[Warning: BIG Manga spoilers!]

Well, I wrote this a while ago, but it was a little messed up. I edited it a little and changed a few things so it made a little more sense. Also I decided to remove Mitsuru's POV from this chapter. Why? I dunno, I just felt like it. Anyway...

A Masked Man

An eight year old Naruto ran, he ran for his life! Iruka could be damn scary when he was mad, and if he was late it would be his fourth time that week! Of course, Naruto was not yet sure what damn meant, but Iruka sometimes let the word slip when he was angry. However, Naruto would not make it to the academy that day.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" An older voice asked, causing Naruto to nearly trip in surprise.

"Umm, y-yeah?" He said and turned around. He saw a man in a jounin outfit with a black cloth mask covering his face. Normally the mask would let his eyes show, but he had black tinted goggles covering that portion of his face. In fact, not a centimeter of skin showed on the man's body.

"Come with me Naruto-kun, I have something very important to tell you," the man said and ushered Naruto into an alley way. Naruto was extremely nervous, he was used to being scorned by the villagers and once and a while it escalated to violence, though it didn't happen as often as it used to. Maybe it had something to do with being in the academy.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm actually here to protect you," the jounin explained.

"Protect me?" Naruto was confused.

"You know of the Uchiha clan?"

"Yeah! Sasuke and Mia are Uchihas!" Sasuke was a fairly popular boy who did everything well, and Mia was a distant relative who was in a similar social position among the girls.

"Are they your friends?"

"No... I don't really have any friends, I mean I hang out with Chouji and Shika a bit but..." Naruto explained, shortening Shikamaru's name. A very sad tone entered his voice when he said this. They let him play with them once and a while, but to call them friends would be pushing it. When it was time to go home, Naruto was never invited to go with them.

"I see, well... there's no point in beating around the bush so I'll get to the point... you have to come with me and leave the village. Today," the man suddenly bluntly.

"Wh-what?"

"I can't go into detail here, but there are people who want to hurt you. I'm sure you've already had some bad experiences, but what I fear is coming is far worse. There are a lot of things I need to explain to you, but later. I need you to trust me. I know that's a lot to ask, but it's for your own good."

"Wh-what?" Naruto whimpered, was he really in that much danger?

"There are people who want to hurt you and attack Konoha in the process. That's all I can say," the man lowered his voice even more to say that. "Will you come with me?"

"I... uhhh... what about Sakura?"

"Who?"

"Sakura! She's pretty!" Naruto smiled despite what he had just been told. Sakura was a girl he'd seen from a distance. Her hair really stood out, being pink. She was different, he liked that.

"Umm... I see..." the man said.

"Is she gonna be OK?" Naruto asked, concerned for the pink haired girl. '

"Well, I dunno, maybe." The man shrugged.

"Maybe?"

"Well, to be honest no one will be safe when the attack happens."

"Can she come?" Naruto made puppy dog eyes earning a stressed groan from the man.

"Well, uh, I didn't plan on bringing anyone else." The man shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"I don't want Sakura to get hurt!" Naruto began to pout as well.

"You said you don't have any friends, why do you care about her so much?" The man gave an exasperated sigh.

"She's pretty," Naruto said stubbornly and crossed his arms. The man sighed again.

"That's it?"

"Well... uhh... no?" Naruto delved into his mind to find another reason but nothing specific came to him, he just wanted Sakura safe.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Dear Kami..." The man muttered, "OK look, we don't have much time, you really care about her that much?"

"Yeah!" Naruto was positive. Why? He had no idea, but if he had said otherwise this guy might not help Sakura stay safe too!

"Alright alright, I'll see what I can do, but no promises!"

. . .

"Naruto!" Iruka called out, "Uzumaki Naruto!" No response, "Absent eh? I hope he's OK..." He thought worriedly. It wasn't like him to completely miss class. He dreamed of being Hokage so he always tried his best, even if he did screw around allot. If he didn't show up he'd have to track him down later. "Alright, we'll start with reviewing the basics of henge!" Iruka announced to the class.

He heard a mutter of 'so troublesome' and saw Shikamaru put his head down on his desk and start to doze off.

"THAT INCLUDES YOU, NARA!" Iruka yelled making the boy and half the class to nearly jump out of their skin. A few minutes later a knock came from the classroom door and it slid open.

"Umino Iruka's class?" A man in a jounin vest with a mask and goggles hiding his face asked.

"Yes." Iruka replied sounding confused, then looked worried, "Is this about Uzumaki Naruto?"

