Chapter 11: Journey to the Past

The rest of the Genin moved up within the stands to watch the first match of the prelims. Kiri's own Akito Mishima and Konoha's own, Sasuke Uchiha, everyone seemed excited or intrigued to watch this match. Sasuke faced off against the Kiri Genin, memorizing his features. The Kiri genin was a tall figure with coal black eyes, an angular face and shaggy, black hair covering his right eye partially.

His weapons were his kunai holster as well as a kodachi and a sake gourd strapped into the sash of his kimono. "Let's get this started." Akito growled out gruffly as he fingered his kodachi.

"The first match: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Akito Mishima…begin!"

Immediately Akito disappeared from Sasuke's view and Sasuke glanced up to see Akito in the air with his kodachi drawn in a reverse grip for a downward slash, the Uchiha jumped backwards only for the Kiri ninja to keep after him.

Suddenly Akito overextended his strike and Sasuke struck him with a spinning roundhouse kick to the Kiri Genin's temple, sending him flying across the arena. Akito righted himself after skidding across the floor and stabbed his kodachi into the ground to slow himself down and looked up at his opponent with a smirk.

Akito sheathed his blade and sped towards Sasuke, who drew two kunai to block his assault only for Akito ducking under his guard and spoke in a calm voice, "Kiri no Ryu: Kyoka Suigetsu.." Akito put the sword back into his respectful scabbard, causing delayed strikes to appear over his body, causing the Uchiha to scream in pain.

"Hmph, you are no fun…is that the best you can do, Uchiha?"

Sasuke panted as he got up, "Nonsense, I still got some things up my sleeves." Taking out three kunai, two in his hands and the last one within his mouth, the avenger sped towards the Kiri genin before leaping into the air and throwing the kunai at Akito. Akito dodges the first two and moved to draw his kodachi to block the third only for Sasuke to appear in front of him and plant his fist into the boy's face.

Akito staggered back as he thought, "W-What the?" But the Kiri genin didn't have time to think as he lost the air in his lungs as Sasuke slammed his knee into his solar plexus, but the Uchiha didn't stop there.

Sasuke brought his hands together to slam it onto his back and uses his knee again to slam into his nose, breaking the cartilage and gave him a kick to his chest, sending Akito to the ground. Next, Akito was standing in front of the three kunai and suddenly Sasuke was there in its place as he sent him up into the air with a familiar move.

Sasuke glanced at Lee and Taka to give them a small nod as he pushed himself up in the air behind Akito. "He is using my…" Lee said softly as Sasuke was about to attack until he felt the curse seal flare up, sending pain throughout his body.

"No…this is my fight…I will not let this thing interfere, I will not let it consume me!" He thought as he used his sheer will to suppress the seal, much to the surprise of Anko and the disguised Orochimaru. "Sorry for making you wait a bit…it's a pain, I wanted to use my own techniques, but under the circumstances, I had to borrow someone else…but this is all original now."

The Uchiha sent a kick to Akito, who managed to block it only to fail to see the punch coming to his face, sending him to the ground. "I am not done yet!" Sasuke declared as he clotheslined his stomach and then maneuvered himself to send a kick into his chest with a shout, "Shishi Rendan!"

A crack in the floor was created from the force and Akito coughed up blood and fell unconscious, making Hayate declare Sasuke the winner. Kakashi appeared behind Sasuke, who fell to one knee, panting in exertion, "Nice work, Sasuke, now let's see if we can get that thing of yours on lock down?"

"W-Wait, can I at least watch the matches first?"

"Unfortunately, I can't risk it…that seal is very dangerous and it's making you weaker by the minute, enough for one of Orochimaru's lackeys to kidnap you. We need to get that seal under control and besides; Sakura will give a detailed description of them."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and reluctantly nodded as Kakashi took him away; Orochimaru smirked and disappeared as well. "Now for the second match…will Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi please come on down?" Hayate said calmly as the menu board fell to their names.

Zaku commented in disgust, "Who is this loser? I wanted the Uchiha."

