A/N: Okay first off, I want to give special salute to Geor-Sama, who has granted me permission to use his Hibi style in this story. If you don't know his story, Alternate History and its sequel, Shinobi Wars, please do check them out. I promise you, you will almost never read a better story on here. It is without a doubt one of the best stories on this site, hands down. Go Read It.

On that note, the style that appears heavily in this story, the Hibi style is not mine in any way at all. But it fit my Naruto perfectly, so I will do my best to give it its proper dues to Geor-sama. On with the Story.

Unit

Chapter 3

Rain washed it away.

Blood brings it back.

Life.

Rain. Located in a rather warm and moist climate, it wasn't unusual for it to rain in Konoha; in fact it was one of the most pleasant things that could happen. Due to the generally hot air, and humid climate, the rain was never that cold. It was a time when many people could be seen out and about, young couples kissing in the rain, and children playing in the puddles. Yes, for many, rain was a joyous time, a time to have fun and relax.

To one Naruto Uzumaki, it held a different, but far more important, meaning.

It washed away the guilt, the pain, the shame. To him, rain was the world's way of starting new. The air was always so fresh after it rained, and it was always so crisp and clear during the rain. The feeling of water drops upon his skin as he walked soothed him, washed away all the pain and hurt he had ever suffered. It was a chance to start anew, to restart the previous day with high expectations. And that was true, now more than ever.

His feet bounced off the pavement as he walked, the rain falling softly around him as he made his way to the Hokage tower. It was still rather early, being only 6 in the morning, so there were few people out and about. The dawn was fire bright, against the city lights of the early morning, painting the world around him in an orange glow. On any other day, he would have headed up to the Hokage monument to watch the sunrise, but today was different.

He had been summoned to the Hokage's office, to meet his new team. Yesterday he had told his team he was transferring out of Team 7, but he hadn't told them where too. He was transferring to a special operations unit, whose name he still didn't know. But he had high hopes for this transfer, even if the fear of being rejected was still eating away at his gut, the uneasy feeling churning in his stomach, drawing and calling for his attention.

Thinking of his stomach, made him hungry. His stomach rumbled in protest, calling out for food, but Naruto ignored it. He had to go see the Hokage and meet his new team, as he had vowed to himself to start acting more like a Shinobi then an idiot, and thus didn't want to be late in the slightest. A real Shinobi would put duty above what he wanted, would be able to take in observations in the blink of an eye, and would be able to see trouble before it came. He had neglected many of the basic's any good Shinobi had to possess, and it astounded him that he had done so in the first place.

Thinking this train of thoughts made Naruto's mind wander to yesterday to the old man at Ichiraku Ramen, and how he had been able to tell how ignorant Naruto was just from the information given to him. All Naruto had said was that he ate ramen every day, but, he reasoned, it could have been more than that; The way he spoke, his mannerism, his boastfulness... all of these where traits of a green ninja, not someone who had experienced much first hand. It still surprised him when he thought about it, how that man had been able to tell so much from just a look and a few words. But, he supposed, those where the traits of a good Shinobi, traits he himself hoped to attain one day.

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly, as was his steps, by a familiar voice coming from behind him. His heart stopped upon hearing it, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Naruto…" Sakura spoke softly, her voice barely penetrating the soft pitter patter of the rain on the buildings and streets around them. Naruto turned slowly, till he was standing in front of her, and took in the girl whom he had had a crush on for some time. Her green eye where cast to the side, glancing away from him, and her pink hair was matted from the rain falling around them. He shuffled awkwardly on his feet, before he spoke, his voice surprisingly dulled for the normally loud blonde.

"Hi Sakura…" They both stood, silent for a moment, the tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife. Naruto kept his gaze firmly on the girl in front of him, even as she refused to look him in the eye. His mind was racing a mile a minute, wondering what she wanted. He couldn't even fathom why she was talking to him, she had seemed pretty pissed yesterday, and her words had cut deeply. His thoughts were interrupted when she spoke, her voice still quiet and timid.

"I wanted… To apologize for yesterday… I was out of line treating you like that, and I really shouldn't have— "

"It's fine Sakura… Really." Naruto spoke, cutting her off mid sentence, "I understand why you did it… I really do... what does confuse me is why you're apologizing… you've never been one to say sorry." He chuckled lightly after saying that, trying desperately to defuse the tension in the air.

Sakura shuffled softly on her feet, her own mind racing with thoughts. The reason she had apologized, she had come to realize, was because the blonde had meant a little more then she had realized to her, had become more of a friend then she had originally intended him to be. She didn't want to lose him, and she had realized that after she had talked with Sasuke last night. It had been hard, but she had come to understand that he meant a good deal to her, and that she had been selfish to throw it away because she had been hurt. She didn't want him knowing that of course, because he would probably think that she liked him or some silly nonsense like that, so she decided to stretch the truth just a tad.

"After… I left last night I went home and just kinda sat in my room for a few hours… next thing I knew Sasuke-kun was at my house. He asked to come in, and of course I let him, I mean its Sasuke-kun… and he said he wanted to talk about you. I was, albeit, reluctant to at first… but after awhile we both came to realize you… had become a friend to us, and yes we were shitty friends to you, but Sasuke-kun told me I should apologize… and I really felt I needed to as well…"

Naruto took in the girl in front of him, who seemed so much more shy and timid then the girl he had come to know as Sakura Haruno. She had, seemingly, matured a little over night, and he appreciated the change in behavior. Now the only question he faced was what to do from here, and it seemed Sakura herself had the answer to that question.

"Me and Sasuke think, it would be a good idea if we got together every once in awhile to talk… you know, to keep up our friendship, if you want that is." She hastily added the last part, mistaking the look of surprise on his face for one of disagreement. Naruto smiled brightly, before he spoke, his eyes squinting slightly, his hand rising to rub the back of his head.

