"That fool Mizuki..." Padding down the street that connected to the chuunin building from the main area of Konoha, Orochimaru couldn't help but let his frustration get to him at such a missed opportunity.

The loss of Mizuki wasn't much of an issue, despite what he let Kabuto believe Orochimaru didn't actually struggle with agents and spies in Konoha, but the manner of his failure still irritated the former sannin. It was already on the loose lips of several chuunin he had been able to eavesdrop on under one of his disguises whilst in the Chuunin on duty barracks, it seemed that all his former teacher had done by labelling the whole incident as 'classified' was make it all the more important to gossip about.

They hadn't even questioned his presence there, despite the fact none of them would have recognised the pretty young female face he had 'borrowed' from a Kiri ninja several years before.

"But I suppose, if the brat can infiltrate the Hokage tower..." Orochimaru liked to visit his old village now and again, primarily to look for weaknesses and potential turncoats he could use to aid his cause, but also to provide him with no small amount of amusement at how shitty Konoha's anti-infiltration defences were.

It had been on his third visit he had encountered Uzumaki Naruto, at the time 7 years old, and he had to say he wasn't impressed. The stupid grin and pranks reminded him far too much of Jiriaya for him to consider the Kyuubi container a possible resource, though given how easily Mizuki had manipulated the boy from the sounds of it perhaps he had been thinking about this incorrectly...

'Sensei does have a giant soft spot for the boy, even if he did nothing to improve the boy's life after painting a giant target on his back...' Coming to a stop as an idea slowly formed in his head, Orochimaru pondered for a second longer before smiling to himself.

It was the perfect opportunity, and not just because it would get rid of the niggling annoyance in his chest at the evenings debacle. He would have to make sure there were no guards of course, but given what he remembered of the rest of the village the ANBU would probably be found just as wanting. But the potential outcomes of this plan ranged from breaking the child's mind and unleashing the Kyuubi, to causing an even larger rift between Konoha and the boy, any of which would serve his purposes in the long term..

'So Sensei, let's see if your little 'Naruto-kun' still greets you with a smile after this particular visit from his Jiji...' And with a transformation jutsu completed faster than most people could think the words, Hiruzen Sarutobi strode with remarkable purpose and ease for one of his age towards downtown Konoha, the only thing out of place in the otherwise impeccable disguise was the massive snake like grin that adorned it for a few moments before shifting sharply into a more typical grandfatherly smile.

'Don't want to mess him up too much... That would cause Sarutobi to tighten up the village defences, but a little mayhem is always good. And, if I do it right, no one will realise it has been me. ...'

Iruka stood at the front of his classroom, doing his best to ignore the dull ache from the stitches in his back as his eyes scanned the room a little concernedly...

'He can't have forgotten, today of all days?'

"Has anyone seen Naruto?" His question sparked various negative responses along with general confusion from the gathered pre-genin, though it was Kiba who was the one to ask the question Iruka had been somewhat expecting.

"Why would we have seen the baka? He failed the test..." With the obvious proof that Naruto hadn't turned up, as he would have argued that point vehemently if he had, Iruka knew he had a rush on his hands.

"Stupid baka, class I will be back in approximately 5 minutes..." Thankfully the use of the shushin jutsu was not particularly aggravating to his injury, meaning that three short jumps had him at the base of the now familiar apartment block.

Clambering up the steps to the fifth floor, where the young container had his apartment, Iruka knew he didn't need to keep his voice down as Naruto was the only one living in the building.

"Naruto! You better not be sleeping when I get up there otherwise I am dragging you to class cap and..." Iruka's aggravated rant cut short as he reached the fifth floor, his shinobi instincts kicking in as he spotted the door to Naruto's apartment ajar.

Palming a kunai, as Naruto would never leave his door ajar after the aftermath of his graduation, Iruka stole forwards as quietly as his injuries would allow. Checking the door for possible traps, Iruka froze as an all too familiar scent filled his nostrils through the crack in the door, the strength of the smell worryingly strong.