Taka glanced over at Shino, who didn't say anything, but clenched his fists tightly, turning his knuckles white. "Shino…take him down." The assassin stated, "Hard and fast." Shino replied as he walked down the stairs, "I intend to."

While analyzing his opponent, the Aburame thought to himself, "So he is one of the Sound ninjas…and his arms seem to look dislocated, but it must be the main source of his ninjutsu by the way he carries himself. I will have to test this theory out unfortunately."

"The second match: Zaku Abumi versus Shino Aburame…begin!"

Zaku moved one of his arms as he smirked, "Looks like I can move this one for now, that will be enough for you, small fry." With that, Zaku sprang towards the calm Aburame, who simply raised his forearm to block the strike and stated, "Too slow…"

"Too stupid….Ninpo: Zankuha!"

Opening his palm, he blasted Shino with an air pressured sound wave at point blank range, making the Aburame fall to his side as he finally stopped rolling. "That was easy…" Zaku said with an arrogant smirk and Shino replied from behind, "You would think so, huh?"

Zaku turned to get a palm strike to his chin and a follow up elbow strike to send him to crash into the wall as Shino said, "Don't push that Staples button just yet." Taka turned to Hinata, "Hinata…d-did Shino just make a joke?"

Hinata giggled, "Yes, Taka…he did."

"Okay, just making sure."

Zaku looked at Shino, "That blast should have made you unconscious…what the?" He peered closer to see that Shino's wound had small bugs crawling around within it. Next, he heard a soft, crackling sound and turned behind to see a multitude of bugs. "You have three choices…you can attack me and get your chakra eaten by my kikaichu or you can attack the kikaichu, leaving yourself open for me to attack…we can do this the easy way or the hard way, the choice is yours."

Zaku gritted his teeth as Shino replied, "It is always good to have an ace in the hole, don't you think?"

The arrogant boy bowed his head as he spoke, "Here is my decision…" He raised both arms towards Shino and the kikaichu, "How about none of the damn above! Two aces in the hole are better than one, don't you think?! Now take this, Zanku..."

Suddenly his chakra exploded from his elbows and shot off his arms like rockets, Zaku looked at them in shock, "W-What?" Shino pushed up his shades, "I anticipated that the source of your jutsu was mainly from your arms…when you attacked me, it was all I need to send a few bugs to block your air tubes, causing the pressure to build until your arms blasted off like rockets."

Shino suddenly appeared in front of Zaku and gave him several punches to the ribs and chest, then jumped up to launch a bicycle kick, launching Zaku in the air momentarily. Just as Zaku almost touched the ground, Shino slammed his fists into the 14-year-old's chest, embedding him in the wall.

Shino crouched down and slowly rose up to turn his back, "I may not be the Uchiha, but you should never underestimate an Aburame or a Konoha ninja for that matter." He pushed up his glasses back to his nose and walked away as Zaku slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Hayate stated, "Winner: Shino Aburame."

The Aburame returned to his team where both Taka and Hinata acknowledged him for his win. Taka said with a hidden smirk, "Well done, Shino…looks like you picked up an admirer in the process of your performance." Shino raised his eyebrow at that and glanced over to where Taka indicated to see over at Asuma's team at Ino, who had a light blush on her face and glancing at Shino.

Shino softly smiled under the cover of his high collar, he was acknowledged, proved his worth as a ninja, got some respect as well as possibly a chance for a date with a cute girl. Now if he could only get laid much like Taka…

(A/N: Okay, now I know you guys are bored as hell, so we are just going to skip over the canon fights, but Hinata wins her fight)

Taka and the other remaining combatants stood in front of the Hokage, who had them take a number out. Looking over the numbers, they looked over the standings of each round.

Round 1: Taka versus Hinata Hyuga, Round 2: Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara Sabaku, Round 3: Kankuro Sabaku versus Shino Aburame, Round 4: Shikamaru Nara versus Temari Sabaku and winner of Round 4 fights Dosu Kinuta.

Hiruzen replied, "Now that you know who you are fighting against, we will return to the stadium in a month's time." Hinata inquired curiously, "Why would we need a month to prepare, why can't we just finish the fights here and now?"