"I'd like that. A lot," Sakura smiled brightly upon hearing this, and nodded her head once, "For now though, I have to get going. I gotta meet the Hokage and my new teacher today, bright and early! I'll see you later Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he turned and continued on his way to the Hokage tower. Sakura waved at him, before speaking herself.

"Then meet us today at Ichiraku at 6! See you there Naruto!" Naruto waved over his shoulder in acknowledgment, but otherwise paid little attention to what she had said. His thoughts where racing a mile a minute, and he couldn't be happier. Sakura seemed to have turned over a new leaf, seemingly overnight, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei where both fine with the transfer, and he was going to be trained by some of the best ninja in the village. His life, in the past 94 hours, had gone from difficult and worrying, to amazingly bright, and his hope for the future had skyrocketed.

Naruto walked along towards the Hokage tower, a bright smile plastered on his face. It didn't leave his face the entire way, not when a villager scowled at him, not when he almost stepped in what looked like horse droppings, but had to have come from a large dog, not when the Chunin guards in front of the tower had almost attempted to block his path.

He stopped, finally, in front of the Hokage's office, and knocked softly three times. He was answered by the old man's voice telling him to enter, and instead of throwing the door open like he normally would have; he entered into the room slowly, closing the door softly behind him.

-Later: Training field 42-

"Wait what" Naruto stared at the man in front of him in shock. Two hours ago he had met with the Hokage, and had met with the man Shinji once again. Now, they were standing in an empty training field on the outskirts of the village. According to Shinji, there was no time to lose when it came to starting training, which Naruto completely agreed with, so they had headed immediately to a nearby training field. Thus they had ended up here, standing in the empty training field across from each other.

"You heard me. What they teach in the academy is all good and well for the standard ninja, but you're not one of them anymore. Your one of us now. You will forget everything you learned in the academy except the three basic Ninjutsu. Now because of how Unit is run, with two men per team, and each team specializing in one aspect of what they do, you will be filling the role of the member we recently lost. We will be training you as an assassination specialist. And the first step in that is to forget everything you learned in the academy. We have our own teaching style and our own methods, both of which are not combatable in any way with the academy teaching style. So, forget it, all of it." Shinji spoke calmly, his body betraying nothing of his thoughts inside.

He was excited, ecstatic in fact, because he had never seen someone with so much potential to be great. Naruto was one of a kind, and he would become one of the greatest ninja Konohagakure had ever seen if given the chance. But the first step in that was to make him forget what he had learned in the academy. It was good for the standard ninja team, taught the basics of how to survive and how to defend themselves, but overall it was not what they needed. Most ninja saw combat no more than 100 times in their career, with ANBU and Jounin seeing it no more than five hundred times on average. Unit members saw it more than 2000 times on average in their lifetime, and the stress and huge velocity of combat they partook in was far too extreme for the academy style to compensate for.

"But, I don't understand. What am I going to be learning… exactly?" Naruto spoke, his head lowered slightly, as he looked at the man in front of him. Shinji sighed softly, before letting his body rest against the hard bark of the tree behind him, feeling it bite into his skin. Rubbing his head gently, he thought carefully over his next few words, before he spoke.

"Well first we need to refine what little you need to know, and then we're going to start you on Taijutsu. Unit never uses flashy Ninjutsu unless they have to, preferring instead stealth over power. The enemy that doesn't see you is the enemy that can't defend himself from your attacks. Now from what I understand, you have an above average grasp on the basics, being able to perform them with just one seal correct?" Naruto nodded softly, "Good. What most people don't realize is that the three basic Academy Ninjutsu, Kawamari Bushin and Henge, are probably the three most versatile and useful of all ninja techniques. Your job for this morning is to find one deadly style of attack using these jutsu and these jutsu alone. I'll be back in three hours to see how you're doing"

Naruto twitched at that, and watched the man disappear in a puff of smoke. Sighing softly, he sat down and scratched his head. He had been expecting to learn some new jutsu and learn how to kick epic amounts of ass. Not to be thrust back into what he considered was the most basic of all basic things for a ninja to know. Looking upwards, he let his mind wander over what he had just heard.

The most deadly and versatile of all techniques? How in the hell where such simple things so deadly, he couldn't see it in any way. The Henge was just to disguise yourself as something, which admittedly he did see a powerful aspect in that. He had used it quite successfully against Zabuza in wave, and he could use it again against Shinji. But that would feel like cheating, and Naruto was not a cheater, so he turned his mind to the other techniques. Bushin, obviously, was used as manly a distraction. But Naruto didn't have the chakra control to pull off a standard Bushin because of his overwhelming amount of Chakra, so he stuck with Kage Bushin. Mobbing an enemy with thousands of them, while admittedly not very practical, was still deadly. So he turned his attention to the last technique.

Kawamari. The jutsu used to replace oneself with an Object to escape from harm. He couldn't see anything that would make that useful at all. It was only ever used to escape from harm, be it a deadly blade thrown at you, or a hail of Shuriken and Kunai. That was how they had learned to use it, and how they had always used it. Though he didn't see it used often, the times when he did he clearly understood how it was useful as an escape technique. But that was the problem, that's all it was ever used as.

Naruto brightened.

Of course, that was all it was ever used as, but it was not all it COULD be used as. His thought process took off, the Kawamari was used to substitute an object for your body, and it just took more concentration to pull it off with a smaller object. So, in theory, he could use it to move around his opponent in a fast motion, confusing and having many openings for attacks. But that would require that he could switch with something small that was abundant all over the elemental countries. He couldn't really think of anything that was that abundant all over, no matter how hard he tried to. Sighing gently, Naruto let his body fall backwards against the tree behind him, feeling it shake and the bark bite into his skin softly.

A leaf fluttered to the ground in front of him.

Naruto grinned again.

