The Forsaken and The Angelic

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: "Naruto" and "Final Fantasy VII" are not mine, nor are their characters. This is story will be the only thing I claim.

Chapter One: Lost and Found

In Konohagakure, the shinobi village hidden in the leaves, the reinstated Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen; sitting in his office looked at the bassinet in his office. Lying in that bassinet was Naruto Uzumaki the Jinjuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, sleeping soundly hours after having the demon fox sealed inside himself by the late Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, his father. Since then, he had tried to convince the Shinobi and Citizen Council of the village that the boy was neither the Kyuubi reincarnated nor a possible danger to the village. Most of which fell on deaf ears to the majority of the council as most had lost countless numbers of either friends or family members in the battle against the demon fox. However, Sarutobi had managed to get across that he would not tolerate any action against the infant and that a law would be passed that no one would speak of the Kyuubi being sealed inside the boy or that they would be able to tell anyone outside of the council chamber of what transpired. Any circumventing or defiance would be looked upon as going against the Hokage's orders and that person or party would face death as a punishment. Not everyone saw the boy as a threat; some looked upon it with opportunity, such as his war advisor Danzo. The old War Hawk and an acquaintance of Sarutobi's, saw the boy as the perfect weapon-in-the-making and advocated to have him be made into the perfect tool for the village to use against opposing nations. Sarutobi shot his vote down before it could be given anymore consideration by the already troubled council. The Sandaime felt it wrapped up in all, alright. However, what lay in the future for the boy was anybody's guess.

The Hokage was interrupted by his thoughts by a knock at the door to his office. It was late but the Sandaime guessed his advisors with more protests over his rule by the citizens on the council. Sighing, he adjusted his seating before calling out to whoever was there.

"Enter."

The door opened and in strode Danzo Shimura. The bandaged, limping, man walked in before his only good eye seemed to concentrate on Naruto's bassinet before moving to set upon Hiruzen, his old comrade in arms.

"Sarutobi, I insist that you reconsider my proposal for the son of our late Yondaime, not only for his sake but for the village's."

Sarutobi sighed as he folded his hands on his desk. "I've already gave you my opinion on that matter. Naruto will NOT become a tool for this village to use and lose any humanity in the process. It would disgrace my promise to his father for him to be seen as a hero to the village and be treated equally. I'm not going to change my mind on this matter."

Danzo scowled before turning on his heels and walked out the door before turning back around and slamming his cane against the ground. "Mark my words, Hiruzen. Your 'compassion' for peace and the boy's welfare over this village's future and security will not only disservice the foothold of power this village could possess, but at the same time be crippling the boy of any abilities he would gain by being under my tutelage. Your foolishness will only lead both down a path to total destruction." With that he left the Sandaime sighing wearily.

'It had been too easy…'

In the heat of the late evening, a figure shrouded in the darkness he moved in, moved at a quick, yet, discreet pace on his way out of the village hidden in the leaves. It was mere hours after the tragedy of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's destruction upon the village. With its arrival came the loss of hundreds of Shinobi, civilians, and tragically the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze. However, with the passing of the Hokage came in hand with the defeat of the monstrous Bijuu, thus the village lived to fight another day.

There was an undisclosed part to the late Hokage's victory, which few became privy to. A newborn, umbilical cord freshly cut and tied, was used by the genius Hokage to have sealed the demon fox. With his last words to his mentors and last surviving pupil, he wished for the boy to be recognized as Konoha's hero. Those words fell upon deaf ears of the Konoha council. Shouts and cries for the infant's death became loud and numerous. Those who believed in the Yondaime's craft of seals argued themselves hoarse. The reinstated Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was left with no other choice but to issue an order that the boy's secret of holding within the Kyuubi would remain a secret and those foolish enough to either tell him or tell anyone else what he held would be sentenced to death without trial. In addition, whoever let the younger generation know would face the same fate; so the Hokage's mandate remained firm.

However, there were those who still wouldn't stand for having the baby remain in the village.

This is where Rabbit found himself. In addition to the twenty-six years of service in Konoha's Shinobi ranks, he had been a faithful member of the ANBU for five years and had been summoned by the Hokage's advisors after that eventful meeting of the Hokage and the council had transpired. His order from the Hokage: Take the boy to the orphanage under the notion that he was an orphan resulting from the Kyuubi's attack. The Council's Order: Take him far from the village and leave him in grass country to whatever fate befell him. The council's order had the seal from the Daimyo of Fire Country, which was the only order that could supersede the Hokage's order. Whether or not the Daimyo's seal was authentic, he had no way of telling but orders were orders. In exchange for his services to the council, he would be retired early, his entire existence erased, and would be replaced by another person who would don his mask and title. Rabbit felt no animosity towards the sleeping infant that lay slumbering against his chest. He had complete faith in the Yondaime's abilities. However, orders took precedence over personal thoughts or opinions in this line of work; so he would carry out his orders and then retire happily.

