Chapter 13: Diaspora – Naruto

Naruto stood bare-chested as Jiraiya squinted past his brilliant aura. The Sannin studied the seal carefully, watching the flow of chakra for irregularity.

He straightened and a noncommittal grimace ghosted across his face. "Huh."

"Huh?" Naruto echoed.

"Huh…" Jiraiya said once more, drawing it out thoughtfully. "Well, I can't see anything wrong with it…but I can sure see why the Hokage wasn't keen on letting you go on regular missions. And I sure as hell agree with him about not putting you in ANBU. That'd be just stupid, honestly."

"So…" Naruto began, "You're saying there's no way out of this?"

"Sorry, kid. But you're going to have to learn pretty much perfect emotional control, or else you're going to incinerate a good…" he paused for a moment, counting on his fingers, "twenty meter radius – every single time you get upset."

Naruto frowned. "But how do I do that? Some kind of special training?"

"Well, there'll be a bit of that. But mostly you just need to learn to contain your reaction long enough to let it out when you decide to. So there'll be a bit of meditation, some sparring, and definitely some sealing, but mostly we need you to find a hobby; some way to blow off steam without…heh… literally blowing off steam." The sage nodded knowingly. "I wouldn't do this for just anyone, kid…but if you can beat my challenge, I'll teach you my secret technique for perfectly relieving stress any time!"

He leaned in close, the fire in his eyes reflected in Naruto's own, and whispered his challenge.

"Get me your handler's measurements, and I'll teach you the secrets of Icha-Icha Research!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Really. Really, Anko made sure all of us knew that the day after she started as our squad leader so she could make us buy replacement jackets every time she lost one. …Damn those were so expensive, I mean come on…"

"Ah! Finally, a worthy pupil!" Jiraiya rejoiced, then pointed dramatically. "You will inherit all of my most secret spying techniques, and become the greatest literary master in the history of shinobi. Do you accept this challenge, my apprentice?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow critically. "Eh…sounds boring, so no thanks."

Jiraiya crumpled, shuddering back in exaggerated despair. "No…Naruto…you were the chosen one, my last hope. Will this world never see true light?"

"Not if you keep moping. Seriously, teach me something useful or send me on a mission or something; this is lame as hell, Pervy Sage," Naruto said flatly. How did this guy ever become a Jounin?

Jiraiya pouted. "Alright, fine. Well, did anyone explain why you're out here?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, the Hokage mentioned it and Anko explained some…"

As of now," A stamp thumped against forms on the Hokage's desk. "you have each received a field promotion to Chunin,"

The Hokage held out a page without looking up. "Neji. You've been assigned to Sensor Division; the newly-formed Yamato Squad, specializing in live capture. Strictly noncom until the medics clear you! They're all familiar with ANBU sign; you can pick it up from them."

Neji took the form, bowed, and silently made an exit.

The stamp thumped again. The Hokage proffered another document. "Tenten. General forces. Return in twenty minutes to discuss the details."

The brunette frowned, but took the paper and stalked out.

Thump. "Sasuke. General forces. Return in thirty minutes.

Sasuke snatched the paper and sprang out the window.

Naruto stepped forward, awaiting his assignment and the telltale thump of the Hokage's personal seal on the form, but it never came. Instead, the old man groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Ahh, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…I've read Anko's mission report; I should have known you would inherit Minato's prodigious energy. Those seals were never going to hold long, but I had hoped they would last until the Chunin exams, at least. Sadly, I must deliver a bit of bad news."

Naruto was unusually solemn. He rested his steady gaze on the leader of his village. "Old Man?"

"I can't give you an assignment."

And like that, the fire was back in Naruto's eyes. "What?"

The Hokage shook his head firmly. "You heard me the first time. I cannot give you an assignment."

"Why the hell not!?" Naruto raged. Smoke began to rise from the floorboards below his feet as his body temperature rose.

"Because of exactly what you're doing now, you foolish, intemperate child!" The wizened shinobi roared back.