"Simple, you need new materials, new skills to show off at your fights for the Daimyos and other prominent figures. Besides you all are tired from the trials that you have done for the past few days, therefore it would help you Genin in the long run. Now you are dismissed…"

Hinata looked at Taka and strode to him, "The Hyuga compound, 6 pm…don't be late, Hawkeye." Taka smirked under his mask and nodded slowly to her in amazement. Later, Taka was walking out of the stadium to stop and turn to his left to see Xavier leaning against the wall.

"What do you want now, Xavier?"

Xavier smirked, "I took the liberty of telling Orochimaru of what you did to Kabuto, he was not happy at all about you killing the poor doctor now…well, if you actually killed him." The assassin narrowed his eyes as Xavier inspected the dirt under his nails, "Amazing wonders of being a ninja, being able to cheat death…I see you and I still think the same thing, we were the best partners in the great castle of Masyaf."

Taka nodded solemnly, "Yes, we were…but you have changed for the worse, Xavier and that, my old friend, I am sorely disappointed in you and I can't forgive you for all of those innocents that you slaughtered for your own ambitions…including Cassandra and my young friend."

Xavier smirked, "I would love to see you try, my old friend…remember, I was always stronger than you."

Taka replied as he walked away, "Time waits for no man and I have improved since the last time we crossed paths." With that, he left the area and went over to the Hokage, who was working on his paperwork. Sarutobi looked up briefly, "Ah, Taka-san, what are you here for?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama…I would like to inform you of the infiltration that your village has suffered. A man named Kabuto Yakushi is in league with a man named Orochimaru."

"How reliable are your sources?"

"Considering my team encountered Kabuto and his team, who were posing as Konoha members during the exam. There was also the fact that…that someone from my past has contacted and employed himself under the employment of Orochimaru."

"I see…so your acquaintance is in cahoots with my former student, damn, I never would have figured that he would show up now after so many years. Thank you for this information, Taka…I will deal with this accordingly."

Taka nodded and turned to leave, but Sarutobi called out, "Taka, for this month's training for the exams, I have taken the liberty of setting up a teacher for you; you will meet him down by the hot springs whenever you are ready. Also Kakashi would like to speak with you in the courtyard…"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama…."

With that, he bowed and left the office as he thought back to the days when Xavier and himself were the best of friends.

Flashback- Masyaf- Naruto, age 6

Naruto grunted as he fell to the floor as he faced his opponent. "On your feet, Naruto…you will never become an Assassin at this rate if you keep having your back on the ground." The Jinchuuriki got up and moved into his stance to lunge at his opponent, who redirected the thrust to the side and tripped the small boy.

"Enough!" a voice called out.

The Assassins looked over to see Altair coming down the stairs, "We want to train the boy, not humiliate him, Abbas…" Abbas sneered in disgust, "This ajaniib is incompetent, and you brought us a fool to this Assassin Order, Altair…"

"That is your opinion, Abbas…but I believe in this boy and he will become a great Assassin with the proper teaching." Altair replied coolly, "Remember, I am the Mentor here, Abbas…you are dismissed." Abbas leaves, but not before giving the dirty Naruto a glare and Naruto got up, dusting himself off.

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

"I am fine, I just wish that Abbas would stop being so mad at me, I have done nothing to the man."

"I am afraid it is my fault, Naruto…he still hasn't let go of his hatred because of his father's death and I am the outlet he seeks, by establishing you as my protégé under my wing, you are suffering."

Naruto looked at Altair, "But he is right, I will never become a great Assassin, you were talented." Altair chuckled a bit, "Naruto, I was born into this life, you still have time to perfect your skills as an Assassin. It took me years to perfect my skills and the same will happen to you."

The Jinchuuriki grinned, "Thank you, Master Altair." Altair nodded with a small smile, "Come, I would like to introduce you to a new method of training." Walking with him, Naruto and Altair reached to see a bunch of trainees practicing with wooden swords.

"Xavier, come forward…" Altair called and a boy that was slightly older than him with a pale complexion and sea green eyes appeared before them. "Xavier, this is Naruto…your new partner, you two will fight together, study together and eat together until you both are inducted into the Order, understood?"