The evening was growing late and he was nearing grass country, which had once been a milestone for the third shinobi war, at one time. He scanned the area for a possible place to put the infant that would be in sight from the highway travelers used to head straight towards Kusagakure, the village hidden in the grass. Hopefully it would end better for this kid and he'd be adopted into a family of merchants, learn a trade, and then fade away into obscurity. As Rabbit continued looking, he was soon stopped by the sound of rustling grass. He immediately set the child down and brought out his kunai as he listened carefully. Grass Country and Fire weren't on exactly friendly terms. They were better than with rock or cloud, but there was still some visible animosity after the Third Shinobi War. It wasn't uncommon for a Kusa Ninja attacking the patrols made in front of the country. Rabbit knew that, normally, their groups were in threes so, most likely, he'd be able to take care of them without much effort.

"Are you sure you heard someone over here, furball? I'm not one for taking pets out for walks, ya know." Said a gruff voice.

"For the last time, you insipid biped, I'm NOT a pet!" Said a rather irritated voice in response.

"Oh! Red! Cid! Cram it! You're giving me a headache!" Said a girl's voice.

"I think I see someone over there, let's hurry it up." Said another.

'Four of them', thought Rabbit, 'This might make things more difficult'.

"Remember Cloud, this time let me do the talking. You keep on scaring away the others we've tried to come in contact with." Said the voice of a different female.

'Five...This might be more difficult, but I'll try, at least.' Rabbit thought and brought his kunai into a steadier grip as he readied himself.

"It wasn't my fault, Tifa." Grumbled the one identified as "Cloud".

Their voices were getting nearer and Rabbit watched closely at the area to where they'd surely make their entrance. However, what greeted him was something he never expected; standing about as high as his waist was a red animal which looked to be a cross between a lion and a wolf with a messy dark mane. It looked at him curiously and then flicked its tail back and forth; a tail that's tip was on fire, or rather, was producing the flame itself.

'A summons. This isn't good; I'm way in over my head here. I need to retreat.' He looked quickly to the side and saw the baby was still sleeping. 'Sorry, kid. I'm gong to have to leave you now. I'll tell them that I succeeded but I hope you forgive me in the future for doing this to you.' He then leaned down and brought out from his cloak a letter and pinned it to the infant's clothes and then got up, turned back, and brought out a smoke pellet just as the silhouettes of the others were soon coming into focus. Throwing it to the ground, it created the smoke-screen he needed to make his escape back into the night.

The companions of the animal joined it as it began sniffing the air.

"The masked man's long gone. However…" The red beast said as it continued on over to where it found an infant with blonde hair, three whisker marks 0n both cheeks, lay sleeping in the grass. The group soon came up to where he was.

"Well what do we have here?" said a woman with long flowing black hair, smiling, as she picked him up and held whilst rocking him slowly as to not awake him.

"That guy left in an awfully big hurry." Spoke the adult male blonde of the group as he looked on to where the man had disappeared.

"He looks like a baby version of you, Blondie." Said a man with paler blonde hair, shorter, but spiky as well.

His friend ignored him as he had now joined his female friend who was holding the boy in her arms, rocking him slowly. Her eyes soon drifted to the letter pinned to his baby clothes. Taking it off slowly as to not wake him, she handed it to the man next to her who opened it and then read its contents before sighing and then looking to the whiskered-marked infant.

"His name's Naruto. Looks like that guy was planning on dropping him off around here in hopes someone would notice him and take care of him."

The woman holding the boy smiled. "Naruto. It's a nice name, don't you think, Cloud?" She asked, looking to the man next to her.

Cloud gave a soft smile and nodded. "It is, Tifa."

The man with a toothpick in his mouth smirked. "You plan adopting another stray?"

He was roughly slapped on the shoulder by the shortest girl of the group. "Cid, be nice!" Her eyes then went to the baby and she squealed as she skipped up to Tifa, gushing at the baby. "Look at those whiskers!"

"I believe they are birthmarks, Yuffie." Replied the lion-wolf which had the tattoo of "Red XIII" on its leg.

The group, however, didn't stay long in the area as they soon went back to their camp.

=Twelve Years Later=

"Get down!"

