AN: I have been reading fanfiction stories for years now and I finally decided to try my hand at writing one. Constructive criticism is welcomed and when I say constructive criticism I mean pointing out plot holes, slight out of character moments or grammatical errors. I do not want rants in the comment sections or people telling me what they want. This is my story, not yours. This story is going to be AU. (It will be similar to the movie but at the same time I have twisted it to my liking). The story will be slow at first but will speed up in the later chapters.

A Little Background: Naruto is currently 20 years old. His parents died by sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox into him. His demeanor is very different then canon. He is more serious, more intelligent, and has more skills that make him more like actual ninja. Naruto is currently in ANBU, apart of team Theta, captained by Yamato. He is a sealing expert and a master of wind justu's.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter I

A flash of lightning illuminated the current room he was standing in. The room was a modest 20' by 20' office. The office was just big enough to comfortably fit a desk, a couch, and a couple chairs. Behind the desk was a woman with her arms crossed. She had her eyes closed and was deep in thought. She took a deep breath before addressing the man in front of her.

"Toad, please remove your mask," she said in a clam even tone.

The young man she addressed followed her orders. He reached up to his face and removed the porcelain toad shaped mask. Once he removed the mask the woman could see his contorted confused expression. She took another long deep breath before starting again.

"This mission is unlike any other infiltration mission you have been on before. You will be infiltrating a place notorious for being inescapable." She finished her statement by looking hesitantly at the mission statement handed to her by her secretary.

The young man didn't even flinch at what was asked of him. He calmly looked back at his Hokage and asked one simple question, "What place am I infiltrating?"

The woman seemed to take relief from his calm demeanor. Just by reading the mission statement she felt uneasy. The mission tied her stomach into a figure eight knot. A ninja's gut is their best weapon and if she were to follow that phrase right now she would toss this statement into the trash. After realizing she had been lost in thought for the past minute she answered her subordinate, "you will be infiltrating Hozuki Blood Prison inthe Village Hidden in the Grass."

She paused before reading the rest of the text on the paper. "We have reason to believe that the warden of the prison is planning something sinister. He is trying to open a mythical object that should stay closed. The object is supposedly called the Box of Enlightenment. However, our sources can't confirm that information.Your mission, once you infiltrate the prison, will be to locate this mythical box and destroy it. If you can't destroy it, seal the box away for good."

The young man looked miffed by her last statement. How was he supposed to destroy a mythical box that he had no information on? She was certainly correct though, this was nothing like his usual infiltration missions. He was brought out of his thoughts when Tsunade started talking again.

"You will not be inside the prison alone. You will have two contacts who are inside on the same mission as you. Your first contact is a Jonin from the Hidden Cloud named Maroi.He has been under cover for close to a year now. He is the main information gatherer. If you need information on an inmate, a guard, or anyone within the prison, he is your guy. Your second contact is a woman code-named Dragon, this is the only information I have of her. She is an ANBU of the Hidden Grass and is tasked with the same mission as you. She will be on the same cart with you to the prison. If everything works out as it should you two will be in the same cell for the duration of the mission. Any questions so far?"

She looked up from the sheet of paper with a pensive stare. Her glare did not hide her worry for him though. She never wants to put her pseudo-son in any unfavorable situations but he is the best infiltration specialist available in the village at the moment. He could tell that she was lost in thought again. That glossy-eyed look has appeared many times before he went on missions that were not of the best conditions.

Deciding to break the silence Naruto asked, "How will I determine who my contacts are?"

Tsunade, now broken out of her stupor, looked down towards the paper again intensively looking for that piece of information. With the newfound information she started again, "There are two signal phrases that you have to identify your contacts. Ask the question, 'What are you in here for?' and they should respond, 'Same as you.' Then you will follow up another question by asking them if they are innocent. If they respond with, 'The only guilty man in the Hidden Grass,' then they are your contact." Tsunade responded promptly. A couple seconds after her mouth shut her mouth opened again and she continued with the briefing, "Your mission will start tomorrow morning. I will call you back into the office where Captain Yamato will escort you to the gates and onto the prison caravan heading for the prison. If you have any more questions I have a copy of the mission briefing that you may go over once our meeting is finished." The last words spoken were followed by a deep inhale of air.