Naruto looked down, forcing back his temper. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

Hiruzen looked every bit his age as he slumped in his seat. "I know, Naruto. But that's why I can't assign you. How can I, when every seasoned shinobi in the village remembers the attack of the Nine-Tails. You haven't earned the trust they'll give your teammates by default, and at some point you won't be able to handle it. Worse, you risk destroying them the moment your feelings get the better of you. You'll work solo for a while. I'll assign Anko as your handler, so you'll have a consistent point of contact with the village, but you'll have to spend at least two years as a roaming asset."

Naruto's heartbroken look almost made the old man cave and reverse his pronouncement, but he hardened his heart and bore the pain as Naruto asked the only question he could. "You mean…I have to leave the village? Leave the Uchiha? Leave Sasuke?"

Though he could hardly speak, the Hokage managed to hoarsely choke out his answer. "This is difficult to say…but yes, that is correct."

Silence fell for a moment as the two ninja; commander and soldier, mastered their feelings.

Naruto's frown morphed from despondent to vexed in a moment. "But what good will two years do! They're not going to learn to trust me in two years, not if we aren't working together. Why not assign me to the Barrier Squad or the ANBU Black Ops Division? They're good enough to keep themselves safe, aren't they?"

The Hokage sighed. "First, the Barrier Squad deals in detection and intel, not physical defense, and Black Ops runs covert missions." Here he gave Naruto a pointed look, before moving on. "Your first mission as a roaming asset is to rendezvous with Jiraiya of the Sannin. He's been instructed to develop a meditation and training regime for you to follow in your spare time. In the future, he will rendezvous with you to periodically evaluate your progress. You will not be permitted to work with any ninja below the rank of Jounin or run critical missions until you meet his expectations. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Naruto said, nodding.

"Good. The contents of your apartment will be stored until your return, at which point you may request a new lodging assignment. You've been authorized to pick up a long-term mission kit from the quartermaster; Anko will meet you there. You will leave immediately; she has the details on your rendezvous point."

"Alright." Naruto nodded. "Kick the councilors' asses for me."

Hiruzen retained a veneer of calm, but his aura radiated surprise and amusement. So he picked up on it.

"Hm," he snorted. "You're dismissed."

Naruto turned on his heel and walked out the door, then paused to glance back over his shoulder. "I'll see you later, old man."

Hiruzen smiled. "Not if this old man sees you first, upstart."

Naruto and Anko slipped past the gate guards on their way out of Konoha and landed in the trees. They compensated smoothly for the bending branches as they ran. Their breaths came quick and light; when Anko broke the silence, her voice was steady.

"We're meeting Jiraiya at the crossroads near the border with Wind. Taking it easy, we'll be there in two days."

Naruto nodded absently. "Ok."

Anko rolled her eyes and came to a stop, placing a firm hand on his shoulder to arrest his momentum before turning him to face her.

"Alright, hold up a second. You were just shy of bursting on the way in, why are you so down, kid? You made Chunin! That's something to be proud of; you made it with a field promotion during peacetime; that never happens. There's not even a provision for it in the usual regulations. So what, you're going to be out of the village? It's not like you're wasting time out here. You've basically got free reign to do nothing but train for the next two years; in the village, you would've been running missions. Every. Single. Day. You know how many Chunin would kill for training time like this? So find some nifty ways to put all that chakra to use, then knock them on their asses when you get back. "

They sprinted in silence for several minutes. Naruto's pensive thoughts finally resolved, and he nodded.

"Alright. So who is this Jiraiya, really? I heard about him in the Academy, but I've never seen him in the village."

Anko snorted. "Don't ask me; that's way above my pay grade. Officially, he's on a classified long-term mission. Unofficially, everyone's pretty sure he's running a paramilitary intelligence network and keeping tabs on Tsunade Senju, but that's just unconfirmed speculation."

"Have you ever met him?"

Her smile darkened. "Yes. Twice. Once when Tsunade caught him spying on the women's bath and I helped beat the shit out of him. And once more as he left the village to hunt down my traitorous bastard of a teacher, Orochimaru. It was a long time ago, but he seemed nice enough. Too nice, actually; I expect that's why he's not leading an execution squad to terminate the snake. Oh, and he taught the Fourth Hokage. That's probably why Hiruzen's having him teach you. Everything the Fourth learned about seals, he built on the foundation of Jiraiya's instruction."

"So you think he'll teach me sealing?" Naruto queried.