Two adult men and three children dropped to the ground as a giant zanbatou spun in the air where their head used to be and imbedded itself in the bark of a massive tree in front of them. A man appeared on the hilt of the blade, his back turned to them, his arms crossed. He stood nearly six feet tall, wearing black and grey camouflaged pants, wrappings around his mouth and his hitae-ate slanted on his forehead, the symbol of his village slashed, indicating his status as a deserter of his village. His cold eyes gazed indifferently at the group below.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Kakashi Hatake, famous copy-ninja of Konoha, master of a thousand jutsus." He said, snidely.

Kakashi, former ANBU Captain turned Jounin Instructor, eyed the man with his only visible eye, narrowed. "Zabuza Momichii, Nuke-nin of Kirigakure, Demon of the Bloody Mist." His eye then shifted to the group behind him, consisting of his three students and their client, a bridge-builder, Tazuna. His students, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Hinata Hyuuga. The boy was putting on a brave front but he could tell the man's presence was having an intimidating affect on him. The two girls, however, were shaking, visibly. All three of his students had their guards up but looked uncertain what role they were required to play at his point.

"This man is beyond any of your skills. Guard the client; that is your first priority." His students nodded and seemed to gain back the strength they doubted. What followed was a battle with the Demon of the Bloody Mist which came to a standstill when Kakashi mistakenly fell into his hand, literally, as he was now suspended in a water sphere-like prison. Zabuza then made the demand of his students to hand over their client, whom Zabuza was contracted to kill by his employer, Gatou; in exchange for Kakashi's life. Kakashi yelled at his students to forget about him and take flight with their client, to protect him at all costs. However, it seemed they had taken his lecture about valuing lives more than missions as they looked more determined than ever and seemed to be trying to come up with a plan on the spot.

"It seems they are choosing to disregard your order, Sharingan-Kakashi." Zabuza smirked.

Kakashi ignored Zabuza as he focused on his students, curious as to how they were exactly attempt to turn the tide of things. It started with Sasuke performing his clan's signature fire jutsu, which for a mere Genin to perform was impressive. However, Zabuza being as seasoned as he was; was easily capable of avoiding it while still maintaining the water prison holding Kakashi. What followed in the fire's wake was a slew of kunai and shuriken. Zabuza smirked as he used his free bare hand to swat away each of the projectile weapons as if they were nothing more than mere flies. What surprised him was Sasuke charging behind them and striking him in the wrist with a kunai, the wrist of his hand that was holding Kakashi's prison. Sasuke was brutally kicked away but his efforts were not in vain as Kakashi got back to his feet and engaged Zabuza once more. The two of them played out a battle royal of Jutsus with Zabuza being on the losing end as Kakashi was living up to his name as the famous "Copy-Ninja" of Konoha; mirroring Zabuza's jutsus one right after the other. It ended quickly with one last jutsu that threw Zabuza violently against a tree, his entire body making wet snaps as various ribs of his were broken. Before anything further could happen, two needle-like weapons came from seemingly nowhere and pierced through Zabuza's neck, his whole body becoming still soon after. Two figures soon appeared next to Zabuza's body, one a medium height brunette, the other a spiky blonde, also of the same height. Both wore hunter-nin masks bearing Kirigakure's symbol.

"Thank you for stopping Zabuza, Konoha shinobi-san, we were afraid with our limited skills that we'd be unable to." Said the brunette of the two politely, bowing to Kakashi. The blonde haired partner simply nodded.

Kakashi eyed them warily as he moved to Zabuza's prone form. He placed two fingers against the bandaged man's neck, just under the senbon needles punctured through, and sighed as he found no pulse. He looked back at the two Hunter-nins.

"He's dead."

The brunette moved and lifted Zabuza's form before disappearing with the body in a swirl of leaves. The blonde remained as he retrieved Zabuza's weapon. Kakashi watched him with some curiosity. He, like his partner, was probably the same age as his students. On his back was unique weapon of choice as it looked like a large halberd, the blade larger in size compared to him; Kakashi idly wondered if all of Kirigakure's Shinobi had an obsession with weapons larger than themselves. The Hunter-nin moved to the same location his partner was before leaving and made to go in the same manner but before he did, he did something unusual.

"You fought well… It'll be interesting to see it again." He spoke in a tone almost devoid of life. He then looked at his students. "All of you as well." He then bowed and then disappeared in a blur.

Kakashi blinked as his mind tried to piece together what just happened. However, his injuries and fatigue caught up to him and he collapsed. His students came running up to him and Hinata and Sakura were soon trying to support him. The entire group found themselves later situated at Tazuna's home. Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, was pleasant and welcomed all of them with open arms. Her son, Inari, however seemed to avoid their presence. Kakashi and Sasuke's injuries were on the mend, with Sasuke the first to recover. As soon as Kakashi was well enough to be back on his feet, he called all of his students into his room.