Despite his urge to burst through the door and check on the young boy who despite his misguided misgivings he had become rather fond of, Iruka's common sense and training prevailed and he headed straight for the nearest window, palming the kunai to his off hand whilst he reached for the special item the Hokage had entrusted to him when he had become the class teacher of both Sasuke and Naruto.

"Better cautious than dead..." Iruka's personal motto rang especially true here, given the lack of traffic here normally if Naruto had been attacked and his apartment trapped, if Iruka didn't call for backup it could be some time before someone came to investigate where he had gone.

As he shot the black smoke emitting flare into the sky, Iruka turned to face the open door once more, thoughts passing to the apartment's occupant as he waited for the veritable storm of ninja to arrive.

'Hang in there Naruto, help is on the way...'

[]{}#%^*+=

"Hokage-sama!" The intrusion of a pale faced chuunin into his office shouting his title was not as unusual as Hiruzen would have liked, but the next words from the man as his ANBU guard tackled him to the ground caused Sarutobi's posture to stiffen like a statue.

"Confirmed code black!" With a sharp nod from his ANBU guard as he confirmed the man's identity, and therefore the likelihood of his message being genuine, Sarutobi was already out from behind his desk and aiming for the window.

Vaulting the window frame with practised ease, Sarutobi's eyes caught sight of the slowly descending twin flares off in the downtown suburbs of the village, the location of this particular coloured flare making his heart sink in his chest even as he surged forwards. Konoha, and many of the other ninja villages, relied on emergency flare systems as well as more technologically advanced internal communication methods to alert its ninja to potential threats or emergency situations.

Ranging from various shades of green for alerting medical teams to the range of colours used to indicate an attack on a village target, there were only three flare colours that ALL ninja were meant to respond to regardless of rank. The light blue flare, used to alert ninja to a natural threat such as a fire or flood, was used when there was no significant external threat that could be dangerous for young genin. Issued to most senior genin and above, it usually only required the intervention of a nearby Jounin or ANBU team to deal with the crisis and fire off the darker blue 'all clear' flare.

The Black flare, especially given it's original firing had been confirmed with a second flare of the same colour, was a flare of such severity that it's use had previously lead to court martials after the event and was only surpassed by the white flare used to indicate the fall of the Hokage. Black signified an attack on or death of a clan head, clan heir or other S-ranked Konoha officials, either by an external group or a traitor inside Konoha's ranks that were still a threat to other parts of Konoha's security.

There were very few people who were given access to black flares, given the low number of people it applied to and the people who could be trusted with that kind of responsibility, but as he left his ANBU guards behind to sprint towards the apartment complex Sarutobi could only hope that it was being used by Naruto's ANBU guards to signify an attempted attack rather than the morbid truth that usually accompanied such a flare's use.

There were more than three dozen ninja searching the area as Hiruzen touched down in the street outside, resisting the urge to storm up to Naruto's apartment as he spotted the co-ordinating Jounin directing other new arrivals with his clan's characteristic calm and collected manner, Hiruzen striding up as fast as he could whilst Aburame Shibi finished directing one of last years genin teams to aid the search.

"Hokage-sama. Hiashi-San is inside with the response team. Code black raised by Iruka Umino upon his arrival to the apartment, ANBU team Shinzu responded well within regulation time and confirmed code black after finding multiple lethal traps spread throughout not only the apartment but the entire fifth through to seventh floors." Short, professional and to the point throughout, making it clear why so many of the supporting ninja were outside the apartment rather than inside it given the potential deathtrap it had been turned into.

"And the target?" Despite his concern about his surrogate grandson, Sarutobi knew the protocols for this kind of situation were designed to ensure the most optimal kind of outcome.

"Hiashi-san confirmed that Uzumaki-san is alive, he can fill you in further on the details Hokage-sama." Realising from the clan head's tone that there was something that Shibi wasn't telling him because of the potential eavesdroppers surrounding them, Sarutobi nodded and headed inside, guards finally settled and in position around him.