Naruto looked down at his mask and then back at Tsunade. He had a very uneasy feeling about this mission. The Box of Enlightenment, the prison warden, this entire scenario was combustible and ready to burst into flames at any moment. Due to his relationship with the Hokage and his status he could worm his way out of the mission. But, where would taking the easy road get him? He had worked hard his entire life, training till his knuckles bled, feeling the ache from working his muscles to hard, being hospitalized for using every last drop of chakra in his chakra pool trying to master justu's.

Naruto's reflection was cut short when Tsunade asked a short, quick question, "Do you accept the mission?"

To tell the truth Naruto was divided. His loyalty and pride for his village was pushing him to accept the mission but his rational, thoughtful side wanted him to reject the mission. Now Naruto has matured over the years from an impulsive child to a calculative man but on certain occasions his former personality will show through. This would be one of those rare instances.

"I accept the mission." Naruto spoke the words with absolute conviction showing no sense of being bothered by the prospect of possibly being stuck inside of a prison the rest of his life.

Tsunade accepted the answer with a grain of salt. It was as though she was dreading those very words that came out of his mouth. She did her best to hide her disappointment but her attempts were futile. She spoke her next statement in a disappointed and depressed tone, "Excellent, please report here tomorrow morning at 800 hours. You are dismissed."

Naruto wanted to say something to improve her mood but he felt that anything he said would only worsen it. He responded with a curt, "Yes Hokage-sama," and disappeared in a shushin.

Right after Naruto left Tsunade's head dropped down into her folded arms on her desk. She could not believe what she had just did. She has known Naruto for years, seen how hard he has worked, and heard stories of the obstacles he has overcome as a child. She felt as though she just sentenced him to death. She could only hope that he makes it through the mission safely and he could return to the village safely. After the mission, she would owe him at least a hundred bowls of ramen. That's it, she just had to think optimistically about this entire situation.

-At Naruto's Apartment-

Naruto landed silently on the balcony of his apartment. He stood up from the crouch he landed in and made his way over to the door. When he reached the door, he looked down towards the knob and in quick succession pressed several points on the handle of the door. After a couple of seconds a large seal array flashed a bright blue before fading back into invisibility. When the seal array completed faded, Naruto grasped the handle and pulled the door open. When he was completely inside his apartment, he put one foot in front of the other and kicked off his sandals. In his tired state, he almost forgot to close the door behind him.

Training from earlier in the day combined with that tense mission briefing must have been more exhausting than he thought. After walking through his humble abode, he made it to his bedroom in the back of the apartment. His apartment wasn't anything special. It had all the essentials needed to live. His apartment had a small kitchen with all the typical appliances, a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave, a freezer, and sink. Across from the kitchen is the living room. The living room is the same 12' by 12' size as the kitchen. Except instead of appliances it is decorated with a couch, chair, a small table separating the two, and against the wall adjacent from the couch were two sliding doors leading into a small balcony. Combining the two rooms was a hallway. The hallway connected the entire apartment. One direction lead to the front door of his apartment, which he barely used. His master's tendency of entering buildings and places unconventionally must have rubbed off on him. If you were to follow the hallway in the opposite direction it would lead to the bedroom where we currently find Naruto. Lying face down in the bed in the middle of the room. Naruto had hit the mattress and passed out instantly. He didn't even change out of his ANBU gear. Next to the bed is a small closet and beside it is a bathroom.

The dark and quiet night lasted for 6 hours before the sun broke its silence. The sun shined brightly this morning. Birds chirped happily and the temperature was warming to the sound of the bird's music. All in all, nature portrayed the morning as if everything in the world was perfect. In reality nature could not have been more wrong. If nature truly reflected this very moment, then it would be pouring rain and the wind would be whipping around uncontrollably.

Naruto awoke to his loud obnoxious alarm and the tranquil scenery outside. Titling his head up from his prone position Naruto saw that the clock was flashing the number 6:58. He had a little over an hour before he would be shipped off to prison for who knows how long. Groggily getting up from his comfortable mattress, he pushed himself to the corner of the bed. It took more strength than necessary to push himself off his bed and towards the bathroom. His arms and legs were still deep in REM sleep.