"No," the men replied. "Is there a girl named Sakura in this class?" Immediately a girl with pink hair perk up and look at him.

"Uh, yes, what is this about?" Iruka gave the man a suspicious look.

"That's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know," the man stated. "I need to borrow Sakura, but trust me, she'll be perfectly safe."

"Who are you?" Iruka didn't like this.

"Again, you don't need to know. Sakura come with me." He shifted his attention away from the nervous Chuunin and instead looked at Sakura. The girl looked at Iruka nervously, not really wanting to go with the man.

"At least tell me your rank!" Iruka asked. The man sighed,

"Jounin, meaning I outrank you, sensei!" The man said the word sensei without a hint of respect. Iruka was started to get very irritated, but there was little he felt he could do.

"Iruka-sensei, do I go with him?" Sakura asked, looking a little scared.

"Yes, you do," the man answered for Iruka, who also nodded. Sakura, somewhat reluctantly, got up to follow to man.

"Don't worry Sakura, I'll kick his butt if I find out he hurt you!" a blonde girl said reassuringly.

"Th-thanks Ino..." Sakura mumbled and walked over to the man who led her away.

. . .

Naruto tapped his foot impatiently, what was taking him so long?

"Alright, I'm here!" A voice announced and Naruto looked over and grinned as he saw the man had brought Sakura.

"Hi Sakura!" he greeted cheerily.

"Naruto?" Sakura looked confused. "Wh-what's going on?"

"Looks like I have to explain again..." The man sighed, "Alright Sakura-chan, here's the deal, I am going to tell you something very important, if you tell anyone you're in big trouble, go it?" Sakura nodded nervously, "Good. There is a plot against Konoha, it's not safe in the village. I'm trying to keep Naruto safe." Sakura's eyes widened,

"B-but why am I here?"

"Naruto wouldn't let me leave without you..." Sakura looked confused and glanced at Naruto who gave her a big grin, "Apparently he was worried you'd get hurt."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he also thinks you're pretty by the way." Both young children blushed deeply, Naruto from embarrassment at having his secret spilled so casually, and Sakura from surprise. Nobody had ever called her pretty before. Well, her mom had once but that was her mom. "So, Naruto has agreed to go with me, how about you?"

"What about Ino?" Sakura asked. The man grumbled impatiently.

"No! No more! I'm not taking anyone else with me!"

"B-but... what if she gets hurt?" Sakura pouted cutely. "Please?" Sakura asked.

"No, if I went back and took another student they would get suspicious."

"Me and Ino are friends, it would make sense if you took both of us..." Sakura reasoned.

"I'm sorry but I can't risk it."

"Can I at least talk to her?" Sakura pouted more.

"Well I can't send you back to the class." His tone of voice suggested he was breaking.

"Then I'm not going!"

"I didn't want you to come anyways." The man shrugged.

"What? Hey!" Naruto protested. "Sakura you have to come!" he whined.

"Not unless I talk to Ino!" Sakura crossed her arms defiantly.

"Do you kids get like a lunch break or recess or something?" the man asked, his stance suggesting he was losing patience. At least he seemed to be giving in, if only to speed things along.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded.

"When?"

"Noon."

"Fine, we'll wait until then and then I will sneak you over to her so you can talk, OK?"

. . .

Lunch time came around and there was still no sign of Naruto, and the Jounin had still not returned Sakura, needless to say Iruka was worried. However, he was not the only one worried. One Yamanaka Ino was wondering where her pink haired friend had gone.

"What's wrong Ino?" Uchiha Mia asked. In the academy the two Uchiha children were the most popular kids because they had the highest grades in class and almost everyone admired them. At first Ino and Mia had clashed over who was more popular, but over time they had become friends. After all, Ino had taught Mia how to shut someone up with a flower to the mouth.

"I'm worried about Sakura," Ino replied.

"Yeah, that guy took and didn't bring her back." Mia looked a bit worried as well. She didn't really think of Sakura as her close friend, but she was Ino's friend and she was always around so they ended up spending a lot of time together.

"Hey Mia! I bet I'm faster than you now!" another girl named Chika called out.

"You're on!" Mia replied and chased after her. Ino sighed, of course Mia wasn't that worried about Sakura. Ino knew she was probably Sakura's only real friend.

"Hmph, fine! Be that way Mia!" Ino thought angrily. "See if we're still friends after this!"

"Psst, Ino!" She heard a whisper from behind her. Ino turned around and saw Sakura in a bush gesturing for her to be quiet. Ino quickly went over and got behind the bush with Sakura.

"Sakura! What are you doing?" Ino asked.