He had just come up with an idea, one that could confuse the enemy while also dealing several punishing strikes. The only problem with it was the fact that the Kawamari No Jutsu acted on a principle of equivalent exchange, the smaller the object you wanted to switch with the more chakra it took to do so. This, of course, wasn't so much of a problem for him, because of his furry little friend stuck in his gut, but at the same time it wouldn't be the most practical of techniques to use if you were looking for a stealthy kill, but Shinji hadn't said anything about that aspect being incorporated in this training exercise.

Naruto rubbed his hands, and stood, before pumping a single fist in the air and exclaiming to himself, scaring several birds and a deer in the process.

"Let's do this!"

-Three hours later-

Shinji walked into the clearing to see a grinning Naruto surrounded by leafs. Blinking, he walked to the boy and cleared his throat, causing Naruto to glance up at him. Shinji chuckled once, and looked around the clearing, taking in the image of the leaves around the boy and wondering what on earth he could have thought up.

"So which one did you choose?" The question was simple, but Naruto understood what he meant immediately, and grinned before he spoke, his eyes alight with a devilish glint. He straightened up slightly, before he spoke once more, his voice holding a slight hint of smugness to it.

"Kawamari." Shinji chuckled lightly, before he spoke once more, his body shifting slightly into a stance, which Naruto immediately followed. His own body slept into his standard brawler stance, his fist in front of his face to protect it from damage.

"Show me."

Naruto sprung into action, focusing his body and compressing Chakra inside of it. Letting out a grunt, he forced it out, causing it to swirl around his body, kicking up the dust and the leaves as he did so. Grunting in exertion, he turned just in time to see Shinji's body on top of his. His eyes widened, watching the fist come at him. Closing his eyes, Naruto forced his concentration even higher.

Shinji watched his fist rocket towards the boy's face, only to suddenly hit nothing. Blinking, he turned quickly feeling something behind him, to block a kick from behind aimed at his head. Twisting once more, he brought his own leg upwards at the boys chakra encased body, only to see it hit air again. His eyes narrowed, as he observed a leaf flutter from his kick. Twisting his body once more, he blocked a right hook from the boy, who had suddenly appeared beside him. Smirking softly, having realized what the boy was doing, he waited. Feeling chakra move to his right, he twisted far faster than he had so far, his foot rocketing out to connect with the boy's stomach, sending him backwards.

Naruto hit the ground hard, his chakra faltering and fading away. Shaking gently, he stood up and looked at Shinji with a grin, proud of himself for coming up with such a deadly attack. His eyes widened, his breath quickened, and his blood raced seeing Shinji slipping into a different style. He was about to voice his confusion, when Shinji spoke up.

"Who said we were done?"

Naruto gulped.

Suddenly, Shinji was in front of him, his leg coming out to connect with Naruto's jaw. Flying backwards, Naruto fought against the pain and twisted his body, landing in a crouch, he shot off at Shinji. Twisting his body to the right, he let his leg come out and upwards at the man's jaw, only to watch Shinji lean impossibly backwards, his own foot coming upwards to kick Naruto's own leg. He felt the bone snap under the pressure, his foot easily crushing the leg inwards.

Naruto screamed and hit the ground, only to roll from the leg quickly descending on his head. The pain was intense, overwhelming, and incredible. His body filled with an agonizing feeling, the center of it was on his leg. He stalled for a second, before looking upwards and seeing a foot coming rocketing towards him. Instincts took over, his body moved of its own accord, and he launched himself to the side to avoid the attack. Landing heavily on his injured leg, he let out a grunt of pain, before leaning on his uninjured leg to support himself. He could already feel the Kyuubi healing him, but it wouldn't be enough. Twisting around a punch aimed at his face, he brought his arm upwards towards Shinji's stomach, only to watch the man slap it aside and receive a fist to the face.

Flying backwards, he landed hard and felt blood in his mouth. The metallic copper taste flooded his taste, his head swam and his body felt light. Stumbling softly where he stood, Naruto shook his head quickly, trying to shake off the sudden dizziness. Shinji grinned at him, before he let his body dash at him once more. This time was far faster than normal, and Naruto barely twisted out of the way of a fist coming towards his stomach. Turning his body once more to face the man, he was greeted by the sight of a Kunai rocketing towards his neck. It was too fast to move, his body wouldn't react, and he knew this was the end.

Suddenly, the Kunai stopped, the tip poking harshly against his skin. He gulped and looked at Shinji, his body standing rock still as the man looked him over. He could feel Kyuubi's hot Chakra flooding through his body, working to repair the heavy damage to his body, and it made him tremble. Shinji nodded, and slipped the Kunai away into his pouch, his body shifting into a relaxed stance, he spoke to the boy in front of him.

"Your reaction time is slow, but above average for a Genin. Your Taijutsu is non-existent, something we'll have to fix. I didn't give you enough time to try any Ninjutsu you may know, and I doubt you know any Genjutsu. So first things first, we'll start with your Taijutsu tomorrow. Today, I want to go over several of the basics with you, before we start your Taijutsu training." Shinji spoke, his voice holding none of the deadliness that he had just displayed in the spar they had just partaken in.

"Like what?" Naruto asked, his voice betraying the curiosity that he was trying to hide. Shinji chuckled inwardly to himself, before he drew out a piece of paper, and held it in front of him.

"This is a Chakra Elemental Affinity Paper. I won't go into how it was made, because I'm sure that would just bore you, but when you push Chakra into the paper, it will tell you which Element you are most likely to have an affinity for."

"…Huh?" Shinji sighed, before rubbing the back of his head and gesturing for Naruto to sit down. Naruto did as he was told, sitting cross legged in front of his new teacher, who took a seat in front of him.

"Every Shinobi has an element in chakra that they are more… In tuned with. There are 5 main elemental affinities; Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Lightning. If you have an affinity for one of them, that means they will be ten times stronger, at the least. Depending on how high an affinity you have for said element, it could be as strong as a hundred times stronger."