Naruto quickly discarded his armor and took a look at himself in the mirror. He was a tall man standing just above 6'2, his hair was cut short with his bangs being nearly nonexistent. His eyed are a piercing sky blue, his nose is narrow and combined well with his sharp jawline when it came to impressing women. His eyed peered down to his well sculpted chest. His six-pack showed through his many permanent seals. Unlike most people, Naruto was his own storage and summoning scroll. Storage seals lined his upper torso and went down his arms. From far away it looked as though he had sleeves done at his local tattoo parlor but that isn't the case. After looking himself over in the mirror Naruto stepped into his shower, slowly turned on the warm water and wallowed in its comforting temperature. In less than an hour he would be on a cart heading to the Village Hidden in the Grass.

-At the Hokage's Office-

It was currently 7:50 and Naruto wanted to make it to the office early. The tense atmosphere combined with how late it was last night did not give Naruto a lot of time to talk with Tsunade. He could see it in her eyes that she did not want to send him on this mission. Maybe he could have a pleasant conversation with his pseudo-parent before he leaves for his mission.

Naruto entered the Hokage's through the last window on the right. When he lifted his head up to take a look at Tsunade his face contorted into a frown. Sitting in the same desk and same clothes as last night was his leader but there was something different. The difference was the amount of sake bottles littered around the desk and around the trash. Naruto could tell she had a hard night and would have an even worse morning.

Calmly Naruto stood up from his crouch and made his way over to Tsunade. After years of training with a world class spy master Naruto's footsteps became silent. So, it was no surprise that when he tapped Tsunade on the shoulder she would be surprised and punch the person who woke her from her slumber. If Naruto was any lesser of a man her would be on the receiving end of that haymaker but he had luckily substituted with one of the chairs in front of the desk milliseconds before her fist would have landed. Hearing the chair shatter and splinter into thousands of pieces seemed to wake Tsunade out of her slumber. After blinking and rubbing her eyes several times Tsunade sent a harsh glare towards her fellow blond.

"You are lucky I am feeling merciful and you have a mission today. If those two things were on any other day your fellow ANBU squad mates would be cleaning your dead disremembered carcass off my office floor." Tsunade said in an agitated tone.

Naruto's lips curled up at hearing that threat. It had been too long since he had a normal conversation with Tsunade. The past couple of months they have only talked seriously about missions, projects, and village treaties. It was nice to know that they could still held that close relationship.

Naruto chuckled on the memories before he opened his mouth and said, "I'm sorry I disturbed your slumber but I wanted to visit for a couple of minutes before the mission began."

Tsunade's mood did a complete U-turn. Her agitated face turned somber in an instant. Her sad eyes looked across the room to the young man standing in front of her. She saw how he was standing. He was standing like a proud Leaf ninja would. If he was being strong then for his sake she would try to be strong too.

Tsunade's face formed a worrisome expression when she said, "If there are any problem or should anything out of the ordinary happen I want you to use your summons to contact Jiraiya or me. I can't shake the feeling that something will happen."

Naruto smiled. Not a large smile, but a small gentile smile. Naruto opened his mouth to say something only to be cut off by an alarm clock. Naruto sweat dropped. "You set your alarm to wake you up five minutes before the meeting started?" he asked questioningly.

Tsunade only huffed at his question and responded with, "A hardworking leader needs their beauty sleep."

Naruto just chuckled at the response. It was typical for Tsunade to act this irresponsible. Though, when the time called for it she could be serious. A knock at the door interrupted Naruto's thoughts. After a quick "Enter" was screamed a little louder than necessary from Tsunade, in walked Captain Yamato.

The captain walked into the center of the room where he did the traditional bow and greeted Tsunade with a "Good Morning Hokage-sama" before turning towards Naruto and greeting him as well. Yamato looked the same as he always did with short brown hair, the Second Hokage style forehead protector and Jonin uniform.

Tsunade took several deep breaths, dreading the next words that she was about to speak. "Captain, are you ready to start your part of the mission?"

Yamato steeled his gaze and stood up straighter than he was before saying, "Yes Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade took another deep breath and said, "Yamato please guide him towards the prison transport caravan at the West entrance to the village. The cart should be waiting."

Yamato responded with a quick, "Yes Hokage-sama!" and guided Naruto towards the exit of the office. As Naruto was leaving her office he could have sworn that he heard Tsunade whisper, "Please don't die Naruto, I can't lose another."

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading, please review!

Constructive criticism is welcomed.