"Well... can I tell you a secret?" Sakura looked nervous.

"Of course!"

"But you can't tell anyone!"

"I'll be good I promise." Ino nodded reassuringly.

"OK... well... I still can't tell you everything... but..." Sakura hesitated slightly.

"But what?" Ino encouraged her friend to go on, starting get concerned... well, more concerned.

"I... I'm leaving Konoha!" Sakura blurted out before she could mentally talk herself out of it.

"Wh-what?" Ino looked shocked, "Why? No, never mind that! You can't leave!"

"I don't want to... but I think I have to..." Sakura muttered sadly.

"Why?" Ino frowned, "What did that guy tell you? It's because of that weird guy isn't it?"

"S-something bad's gonna happen..."

"What?"

"W-well..." Sakura wanted to tell her friend, but during the wait for lunch to come around the man, who hadn't revealed his name, had thoroughly explained that she couldn't tell anyonewhat was going to happen, "I can't tell you," she muttered timidly.

"Why not?" Ino almost yelled, and felt bad about speaking so harshly, but she was frustrated right now. Sakura shrank back.

"I-I'm sorry!" Sakura was on the verge of tears.

"No, I'm sorry," Ino said. "Can't you tell me anything else?"

"Well, I wanted to take you with us but he said no but I told him I wouldn't leave unless I could at least talk to you. I don't want you to get hurt when it happens." Sakura's bottom lip began to quiver slightly.

"Well even if he did say I could come I wouldn't, so don't worry about not be able to convince him, in fact I'm surprised you agreed, why did you?" Ino tried to be supportive instead of making the girl feel stupid, but she still wanted to know why.

"Well, umm, I don't think I can tell you." Sakura hung her head shamefully. Ino sighed,

"Alright, do you think you'll ever come back?" When Ino realized she might never see Sakura again she began to feel very sad, and more than a little nervous.

"I think so... and even if he doesn't want me to, I'll find a way to get back anyways!" Sakura said trying to sound determined.

"I'm holding you to it!" Ino said.

"Alright kids get back inside, breaks over!" Iruka shouted.

"Shoot!" Ino hissed. "Well, I gotta go," she added reluctantly.

"OK.," Sakura replied sadly, her voice breaking.

"Be safe Sakura," Ino said and suddenly hugged her friend. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. Ino was nice to her, but a hug was new. It wasn't unwelcome though.

. . .

Sakura walked back to where she new Naruto and the man would be waiting, her eyes were a bit red from crying. After Ino had left she had waited until she was certain no one was around and then let herself cry. Upon reaching them Naruto waved to her.

"Hi Sakura!" He looked confused when she didn't respond and then worried once she was close enough for him to see her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Sakura choked out.

"But y-" Naruto is cut of when the man placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave her alone, besides, we have to get going now," he informed.

"B-but what about getting things from home?" Sakura asked.

"No time, besides, I assume you have parents yes?"

"Yeah."

"Would they be home at this time of day?" Sakura nodded,. "Then you can't go home if you are coming with us, we have to leave without anyone knowing until we are too far away for them to catch up to us."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"What I am doing is technically illegal-"

"Illegal?" Naruto didn't recognize that word.

"Against the rules?"

"Oh..."

"Meaning if anyone found out I'd be in trouble, but trust me Naruto-kun, I'm doing it to help you."

"How can we trust you?" Sakura asked.

"You can't, all you can do is hope I am telling you the truth." Strangely, something about the way he said it comforted Sakura, only if just a little, "Look, don't worry, I'll take care of you, but we have to go now. If you're coming, follow me." The man then turned and began walking away.

They had left Konoha right through the front gates. The man had used a genjutsu to fool the gate guards. They had walked for about five minutes and when the walls of Konoha were no longer within sight Sakura stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" The man asked turning to look at her.

"I'm not taking one more step until you tell me who you are!" the girl demanded. The man sighed.

"Well, no point in hiding anything from you two anymore," he said and then pulled the goggles off his face revealing strange milky blue eyes, as if his eyes were damaged. And what little skin was visible seemed rather pale. He removed the black mask next, showing that all of his skin was rather pale, and he had brown hair.

"My name is Mitsuru, and for the next few years, I am going to be your guide and protector."

Well, here it is, nice and shiny and revised. It might not be perfect, but it's better than it used to be. For nostalgias sake I leave the rest of this A/N as it used to be. I'll probably fix up CH2 soon as well.

(And as you may have noticed, the Uchiha clan is still in existence, because in this Itachi didn't kill everyone. Not to mention even if he still planned to, this is still a bit before he would have.)