"I'm going to be teaching the three of you more extensively in this week. Other than chakra control, were going to be working on jutsus, weapons training, and Taijutsu spars that are going to be to the breaking point." Kakashi said as he looked at all three of his students. Hinata soon raised her hand. "Yes, Hinata?"

The pale-eyed Hyuuga Heiress stuttered as she looked down at the floor. "Ano, Kakashi-sensei…w-why are w-we getting p-pushed s-so hard?"

Kakashi sighed as he closed his eye and then opened it looking tired. "Well, for one, I believe Zabuza's still alive." Hearing his students' collective gasp and the confused outbursts that followed, he began to tell them the real way Hunter-nins operate and that the two that supposedly killed Zabuza did not operate or behave in the way Hunter-nins did.

"So, most likely, Zabuza is healing like I am and he will soon be after Tazuna again, with his two accomplices, one of whom fights with large weapons like Zabuza and the other is an unknown. That's why I'm having you three be pushed beyond what's necessary." The three nodded, while Sasuke looked determined, his two female teammates looked nervous; Hinata more so than Sakura.

==Elsewhere==

In an undisclosed location, the same two Hunter-nins placed the body of their 'capture' into a bed before the shorter of the two roughly pulled out the senbon needles from Zabuza's neck causing the Demon of the Mist to jolt up and gasp loudly clutching his neck before grunting loudly and falling back down being reminded of his previous injuries. After getting his breath steady once more, he turned his head to the person who pulled out the needles, scowling.

"You're as sadistic as ever, Haku."

Said person chuckled as they pulled off the hunter mask revealing an androgynous looking boy.

"You're welcome, Zabuza-sama."

Zabuza sighed, closing his eyes before opening them slightly and looking from the corner toward the silent other youth. Whose focus was towards the door of the bedroom.

"Gatou's coming." He intoned and then made a sign, vanishing afterwards. Haku followed suit and Zabuza closed his eyes and remained still as the door soon opened revealing three persons. Two were tall samurai, smirking as their hands rested on the hilts of their blades. In-between them, as high as their waist was a man in a business suit leaning on a cane with a smirk.

"Humph, the ever so great 'Demon of the Mist' beaten by a one man and a couple of snot-nosed brats. Oh how the might have fallen." He intoned sarcastically as he walked up to the bed and began to lift the sheets. However, before he could go any further, he heard the screams from behind him from his hired help and turned to see his samurai both face down on the ground bleeding profusely from the backs and a blond haired boy wearing a mask with two blades in his hands drenched in blood. His shock turned into pain as he felt his hand that still held the bed sheet and his arm was viciously brought behind him and broken in three places. He turned his head to look into the narrowed eyes of Zabuza's other helper.

"You will not touch Zabuza-sama, you filth!"

"Haku, Naruto, stand down." Zabuza's voice came out and his eyes could be seen looking narrowingly at Gatou from the bed.

Gatou gritted his teeth as he looked at Zabuza, to Haku, and finally to Naruto. However, his anger turned into fear as Naruto removed his mask. It showed a slender face which was only marred by a thick scar that went from his left eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. The boy's eyes what was frightening Gatou. The eyes were glowing in an aquamarine color that spoke volumes and promised never-ending pain. Haku soon let go of his broken arm and Gatou huffed as he quickly left calling over his shoulder.

"Just get the damn job done! I'm not paying you to take things easy!"

As soon as he left, Zabuza heaved an irritated sigh. He then looked and grimaced as he saw Naruto's eyes still glowing that unearthly glow as they looked dangerously at Gatou's retreating figure.

To be continued….

A/N: Well here's the first. I'm hoping that this goes well. I'll be updating weekly, so please review so I know whether or not I'm doing this right.

Preview of chapter two:

A meeting between an Heiress and a boy…

A battle on a bridge that reveals all and a decision…

A/N: Well, what did you all think? Good? Bad? Ho-hum? I know its short but this is a presented ideas, so please bare with me. Please review or PM me and let me know. I've got five chapters right now but I won't post the others till I've read your responses and decide whether or not revisions need to be made. I'm writing this while working on my other Naruto stories that I'm updating: "Waking from the Ashes", "The Mute Shinobi", "A Change in Development", "Naruto: Champion of Avalon", and "Kin of Darkness, Naruto of Light" (Please take the time to read them, when you get the chance!). Also my Bleach story "Companionship of the Strangest Variety" (Wow, Seven stories all together. I must be insane! Or I'm, secretly, a masochist. lol). So, update times may vary, but I'm planning on updating once a week if possible.

Till then, please read and review and I'll do my best to provide you all with more entertainment.

Q-n-P