Naruto blinked, before he nodded his head in understanding. His gut flared in glee, he hopped he got Fire so he could outclass Sasuke in his own jutsu. Shinji handed the paper to the boy, and spoke once more.

"Now, you have to push chakra into the paper, and it will tell you what element you have an affinity for. If its fire, the paper will burn, lighting the paper will crumble, Earth the paper will fall to dust, Water it will be soaked, and Wind, it will be cut down the middle." Shinji explained, to which Naruto nodded. He focused his mind, and pushed Chakra into the card, before watching it become shredded to pieces.

Shinji Whistled, watching the pieces flutter to the ground.

"It seems like you have an incredibly high affinity for wind jutsu, this is good." Naruto grumbled lightly, before he responded, his voice slightly downcast.

"I was hoping for fire, so I could show that bastard Sasuke up next time we spar in his own jutsu." Shinji chuckled, well aware that while Naruto was a Shinobi, he was still just a 13 year old boy who clearly acted mostly his age. Shinji patted Naruto on the head, before he spoke.

"Wind is a very powerful element, and is most defiantly the most powerful offensive element out there. Plus, there aren't many other high level wind users, and with the level of affinity you just showed, if you put your mind to it, you might just become the best wind user in the elemental countries. It will take years of work, but I believe in you."

Naruto smiled at this, before giving Shinji thumbs up. Shinji chuckled lightly before he continued speaking, his voice returning to a soft level.

"Now, I want to go over what I'm going to be teaching you. You'll need a higher reaction time, and very few kinds of training can teach that, but we'll get to that tomorrow," Naruto blinked at this, wondering what he meant, but Shinji continued without an elaboration, "Also, you will be learning a style that fits assassination specialists perfectly. It's called the Hibi style, and it focuses on not telegraphing your movements, making it nearly impossible for your opponent to predict what you're going to do. This makes it especially deadly against those who use Doujutsus."

Naruto blinked, rubbing the back of his head before speaking.

"Ano… Um… what do you mean by telegraphing my movements?" he said, looking at Shinji expectantly.

"When you move, there are small movements in your body that signify which way you're about to move. The way your eyes flick to the side, the way your weight shifts when you take a step, the way your body moves in general. Many people don't realize that they're doing it, but they are. What you're doing when your fighting is telegraphing your movements, and a skilled enemy, or one with a doujutsus, will be able to pick up on that easily, and be able to predict what you're going to do likely before you yourself do."

Naruto blinked, half understanding what the man in front of him had said, but grasping it enough to understand that it would be useful in a fight. If the enemy he was fighting couldn't predict his moves, then he would be able to beat many people easily. He was about to speak his consent at learning it, when Shinji spoke again.

"Also, the style not only teaches you how to not telegraph your movements, it will teach you out to project your movements, slightly, so that to your opponent it seems like you're going to go one way, when in fact you'll go the other. To them, they'll be able to see you and have a guard up for your attacks, and then suddenly you'll vanish from there line of sight, and be able to deliver punishing blows to them. It's, like I said, especially useful against someone with a Doujutsu, like that Sasuke friend of yours.

Naruto grinned at this, knowing full well that Sasuke used the Sharingan which was classified as a doujutsus. Shinji let out a small laugh at seeing the eagerness on the boy's face, before he continued speaking.

"We will also be teaching you Genjutsu, while you may not have a talent for it; you still have to learn how to cast small ones, and how to dispel all kinds of them. You'll be learning advanced stealth procedures as well, to help augment your already impressive stealth abilities.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to train you myself, as I have many other duties to attend to. So, your partner and mentor will teach you himself, and he'll be here tomorrow. You'll be learning wind jutsu from a good friend of mine, a Jounin named Asuma. You'll also learn advanced chakra control techniques, such as water walking, which will also be taught by your teammate. For now, I want a list of every jutsu you know."

Naruto blinked at this, realizing that he didn't know many jutsu at all. He counted them in his head, something he had never done before, before he spoke out to Shinji.

"4, the three basic academy jutsu and the Kage Bushin No Jutsu." Shinji nodded softly, wondering if he should tell the boy about the benefits of the Kage Bushin no jutsu and its secret training abilities. But he decided to leave that to Reaper, but he would indeed tell them man about Naruto's own abilities. Nodding to himself, he stood up and walked across the clearing, leaving a puzzled Naruto looking at him. Stopping at the edge of the clearing he turned to face Naruto, before he spoke.

"Now, I want a light spar. I won't be going all out on you; I'll drop my level closer to your own. I want to see how well you think on your feet when you're not completely outclassed." Naruto nodded, slightly scared of the prospect of fighting the man in front of him once more. Standing up, he looked forward at Shinji, who nodded at him to start his attack.

Naruto dashed at the man, his feet flowing across the ground with surprising speed, before launching a devastating left hook at Shinji's head. Shinji dropped his body lower, letting the fist fly overhead easily, before letting his own fist rocket out at Naruto's stomach.

"What the Fu-Ugrk" Naruto felt the wind leave his stomach, but recovered quickly by bringing his knee upwards at Shinji's face. Shinji scowled softly, placing his hand on the knee to stop it, before gripping it and throwing Naruto over his shoulder. Naruto flipped mid air to land, glaring at Shinji once more. Shinji turned to look at him, before he spoke.

"Stop coming at me head on like a Civilian brawler, you're only gonna get yourself and everyone you know killed that way." Naruto growled out in anger, before letting his hands flash through a few signs.

"Oh yeah! Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" Suddenly, there were at least 30 Naruto's surrounding Shinji, who sighed gently watching him. While with any Genin and some low leveled Chunin, the mob them from all sides tactic would work, for anyone with any power and skill it would only be an annoyance. Shinji ducked lazily out of the way of the first clone, before slamming his fist into its throat, watching it vanish in a poof of smoke. He turned once more to lash out at another clone, only to duck backwards as a Kunai fly at him. He was about to commend Naruto on thinking a bit more when he heard one of the boys Bushin's pop from his own Kunai. He sweat dropped, before twisting and sending a Naruto clone that had tried to get close flying into two others, dispelling them both.