She nodded. "Probably. You'll also be doing a hell of a lot of chakra control exercises, not to mention calligraphy."

Naruto made a face. "Huh. Sounds boring, but ok."

Anko's smirk took on a sadistic edge. "You'd think so, wouldn't you…"

Jiraiya nodded as Naruto finished. "Alright. Anko is correct; you're going to be spending a lot of time on meditation, chakra control, and calligraphy…but you probably got the impression you'd be doing them one at a time, in blocks like at the Academy, right?"

"Well, until you said that, but yeah."

The perverted sage stifled an evil chuckle. "Oh, you fool! You must learn to keep control over your mind at continually, so you must meditate at all times. Your chakra control must never lapse, so you must practice chakra control at all times. And finally…you must draw seals perfectly…Every. Single. Time. So…you must practice calligraphy: At. All. Times!"

"Sounds tough, but ok."

"Not so fast! On top of this, you must also be ready to fight at any moment, so must do all four of these things at the same time!" Jiraiya finished triumphantly.

Naruto shrugged, but a glint in his eye belied his focus. "Alright then. When do we start?"

The sage smiled earnestly for the first time. "Now."

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Sasuke considered the political ramifications of his latest assignment as he sat on the dock in the Uchiha compound. The Sandaime clearly understood them even more clearly than he did…but he didn't have an Uchiha's perspective. Hiruzen waited in silence for Sasuke's return. When the Uchiha sprang through the window as easily as he'd left, to settle languidly in one of the room's chairs, the Hokage broke the silence.

"I'm sure you've realized by now that your assignment to the general forces is a front."

Sasuke snorted. "You think? The form doesn't list a division, squad, or meeting place."

"Those will be added later depending on your choice of specialty. You're quite fortunate, in fact, in that you have more choice than any of your teammates. Naruto was always going to spend a significant amount of time as a roaming asset, Neji was always going to be a tracker, and Tenten…well, she had a bit more flexibility, but her chosen specialty makes her a shoo-in for assassination."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "So what are my options?"

"Your skillset is well-suited to Recon or Assassination, to be perfectly honest. You know a number of highly lethal techniques, but your eyes allow you unparalleled insight into subtle details. There is one other option, however…"

The Uchiha looked up irritably. "Which is…?"

The Hokage leveled his gaze at the black-haired chunin. "The reactivation of Insight Squadron as an ANBU unit under my command. You would be fast-tracked to Jounin with the expectation of becoming second-in-command of the squad."

The Uchiha jerked upright and stared openly at the Hokage. An keen smile spread across his face. "Well. So much for that so-called choice, I guess. Father would disown me if I refused a concession like that. Expecting to need political capital sometime soon, are you?"

The Hokage remained impassive. "Have you made a decision?"

Sasuke scowled. "Fine, don't tell the lowly chunin anything. I'm in."

"Excellent. Meet your new instructor at Training Ground 14 at 0700 tomorrow.

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke said, and casually flipped through the window. "They'd better be good!" he shouted back as he slid down the tower.

A special covert squadron formerly under the auspices of the Intel division, which consisted of four, theoretically: Oversight (Hyuuga-only; large scale intelligence, troop movements and supply-lines), Hindsight (General forces, good for getting combat-light intellectuals off the field; auditing and historical analysis), Foresight (Nara-only; prediction and planning) and the inactive branch, Insight (Uchiha-only, internal investigations and undercover policing). The question was, why reactivate the Insight squadron now, in peacetime, when it's main purpose was originally to investigate suspected espionage within Konoha's bureaucracy? Furthermore, why activate it as an ANBU unit directly under the Hokage instead of simply reactivating it as an Intel squadron?

A familiar, soft voice shook the fresh chunin out of his thoughts. "Sasuke. Follow me."

Itachi! Sasuke sprang to his feet and sprinted through the trees after the rapidly-receding form of his elder brother. He's moving so fast…he's never gotten so close to leaving me behind before.

They came to a stop in a clearing, and Sasuke caught his breath as Itachi eyed him "Well done. Before you left for Suna, you wouldn't have been able to keep up with me. Missions suit you."

"Thank you."

"There's still plenty of room for improvement, little brother. That's why I've brought you here, to my personal training ground. How about we take some time to evaluate your other skills, hm?"