Xavier and Naruto both replied, "Yes, Mentor…" Altair nodded and left the two boys by themselves and Xavier looked at Naruto, "It must be nice to have the Mentor's attention, Naruto." The Jinchuuriki replied, "Not really, everyone in here treats me like an outcast because I am just different and Abbas loves to torture me because I am an outsider and Altair's so-called protégé."

Xavier smiled, "Well, then…we will just have to prove everyone wrong."

-Flashback Ends-

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in his apartment and looked in the mirror as he took off his attire to take a shower, "Xavier…what happened between us?" he asked himself as he stepped into the cold water cascading down his slightly scarred body. He thought back to when it started, the downfall of their friendship.

Flashback- Naruto, age 11

Clang! Swords were clashing together as an unknown force besieged the city of Acre. Naruto was battling his way through the soldiers as he protected Cassandra. "Come on, Cassandra…we need to move now!" Naruto shouted as he stabbed another soldier with his hidden blade.

Cassandra cried out, "Okay…" She followed him towards the gate as Naruto protected her from harm. "Just what the hell is going on here?" the young Assassin thought out loud as he led his love through the streets.

"I believe I have the answer to that, brother…" a familiar voice said out loud.

"Xavier…you have returned, what is happening, what do you know?" Naruto questioned as he whirled around to face his partner at a distance. The Jinchuuriki stared at him calmly and saw that he wore the same attire as he did before, but the most glaring difference was the blood red cross etched on the front of his robes.

"Xavier…are you trying to say?"

"Yes, brother, I did this….all of this, I have found new enlightenment and I have been searching for you to extend this invitation…to join me." Naruto stared at him incredulously, "You sieged an entire city, a city that you and I swore to protect and you want me to join us, what is the cause of all those slaughter, this loss of needless life!"

Xavier smiled, "So is that a no?"

"Yes, Xavier…it is." With that, Naruto tossed out his throwing knives, which lodged into the throats of his friend's followers. The Jinchuuriki fought against Xavier's followers and killed them in succession one by one until a scream snapped him out of his daze to see Xavier slicing Cassandra with a small knife.

Naruto shouted, "Cassandra!" He ran to her and held her in his arms, "Cassandra, stay with me, I will get you to a doctor and…" Cassandra said nothing, but looked into his eyes and touched his cheek, stopping Naruto's rambling in his tracks.

"Cassandra?"

"Naruto…there is no need for a doctor, I am going to be alright."

"But…"

"I have lived my life the best that I could and I am glad that you have come into my life. I will never forget you, my love."

"Cassandra…"

"Remember, don't look back on the past, look forward to the future and…nothing is true, but everything is permitted. Follow the Creed and its tenets, you will find love and happiness soon…" Cassandra said as she coughed up blood before breathing her last and her chest stilled.

Naruto held her in her arms for a few moments and looked up with his eyes slowly bleeding over to red, cat-like eyes. "XAVIER!" he roared out in pain and came after the rogue assassin as he drew his short blade.

Templars came after him and Naruto ducked under a slash before ripping out his throat with his bare hand. Next, Naruto cartwheeled over another sword slash aimed at his legs and drove the short blade into the Templar's neck.

Naruto arched his back as he felt a sword slice in his back, but he retaliated with slamming his knee into the Templar's stomach, causing the man to double over and the Jinchuuriki brutally twisted his neck calmly.

The Templars moved back and Naruto whispered darkly, "No…there is no escape for you, any of you." With that, Naruto went berserk, killing Templars brutally and efficiently, following Xavier's trail and he found him indeed with another person that he recognized.

"Arthur…" Naruto whispered as his eyes turned back to his regular blue, "No…not him, Xavier, don't do this." The Assassin pleaded with his former friend and Xavier let out a breaking laugh while Arthur struggled, "Naruto…help me!"

"Surrender, Naruto…" Xavier replied, "Surrender yourself to me and I will spare him."

Naruto bowed his head and took out his weapons to cast them aside and away from his person, "Okay, I did what you wanted, now let the boy go." Xavier let Arthur go and Naruto moved to take Arthur within his arms only for Arthur to gasp out and slump forward.

