his pipe with cherry flavored tobacco, "So my young man what do you know of young Na…ru…to?"

After having body flickered to the office and went to sit behind the desk the third had never bothered to look at the young man so he missed him raising his right hand behind his head as if he were going to rub his neck, but due to the high level of stress of the past few moments and the fact of possibly receiving such monumental information Hiruzen Sarutobi missed when Naruto deactivated his seal and allowed his proper physical features to slide into place. So as it were when Hiruzen Sarutobi, the second coming of the "God of Shinobi", turned with a full pipe and prepared to light it in his mouth and got a good look at our young hero it should come as no surprise that the pipe fell straight from his mouth to the desk to discard ashes all over his paperwork and left him doing his best impersonation of a fish. (When asked about the ruined paperwork by the council later on he stated and I quote "Ain't nobody got time for that")

It should also be noted that what came next wasn't that really hard to predict either…

"Ho…Ly…Shi"

**PLEASE READ AUTHORS NOTES:**

**And that is the end of the second chapter boys and girls once again I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please do review and again please remember no flames I really will not pay attention. I hope the cliffy wasn't too bad I was actually channeling the show "Hero's" for that one. I know it might be a little jumbled I hope everybody can follow okay. I am going to say it now, there will be a lot of flashbacks for the first few chapters but that does not mean that I will not be covering canon. And in case no one guessed there are going to be a lot of changes as far as the story goes especially later canon/shippuden arc when we get there. I have been reading the manga and can I just say it has gotten ridonculous, I mean seriously so I am definitely going to put my own flair and let's not forget this is a major crossover with Phantom requiem for the Phantom so anything can happen. If anyone guessed yes some of the characters that are listed or OC just using major prominent names I remember from anime but trying to give their own personality. Don't worry during Naruto's training we may see others that are reminiscent of The Kenshin verse as well (the guy who died was a nobody I just wanted to name a couple of the flower group people seeing as Naruto Blood prison didn't really cover that shady groups origins. Not to mention for my story anybody wanna guess what I'm going to do with the box of bliss… person who gets it right gets a cookie…a chocolate chip cookie… I bake them myself… seriously I am a cook for what I do for real life. Additionally while I plan on working this story as my main story I have two others in the works one covering Naruto as Soujiro's apprentice because well you should get that one right off the bat. The second is going to cover Menma from Naruto road to ninja because I like the alternate Naruto, I mean he seems like an utter bad ass and I think just for shits and giggles I'm gonna set him loose on someone else's universe… just for fun here's my first poll not really sure how it will go but let's say for Menma he's gonna go to one of these three and I will leave a fourth spot open for you guys to leave suggestions and if I choose that one I will give the other person props.**

**DC Universe may be good/bad haven't decided on pairing yet.**

**Marvel Universe if he goes here he's gonna be with hot female Deadpool this is not up for debate just because I think it would be hilarious**

**Fairy Tail-will be a good guy I am going to make him and Mystogan decent friend s and I am thinking of pairing him with female Laxus because I've **

**Never seen that… or Cana…because I think Cana is smoking hot… YATTA!**

**This is important This is for the possible suggestions if you want to give one please give me name of Anime /comic/anything really that you want me to depict Naruto in and I will do research and then when I do a new chapter of this as I figure it out I will post at the end.**

**And finally as a side note please everyone say a prayer for Robin Williams; while I disagree with suicide as a whole due to personal losses I also respect that some people deal with depression from clinical illness and for some it is out of their own control. So as I said Robin Williams may you rest in peace… know that you have left behind a wonderful legacy and many wonderful characters… you will be remembered fondly.**


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