Sasuke smiled and drew a kunai from his weapon pouch. "With pleasure, brother."

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Tenten's assignment was nominally straightforward. "Report to the mission desk tomorrow morning for a solo assignment." Disappointed as she was at the prospect of Chunin grunt work, she steeled her nerves and nodded politely before turning to leave.

An unknown ninja interrupted her mission with a discreet message. She'd slowed to civilian speed and hidden her Konoha forehead protector to move unnoticed through a border town near the Land of Earth, but as she weaved through the crowd, she felt someone press a slip of paper into her palm.

Get a room at the inn on the north end of town.

After finding the inn and settling into her room, she opened the window and sat down to meditate. She had hardly taken a breath when the rustling curtains betrayed a new arrival.

Multiple new arrivals, she amended as she opened her eyes and saw them lounging in the corners.

"Hello," said the leader. "I am ANBU Hound; I will be your captain for the foreseeable future. The first thing you need to know is that I receive my orders directly from the Hokage and the ANBU Commander, and the members of this squad are the only ANBU you will ever personally know. ANBU does not have a central command structure, there are no established training facilities, and we are not soldiers. We are an independent unit tasked with eliminating threats to the interests of Konoha and the Land of Fire. We are assassins; we train ourselves, we arm ourselves, and we carry out our orders however we see fit."

"I understand. What are my orders, captain?" Tenten asked.

"Here is your equipment stipend. Your assignment is to obtain armor, weapons, and an ANBU guise as cheaply and quickly as possible without giving away your identity as a Konoha shinobi. Consider this your initial evaluation. Begin…now."

Tenten smoothly slipped out the window onto a rooftop and headed for the market district, identifying a blacksmith's stall and a toy shop selling various masks, including fake 'ANBU' masks.

For a moment, she considered simply buying what she needed, but the frugality drilled into her at the Academy, as well as the desire to do well on the assignment, convinced her to steal it instead. She dropped down into an alley and infiltrated the crowd, leaving a slow-burning explosive tag stuck to the eaves of a particularly gaudy clothing store. Just before it detonated, she slipped through the back of the blacksmith's tent and grabbed a light breastplate. She had planned to leave after that, but a dagger near the entrance caught her eye and she snagged it on her way out.

Moving on to the toy shop, she 'tripped' and knocked a stack of masks over. Apologizing profusely as she helped pick them up, she surreptitiously slipped one under her shirt, holding it there with a careful application of chakra. Apologizing to the shop owner once again, she wandered back into the crowd before slipping into an alley and taking to the rooftops once more.

Hound and his squad were waiting when she returned armed and armored by her new acquisitions.

The tall ANBU captain eyed her carefully, then cast a glance at his associate in the corner.

"Your assessment, Cat?"

The slim figure leaned forward, resting bare arms on ceramic knee-pads, and a feminine voice emerged from behind the mask.

"Acceptable. She spent no money and used no Konoha-specific techniques identifiable to enemy ninja, and the civilians suspected nothing. One question: was the tag made or bought?'

"Made," Tenten said.

"Alright. Ink and paper are cheap enough, I say she passes." Cat leaned back against the wall and began to idly spin a kunai on her forefinger.

Hound looked up at the bulky ANBU who sat crosslegged on the ceiling.

"Eagle?"

He (for it was obviously a man) dropped from the ceiling and landed heavily in front of the slight chunin, peering closely at her.

"Good instincts. That bit where you tripped was inspired. The explosion was a bit overkill for a distraction, but we'll fix that. Pass." He moved into an unoccupied corner and settled into an easy crouch.

Hound stood silently for several minutes before breaking the silence. "Alright, you're in. Let's take a look at that mask you're hiding under your shirt."

Tenten hadn't looked closely at it when she'd first taken it, but she recognized it immediately. As she slipped it on, Hound nodded approvingly.

"Welcome to the team…ANBU Hawk."

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A/N: So, this one was a pain-and-a-half to finish, and I'm still not super happy with it, but whatever, I guess. This is the first of two transition chapters; one pre-timeskip and one post-timeskip. The next one should move us solidly into 'Act II' of this story, where the main plot can start to take shape. I make no promises on update schedule though: I just graduated, and so job-hunting is taking up a fair bit of my time.