Naruto growled out from where he was hiding in the trees, watching the older ninja systematically decimate his small clone army. He needed a plan, cause without one he would never land a hit or even come close to one. Watching the man move, Naruto thought gently before he grinned, his plan set in his mind he leaped out at Shinji, before switching places mid air with a Bushin. It seemed Shinji wasn't expecting much, cause he just decimated the clone swiftly, having not even noticed Naruto switching.

The whole plan counted on Shinji underestimating him, otherwise it would never work, and as Naruto watched from inside his own clone army, he grinned.

Shinji twisted around another clone, before chopping it in the back of the neck, only to turn and catch another clone by its face and slam it into the ground. Sighing he stood and spoke, while twisting around another clone.

"You'll never hit me like this Naruto, give it up." All the Naruto clones growled, before one leapt out of the crowed. Shinji figured this was the real one, as none of the other clones showed any initiative, so he went for a grappling move to toss the boy to the side. He was surprised when, after tossing the boy, he poofed out, only to turn and notice another clone jumping at his face. Sighing gently, he sent out a weak punch into the clones body, expecting to see the tell tale poof emerge from the clone.

It didn't happen.

Shinji's eyes widened in surprise, as Naruto let out a quick kick at the older man's unguarded chin. Shinji leaned back, but still felt the boys toes graze his chin, before flipping backwards softly, regarding the boy with a slightly impressive look on his face.

"Good job, you used my own arrogance against me. You thought quickly on your feet, and kept attacking with clones till I let my guard down. It only worked because, I'll admit, I underestimated you… but it won't happen again." Shinji spoke, before dropping into a different stance, "And now, I'll be taking it harder on you."

Naruto grinned, before he dashed at the older Shinobi once more, launching a right hook at his face. His punch was caught, as expected, but what he hadn't expected was for pain to explode in his left cheek, and to feel blood welling up in his mouth. Falling onto his butt, Naruto put his hand up to his mouth, feeling the large bruise on his cheek and spitting out some blood (along with a tooth). Looking up at Shinji, he paled.

"Oh where just getting started…" Shinji spoke.

-Ichiraku Ramen: 6 PM-

Sakura and Sasuke sat at on the stools at the bar, making idly chit chat to pass the time. Sense Naruto had left the team, they had both, one consciously, the other sub-consciously, sought each other out for comfort. In one day, Sasuke had gone from being utterly annoyed with Sakura, to considering her as a sorta-friend. Sakura, on the other hand, was delighted that Sasuke-kun was now paying attention to her, but she was doing her best not to push it. Naruto leaving the team had caused both of them to re-evaluate their lives, and Sakura had realized that she had been rather annoying in her advances on Sasuke.

"I wonder where he could be?" Sakura asked, her voice piped with curiosity. Sasuke was about to answer her, when he saw the blonde in question entering the stall, and his eyes widened slightly in shock. Sakura followed his gaze, and felt her mouth drop open slightly at the sight of the bloodied and disgruntled blond.

He shuffled slowly towards them, his body weary from being beaten around for the past few hours, and pulled himself up onto the stool slowly. Sakura gapped for a moment, taking in his hole ridden bloodied clothes, while Sasuke tried to find the courage to speak. After a long moment, he finally did, and as he spoke he did his best to hide his surprise at the sight of the blonde.

"What happened to you Dobe?" Naruto grunted softly, before lifting his head to look at the two of them.

"Training…" he muttered, his voice stifled inside of his arms. He didn't even feel like he had the strength to lift his head, much less have a full conversation, but he hopped eating some food would cure that.

"What kind of training put you in that state?" Sakura asked, finally finding the courage to speak. Naruto sighed, before letting his head flop back down on the counter, mumbling out his usual order to a shocked looking Ayame, before he answered his friend's question.

"I don't know, but I do know I have never been this tired in my entire life. I hope my regular trainer and not his boss is way kinder to me then that bastard Shinji is." He mumbled the last part out, but both of his former team mates caught it. Both had similar thoughts on who Shinji could be, but there orders where just arriving, courtesy of a still shocked looking Ayame, and they decided to put them off till they had eaten there full.

Naruto dug into his ramen, with slightly less than his usual gusto, and both Sakura and Sasuke ate slowly and politely. They made small talk, mostly focusing on the former twos days, while they ate, with Naruto asking the occasional question.

"Yeah, and then Kakashi-sensei had us both fight him at the same time, and man did he ever beat us around." Sakura grumbled out, to which Sasuke grunted in agreement. They had been put through what they considered the ringer by there Cyclopes sensei, but after seeing Naruto they thought he might have been taking it a tad easy on them, "my head still hurts from when he punched me, ugh."

"Yeah, least he didn't jab you in the eye when you tried to use your families' bloodline on him… My eyes are still sore." Sasuke mumbled out spitefully, to which Naruto laughed slightly. It was good to spend time with them like this, which was way better then how they had used to spend time. Finishing their meals, they sat for a good ten more minutes before Sasuke stood and spoke.

"Well I better get going… Gotta get up early to see Kakashi again."

"Kakashi-Sensei Sasuke-kun, show some respect." Sakura spoke, before stopping and looking forward slightly in shock. Both Naruto and Sasuke mirrored her surprise; she had never spoken like that to him before. Sasuke blinked, before he snorted and smirked, waving goodbye and walking out of the stall. Sakura sighed and also stood, turning to Naruto and speaking.

"Yeah, I'd better get going as well, I have to get up just as early to see Kakashi-sensei." Naruto nodded, standing up as well and paying for his food. Turning to Sakura, he spoke, his body screaming for him to go get some sleep, but his mind deciding otherwise.