"Tora, Usagi, check the surrounding buildings for potential instigators or triggermen. Hato, Wani, check the basement in case there are any more surprises." Like the shadows they were meant to imitate the four members of his guard were gone a moment later, leaving the Hokage to ascend the stairs two at a time.

It was at times like this that Sarutobi's regretted the Yondaime taking his signature jutsu to the unfortunately early grave, responding to such situations would be so much easier if he could just flash around the village in an instant. Though given the Hyuuga clan head stopped him at the stairs entrance to the fifth floor, perhaps the slower approach was the safer one in this case.

"Hokage-Sama, I assume Shibi-san has filled you in on most of the pertinent details?" Staring across the twenty foot void that was the corridor to Naruto's door, Sarutobi could glean from the seriousness of the situation from the positioning of the ANBU squad not five feet from the pair of them as the scanned and checked every inch of the floor, as well as the bloodied form of Iruka impaled to the wall by a large kunai through the shoulder at the other end of the corridor.

"He did not mention Iruka-San being wounded..." At least, Sarutobi hoped the man was only wounded, given the bond that had formed between Naruto and Iruka the death of the stern but kind instructor would be a blow Naruto may not be able to take.

"Iruka-san is only lightly wounded Hokage-sama, he is lucky that he headed for the far window instead of back to the stairs when he set off the flare, whoever it was that did this had the traps set up so that they would arm at the first activation, which would have meant far more casualties for our response teams if Iruka-san hadn't set off the one he did whilst trying to return to the door. Iruka-san is lucky, some of the ones that team Shinzu have already disarmed were... unpleasant to say the least."

Sarutobi couldn't help but frown at the 'luck' they had with the traps, whilst there was the obvious explanation that whoever it was that had set this up had made a mistake with having such a simple and non-lethal trap as their final armament, it didn't sit well in his head.

"And Naruto? Someone with the skills to create such a complex set of traps certainly would not have much trouble with a newly graduated genin..." But despite that pessimistic view Sarutobi couldn't help but mentally grasp at the proverbial straw such a setup provided, such elaborate traps would work a lot better if there was someone to rescue on the inside.

"Hokage-sama..." The hesitance in Hiashi's normally stoic tone made Sarutobi's stomach fall slightly even as the Hyuuga clan head continued.

"He is alive, but the attacker was very... Thorough in his attack on the boy. In fact, if it weren't for the boy's condition stabilising him despite several critical wounds then we wouldn't be having this conversation." Despite his privileged airs and graces, Hiashi had always been a blunt and straightforward man, formerly relying on his now departed brother to counsel him in matters that required more tact or subtlety.

"And what about the ANBU stationed to watch him?" Sarutobi had already resigned himself to hearing about the deaths of at least two of his men, but his eyes hardened as Hiashi cast him a sharp look.

"We have squads sweeping for their bodies now, but given the amount of blood and level of chakra depletion Naruto is suffering he has been like this for at least 12 hours..." And with that revelation Sarutobi felt something he hadn't felt in years, the ice cold anger that flashed into an inferno as he created a shadow clone to carry out his will.

"Alert all ANBU commanders, find me ANBU squad 12 now!" And if they were in anything other than body bags, he would personally make sure they wished they had been...

A/N: I will be honest, by the time I finally got to the point of finishing this, I don't actually remember why I started. The only thing I can remember is that it was one of those ideas that wakes you up at 1:30 am and won't go away until you have written the initial part down...

Given the ease at which everyone seems to be able to infiltrate Konoha in the initial period, I find myself liking the idea of Orochimaru doing a 'revenge' strike for Mizuki, especially as it will distract Sarutobi from his invasion plans if he is focussed on cleaning house as best he can internally.

Not killing Naruto? Not only does this avoid the somewhat cliched 'Naruto coming back from the dead', but it also fits with Orochimaru's psychosis and persona as the master manipulator that the beginning of the series paints him as. I haven't envisioned what happened to Naruto, either physically or mentally, but there is no way he comes out of being tortured by someone who can act like Sarutobi so well in the same happy go lucky manner that he does in canon.

Anyone interested in seeing where this goes with me?

Defias Out