Naruto looked at Arthur, who had a knife into the small child's back and the Jinchuuriki went into shock, "Arthur…no, why, Xavier, why would you do this? Why would you do this? WHY WOULD YOU KILL THEM?!"

Xavier looked at him, "To get rid of your sentimentality and attachments, Naruto, they have weakened you. You have become as weak as your mentor, Altair and I will make sure that you become a true Assassin…now I will let you think about it and well, you know the means to seek me out to join me."

With that, Xavier disappeared in the smoke while Naruto cried out in anguish.

-Flashback Ends-

Taka opened his eyes as his heart hardened with resolve, "Xavier…I will make sure that you pay for what you have done to our family and most especially, Cassandra and Arthur." Soon he went over to the café where he was meeting the ladies and sat in front of them."Ladies, I have been thinking over this…I can't choose between the three of you. I love you all because of your unique qualities." Taka began to say as he turned to each of the women, starting with Anko. "Anko, I saw a bit of myself in you when we first met. Despite your sadism and slight blood fetish, you are compassionate, beautiful, strong and intelligent."

Next, he looked at Hinata, "Hinata, you were immediately accepting of my status as a Jinchuuriki within our age group. Your taijutsu is extraordinary and you have grown into a confident woman. I was intrigued by your timid mask; you have a kind heart and a strong spirit."

Lastly, he turned toward Kurenai, "Lastly, Kurenai…out of the three, you remind me the most of my former lover. Despite the comparison and how we started off, we have been through a lot…all of us, which is why I have applied for the Clan Restoration Act."

Hinata seemed surprised, "But…how? You don't have a clan at all though."

"No, I do…I am from the Uzumaki clan, who are distant relatives of the Senju clan. They were known for their sealing methods and longevity as well as their red hair, my hair is a slight mix between my parents, but it looks like my father's is more dominant."

The Hyuga replied, "Then how come we haven't heard of them?"

Anko answered, "It has been years since the Uzumaki clan have been in existence. You see, the Shodaime married an Uzumaki and the swirl on every shinobi merchandise is their clan symbol in honor of their last stand against several villages. They were very versatile in fuinjutsu as well as manifesting their chakra to become weapons."

Taka took over, "That is not all, I also developed an eye ability with the help from the Kyuubi no Yoko, a mix of my Uzumaki chakra as well as his youki."

"What is this ability?" Kurenai asked curiously.

"In the honor of my sensei, I call it the Eagle Eye, the Washigan…it allows me to discern my target, friends and enemies, useful if they are in a henge or covering genjutsu." Kurenai spoke up again, "Are you sure that you can trust the Bijuu?"

"It is a mutual partnership, he gives me the ability, I will use it to fight and protect myself as well as others in extension."

Anko turned to Naruto, "This is great!" Kurenai and Hinata both nodded in agreement just as the Hyuga stated, "This will work out a lot, plus if there is a rare chance of my bloodline with your own doujutsu combining, the elders will most definitely approve of the marriage."

Taka smiled, "Excellent…now the hard part, actually surviving to get there…Orochimaru will be invading most likely during Sasuke's match against Gaara. Since Gaara is the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi and we wouldn't expect Suna to attack us because we are allies, due to the history of the Snake Sennin, he will aim for Hokage-sama to kill our morale and satisfy his personal vendetta."

Anko asked in surprise, "How do you know that? That information is classified to only Jonin and Chunin."

"One, Sasuke has the same mark as yours, indicating Orochimaru is involved. Two…my 'old friend' Xavier told me about this as well as discovering that Kabuto was a spy and his right hand man, I took him out, but he seems to escape death somehow and lastly, three, it is what I would do."

Hinata nodded, "I will notify Shino about this…now I hope you are well prepared, Taka, I won't go easy on you."

"I would be insulted if you did, my pale eyed princess." Taka replied with a smirk, "Just don't be upset with me when I win."

Hinata returned the smirk, "That is my line."

"I bet it is…see you at 6 pm, princess." Taka said with a smirk as he returned home to prepare for his upcoming date.