"Do you want me to walk you home Sakura-chan?" Sakura turned to look at him, a "No" Already on her lips, before she took in the sight of him. It was obvious to everyone that he was dead tired, and probably really wanted to sleep, but still he offered to walk her home. Smiling softly at the gesture, she decided that one walk home wasn't going to hurt her chances with Sasuke-kun, and who knows? It might actually improve them if he got jealous.

"Sure, I'd like that Naruto." Naruto visibly perked up at this, expecting her to say no, and smiled at her. They both walked outside and started walking along the way to her house, which wasn't too terribly far from the ramen stand. As they walked, Sakura noticed the villagers still out and about giving him weary looks, and some even hateful, and for the first time she truly thought about the reason behind it.

It couldn't be because he was a prankster, which would explain some mean looks but not downright hateful like she was seeing from the odd villager. A simple prank or two (or a Dozen), would never cause that much hate for the boy, and she found herself wondering why. She filed it away for a later date, when she had more time to think about it. They arrived at her house, and both said pleasant goodbyes, before she went inside.

Naruto watched her walk inside, his heart slightly giddy at the fact that Sakura had actually said yes for once, before he turned and made his way slowly home. His eyes felt like they were going to fall out of his skull at any second, and now all he wanted to do was get home and sleep. He made it all the way to his apartment un-accosted, and groggily made his way through his door. Slipping off his sandals, his body armor, and his sword, he wearily made his way to his bedroom, where he took off his shirt and tossed it on the floor. He would pick it up later, he reasoned, after he had had a chance to sleep. Letting his body hit his lumpy mattress, he drifted to sleep faster than he had in a long while.

It felt like just seconds later, that he was awoken by a disturbance in his own mind. There was something wrong, something was out of place, and it took him a moment to realize that someone was in his apartment with him. It was still dark out, so it couldn't be any later than 5 in the morning yet, and the only reason he could think of for someone to be in his apartment this early (or at all) was to do him bodily harm. So, he reached into his bedside cupboard and pulled out the pair of Kunai he always kept in there. Slipping them into his hands, he slipped out of his bed and into the hallways.

Making his way towards the kitchen, where he saw a light on he knew he hadn't left on, he glanced around the doorway and saw what could only be a Shinobi standing in front of his counter. Slipping back into the cover of darkness, he took a deep breath and counted to three, before twisting around the corner and throwing one of the Kunai, exactly the way Shinji had shown him.

The figure didn't even look up, just reached out into the air and plucked the Kunai out of it, before speaking.

"Thanks, I needed this." Naruto blinked, before he realized that the man (he could tell by the voice) was now using his Kunai to chop up what looked to be pieces of meat. Naruto let his other kunai fall to his side, before he spoke.

"Um, who are you?" Naruto asked, now filing the man away as a non-treat. The man didn't speak, but continued what he was doing, and that's when Naruto's other sense's caught up with him. He smelled food, and the air was hot from the heat of the stove.

This man was eating his food!

"Hey! Why are you eating my food! I work hard to pay for that you know!" Naruto yelled at the man, who glanced over his shoulder at the boy.

"Why? Because I'm hungry that's why, why else does anyone eat anything?" the man said, before flicking the stove off and shoving food onto two plates. Turning around, Naruto finally got a good look at the man, now recognizable as a young man, and blinked.

He was slightly tall, and obviously a Shinobi. Dressed in a black short sleeved shirt and plane blue jeans, the only thing that set him apart from civilians was the way he walked and the Haiti on top of his head. He set both plates down on the table, before sitting and starting to eat. Naruto just watched him, his body in a form of mute shock, before the man looked up at him once more.

"Well? Are you gonna join me or what? I mean it IS your food, as you kindly pointed out." It was at this point that Naruto realized that, yes, the man had laid two plates down in front of him, one obviously intended for Naruto. Naruto blinked, before sitting down and looking at the food, his suspicion raising. It could be poison, but, Naruto realized, he had seen the man take the food out of the same pan as his own, and Naruto had been watching closely enough he felt sure there was no poison in his food. Taking a bit, Naruto brightened.

Man, this guy could cook.

They both ate in silence till there food was gone, Naruto glancing every so often at the man who sat in front of him, the man apparently lost in his own bliss in the food. The second they had finished though, Naruto set down his chopsticks and spoke, his voice still heavy with suspicion.

"So, who are you?" The man chuckled lightly, the mirth evident in his eyes, before he himself spoke.

"Yoshiro Tsujimoto, Codename Reaper… I'm your new teammate and teacher!" He exclaimed a bit too loud. Naruto blinked, taking in the man in front of him.

He couldn't be more than 24!

He was about to voice his concerns when the man spoke again, his voice still holding that same happiness that Naruto found more creepy then actual happiness.

"Call me Shiro, everyone else does. I've come by to get you up and ready for training today! Which starts in a half hour, at training field twenty seven, and you had better get there on time or I'll make sure your training is twice as hard today as normal." With that, the man stood and waved, and before Naruto could get a word in, he vanished in the tell-tale Shushin. Naruto sat there, staring at the spot Shiro had just occupied, before he blinked.

He didn't even know where training field twenty seven was.

-A half hour later: Training ground 27—

Naruto huffed as he ran into the training field, making it just in time. He had spent a good twenty minutes asking passing ninja for directions to this damn place, before he had finally discovered that it was on the opposite side of the village from where he currently was. He had run the entire way there, mumbling out apologies the entire way to the few civilians who were out and about that he had almost knocked over. Now, finally here, he looked around to find his new sensei, but found the man was nowhere in sight.

Naruto's rage boiled.

"That son of a Bitch!" He was about to stomp back to his apartment and sulk, when a voice said from behind him.

"Excuse me?" Naruto turned around, startled, and lost his balance. Falling onto his butt, he looked upwards at the amused face of Shiro, who was grinning down at him. Grumbling as he stood up, Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at the man.

"Well at least you made it on time! Now, we'll jump straight into this by first seeing what you can do, so come at me with everything you have." Naruto blinked, before shrugging. He might get some payback on this guy for making him fall onto his butt. Naruto cracked his neck, and made a slight show of taking deep breaths, before he suddenly sprang at the man not two feet from him, his leg coming upwards to kick him in the face.

Suddenly he was upside down; his face level with Shiro's who had somehow lifted him up enough to come face to face with him. Naruto was about to tell them man to put him down when his vision flashed white and his face exploded into pain. He sensed more than felt his body hitting the ground through the pain, and his hands went instinctively up to his nose, trying to stem the steady flow of blood that was coming down it. Shiro just watched him, his face no longer looking happy, but now one of cold indifference. He stood there, patently, while Naruto struggled to get to his senses. Finally, though his face still hurt, Naruto stood up and looked at him.

"The fuck was that for you crazy bastard!"

"You attack head on, expecting to overwhelm a far superior opponent, which is not only childish and stupid, but will get you killed. Come at me again." Naruto growled out at the man, his rage building, and dashed at him. Shiro sighed, catching the punch with lazy ease that Naruto had thrown at him, before pushing two fingers into the Adams apple of his neck. Naruto let out a chocking sound, and hit the ground, but he was ready this time, his foot lashing up for a kick. Shiro glanced down at him, swatted his kick out of the way, and stomped his foot down at Naruto's chest.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw it, and even though he could barely breathe from the strike to his neck, he flipped his body to the side and out of the way. Landing on a steady base of all fours, he tried to push himself up, but was caught unguarded when Shiro's foot impacted his stomach, sending him up into the air.

Naruto had a brief sense of vertigo and weightlessness, before he felt Shiro's foot slam into his chest mid-air, sending him rocketing backwards into a tree. Shiro didn't advance on him now, and in fact, Naruto registered through the pain his body was currently in, he hadn't moved at all except to block or attack him. Growling out, Naruto stood and his hands flashed through hand seals.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" ten Naruto's now stood side by side with Naruto, who was enraged that this man treated him as if he was nothing more than an annoying bug to be swatted out of the air. Charging forward, all the Naruto's surrounded Shiro, who looked at them through a mask of bored indifference. Naruto growled out, before sending his clones into attack.

Shiro hardly blinked, ducking under one clone's attack, while catching another by the throat and shoving him upwards with a great amount of force. The two clones slammed into each other, before bursting into smoke, just as he twisted around the punch of another clone, bringing his leg with the momentum to kick it in the back, sending it flying into another two clones. Leaning forward, he bent down and quickly adjusted his sandal strap, as a clone who had been aiming at his back flew overhead. Standing back up, he flicked his fist out, sending it slamming into a clone that had tried to get him un-aware, before twisting and back-handing the now rebounding clone that had missed him in the face.

Twisting once more, he suddenly let a knife blade drop from his sleeve, bringing it out and slashing out at the throats of the remaining clones and the original Naruto, whose eyes widened in surprise he leaned back just in time, the blade still drawing a thin line of blood along his throat, while the remaining clones all poofed out of existence. Shiro slid the blade back up his arm, before he spoke, his voice still holding that bored indifferent tone.

"You come at me like that again, and I will break something." Naruto growled, watching the man, trying to tell if he was bluffing. Shiro nodded softly at Naruto, before speaking.

"Good, maybe you have some sense in that thick skull of yours." Naruto growled out before he launched himself at the man, throwing a right hook at his face while screaming.

"Fuck you!" His hand was caught, and suddenly forced backwards on itself, his wrist breaking with a snap. Naruto let out a startled cry of pain, before he hit the ground cradling his now broken wrist, taking deep even breaths to try and ease the pain. He glanced up at Shiro, who looked at him darkly.

"I never to stop, in fact I have seen the levels of your offensive capabilities, and now want to test you on defense." Naruto's eyes widened, just as he registered Shiro disappearing in a blur of speed. Throwing his body backwards, he landed on his feet, barely teetering to keep his balance. Suddenly he felt more pain, as a fist appeared in his stomach and he was lifted upwards. Shiro held him there for a second, before letting him drop.

"Too fast I see… I'll slow it down a bit." Naruto growled as he jumped backwards from his prone position, landing a good ten meters from Shiro. Shiro looked at Naruto, his gaze taking in the boy. Shinji had been right, he had great potential for a Genin, he was shrugging everything off like it was nothing, and showed no signs of chakra depletion from his use of ten shadow clones.

Suddenly, Shiro was shooting at Naruto, who raised his hands in the style of the Academy Taijutsu. Training took over as Naruto watched Shiro move in for a forward jab, and he lifted his wrist slightly to block it, his sight still clearly on Shiro. Suddenly, Shiro was gone from his line of sight, and he felt a jab in his stomach that left him slightly winded. Eyes widening Naruto turned his head slightly, seeing Shiro somehow inside his guard, about to deliver a punishing blow to his sternum.

Dropping his body weight, Naruto let his hand flash upwards and barely managed to block the punch, which caused Shiro to break his indifference slightly with a hint of amusement in his eyes, before he spoke.

"Good." And suddenly, Naruto was flying backwards from a kick that he had failed to see. Spinning mid air he landed, his hands coming upwards to block Shiro's follow up attack, which surprisingly didn't come. Looking forward, Naruto saw Shiro coming at him once more, his leg rising slightly for a kick to the side, which Naruto let his left arm drop slightly to block. Suddenly, Again, Shiro vanished and Naruto felt a fist connect with his chin, sending him upwards and causing him to nearly bite through his own tongue. He hit the ground hard, and felt the blood welling in his mouth, but he stood up through the pain and looked at Shiro.

"Having trouble? Maybe I should tone it down even more, till a civilian could keep up with me." Naruto growled loudly, and launched himself at the man, his broken wrist hurting inside his arm, but the lesson behind it forgotten in his rage. He let his left arm go out for a feint attack, before bringing his right hand down at Shiro's stomach, ignoring his broken wrist.

This time, Shiro grabbed his broken wrist, and twisted once more. Pain exploded into Naruto, and he hit the ground, his eyes weary from the pain as he felt himself black out. In those final moments of consciousness, he realized something.

Shiro had been using the Hibi style, and that's why he couldn't see him.

Then, Naruto was out like a light.

-Twenty Minutes Later-

Naruto sat up, feeling the pain in his wrist he winced, but it had subsided quite a bit. Looking around, he saw Shiro looking at him with slight curiosity. He growled out at the man he had now decided was psychotic and wanted to kill him, but was silenced when Shiro spoke.

"It's interesting… The Kyuubi apparently gives you an outstanding ability to heal yourself from any wound…" Naruto blinked, before realizing that he was right, he always healed far faster than any of his friends. Blinking Naruto struggled to stand, his body hurting all over from the brief exchange they had had not too long ago, and turned to look at Shiro.

"So? I heal fast, big deal." Shiro looked up at Naruto, and then grinned, the first sign of true emotion Naruto had seen on his face sense they had started this whole shebang, though the way he grinned was far more insane then happy.

"So that means I can hurt you all I want, and you'll just get back up."

Naruto paled.

-16 Hours Later-

He hurt… All over his body he hurt, in places he didn't even know he could hurt, he hurt. He had thought he had hurt yesterday, had been tired yesterday, but nope, this was a brand new kind of hurt. A hurt that tore at his body, eating away at his muscles and bones, making him feel like he was dying. Even his formerly broken in several places wrist was just an add on to the amount of pain he felt coursing through his body, and even just thinking about said pain seemed to incress it tenfold, so he tried his hardest to put it out of his mind.

It didn't work all that well.

His feet shuffled along the hard cobbled road, as he blearily made his way towards what he hopped was his apartment. His mind was tired, his body had gone from fine, to in massive amounts of pain, to numb from the pain, and back to massive amounts of pain throughout the day, and right now he just wanted to sleep. Finally, locating his apartment, he fumbled with the keys for a moment before finally getting inside. Setting his keys down on the counter beside the door, he flipped on a light to make sure he didn't stub his toe on something as he made his way inside. Not that it mattered, cause what would one more bruise be on top of what he had already been through today.

His body throbbed painfully.

He was thinking about pain again.

He made his way throw the hallway, stripping off his clothes as he did so. He tossed them around the room, not worrying about where they landed because at this point, it didn't really matter. Stumbling into the bed room, he flopped onto his bed, and fell into blissful sleep that only lasted a few minutes, before it turned to nightmares of a crazy man trying to kill him.

It seemed like a mere ten minutes later, but in reality was several hours later, that he woke to a slap to the face. Shooting up, his body sluggish to respond, he cried out in pain and glared around his room, only to find Shiro standing there looking at him with that grin that had been on his face last morning.

"Morning sunshine! Time to wake up, its 4 AM and time to start your training!" Naruto balked at the last statement, before he shouted out in righteous indignation, his arms waving comically above his head.

"Four in the MORNING! He woke me up this early to get me to start training! Are you fucking insane Shiro!" Shiro blinked, before standing back and adopting a hurt look.

"I'm hurt Naruto, insane? Hardly, crazy yes, but I still have a good quarter of my sanity left!" Naruto blinked at this, before Shiro lifted him up by the hem of his shirt and pulled him out of bed, dragging him along the floor and ignoring his protests at such treatment.

"And besides! We start sword training today."

Naruto paled something he felt he had been doing too much lately.

-Elsewhere-

"And you're sure this will work?" a voice said from the shadows of a large room. Tuji Kurosaki looked in the direction of the shadows, before he spoke, his voice subservient and low. He made sure to show all the proper respect that the man in the shadow deserved, as any less would be an insult to the man, and he could be punished for his insolence. So, after a quick glance in the direction the man sat, he lowered his head and stayed in his kneeling position, before speaking.

"Of course my lord, when we finally have the preparations in place and our agents are settled in, we can begin the first phase. Konoha won't know what hit them." The man hummed its agreement through the shadows, before the man made a gesture with his hand, barely seeable through the veil of shadow surrounding the man.

"Very well, you've done well Tuji, and I reward those who serve their Kage so well. You may pick your very own team to help you lead in this… endeavor. Do not fail me, and do not be discovered, because if you are you know it will surely spell war… long before we are truly ready to engage in it." Tuji nodded, before standing up and saluting the shadowed corner, and making his way out of the room.

He had spent his whole life planning for this moment, for a chance to strike back at the leaf for what they had done in the past. They had wronged him and his country, had stood on their pedestal of being the strongest of them all for far too long, and it was time for them to be cut down a peg or two. The strongest of the five or not, they had been getting lax in recent years, too secure in their own dominance to take the proper precautions to protect against intrusion. He would allow the some peace, for the time being, until everything was in place.

He cackled lightly to himself, excitement coursing through his body, and he knew exactly whom he was going to pick for his team. They were all like minded individuals, ready and willing to do whatever it took to secure what they needed. He would talk to each of them, in private, and bring them into his plan. Now that he had gotten the Kage on board, the man old as he may be was still an incredibly powerful Shinobi, he felt sure that he could succeeded in his plan. Now, all he had to do was finish the preparations and get everyone in place.

And to send out a missive to that snake, Orochimaru.

-End Chapter—

Well I hope you all liked it, and I know I quite enjoy what I have come up with, so please read and review, and let me know what you think. I would give out shout outs to people, who revived, but there's too many of them and I remember hearing that if I did that I could get my story removed. So from now on, you only get a shout-out if you leave a truly outstanding or helpful review. Remember, I don't mind friendly criticism, just be nice about it and not flaming.

NEXT TIME! Naruto continues his training, learns a few moves, and meets Asuma. Sakura and Sasuke get a new teammate, and the plot thickens only slightly.