Chapter 8 New kids

Deep in the depths of the village in an old facility that was once used as the training facility for the once powerful organization ROOT, a group that was the birthplace of ANBU. Although they're methods were seen by many has inhumane and repulsive despite the results they got in how many elite ninja they created. And it was none other than the third Hokage that put an end to ROOT as many of its members were put into disgrace, especially their leader a man only known as Danzo.

He was an older man who was crippled years ago, his leg was shattered and he could barely move it anymore without a cane, then there was the fact that his arm hung uselessly in his robe and half his face was hidden by the bandages and yet despite that he never seemed to care about how his body was mangled. In fact he still had a commanding presence and those that underestimated him soon found out that was the last mistake they would make.

Currently he was overlooking one of the few training areas that were kept in shape. Despite how the place was falling apart because of how little resources they had and personnel that were still loyal to ROOT, the place was a shadow of its former glory. Dirt piled up, whole areas were no longer in use, the place was depressing and cold feeling to it all but that didn't matter to those that worked here. They were ROOT and such little things like that mattered little to those that saw themselves as true shinobi.

Danzo was on a balcony looking as a few of the youths that he still had were put through their training, it was brutal as always with no mercy shown and any hint of emotion was punished. A true ninja had no emotions as they only got in the way, that was the way of ROOT.

"Sharp as ever I see," the man said with little emotion as he looked down at the training. The boys and girls were pale from lack of sun and a few looked like they were about to drop dead. But that mattered little to him, this was not his affair. "I've been wondering why you've ignored my request to get rid of the boy."

"The boy is a possible danger of that I agree with you, however...he could also be a powerful weapon in the right hands."

The Uchiha gave him a calculating look, "Is that why you refused to help me get rid of him all those years ago?"

Danzo said nothing for a bit, "Yes, you were too hasty. If the boy does prove to be a danger well I have plans for that, I can already see that one of my students will be the most powerful of this generation and if need be I'll send him against any who are a threat to this village. As for the boy...can you honestly say that a ninja with the power of that fox under the control of this village would be such a bad thing? Image just how powerful he could become."

"That's one of the things I fear that he'll be too powerful one day."

"Fear...or is it that your pride will refuse anyone that is stronger than an Uchiha?" The crippled asked and saw the other man's eyes close slightly in anger.

"Somehow I doubt that you'll get your hands on the boy, his father is not easily killed and he has the protection of the Hokage as well as other Jonins, even that bitch of a student of Orochimaru seems to taken a shine to the boy." Fugaku had never liked Anko Mitarashi, he didn't trust her given who her sensei was and the fact that she had embarrassed his clan with how easily she defeated one of his better ninjas in the Chunin exams. It had been a humiliating defeat for the boy and not only his pride but the pride of his clan had been shamed in front of the entire village and of others.

"Yes that is a shame, I'm surprised how those fools you have aligned with got so close those years ago with the two missing nins."

Uchiha nodded, "So was I, they used a lot of resources to ensure that no other ninja was in the area at the time and had agents in place to make sure no one interfered. They should have hired better men."

Danzo looked to see one of the students drop and he felt disappointment, he had thought that one would last at least a few more hours as the boy was dragged away. The other didn't stop or even look they knew they would be punished if they did.

"Yes well the past is the past and I'm telling you now the boy could be an asset, just give it time. After all you might be surprised by what the boy." Danzo said and then turned and left.

Fugaku knew he was being dismissed and he only got two things out of this, he knew that Danzo wouldn't be an ally but he got the impression that he wouldn't interfere either. He walked back to his home as he thought about the boy. There was a grain of truth that the boy could be a powerful weapon one day but that was only if they could control him and he doubted that. He would have to wait for the opportunity to show itself, when the boy showed the danger he could be.

Then there was the other matter of his oldest son, he just couldn't understand him anymore, he was more and more distance with each day and he couldn't figure it out. His oldest son was the pride of the clan, a testament to how great their clan was and yet he didn't seem to care and that worried the clan head. He honestly had no idea what to do with this son, he could only hope that he could figure something out, he felt a shadow loaming over his son. Like something horrible was going to happen either to him or because of him. He couldn't shake this feeling and that truly was something that kept him up late at night.

-Park-

Naruto was in the park with Hinata again, and Naruto was talking about the training his dad was putting him through. He was just now starting on his chakra exercises although he was having some trouble with that. But he just put it off as it was just because it was new to him. He couldn't wait to enter the academy in and start his training to be a real ninja like his dad and the others.

There was one down side, Iruka had told him that he would be teaching now and wouldn't be able to look after him like he used to. Apparently he had been trying to get a job at teaching and had been taking courses and stuff as well as being an assistant teacher. It kind of made Naruto a bit sad knowing that he wouldn't be able to look after him like he used to but Iruka had promised to still see him when he got the chance. He also promised to take Naruto out for ramen the next time he could, which in Naruto's young mind made up for a lot.

One of the things he started to do these days was wear his new mask that Anko gave him for his birthday a few months back all the time like his dad.

Although he still had to take it off to eat and stuff but his dad told him that eventually he would teach him how to eat without anyone seeing him take it off and even now to make a genjustu to make it looked like the mask was still one and just eat normally, although to those around it would look like the food was just going through the mask.

"So Hinata you excited?" he asked her.

"Huh?"

"You said that your mom is going to have another kid right?"

Hinata nodded her head, a couple of months ago she told her about it, Hinata was actually excited about this. She would have a baby brother or sister and she couldn't wait. Although she wasn't sure how babies were born but her mother told her a few things, about how babies grew inside of the mother. At any rate Hinata was happy that her family was growing.

"I bet you're going to be a great big sister," Naruto said smiling.

She blushed a bit, "T-thank you Naruto-kun."

It was then that they heard the yelling and both young children looked to see a group of kids their own age that were being picked on by a few older boys. Naruto glared at the scene he had to deal with bullies himself and so he had a real hatred for that kind of thing. To him bullies got whatever came to them and he also couldn't just sit by and watch this or let it happen.

"Hold on Hinata looks like we're going to have to wait a bit to play."

Hinata's eyes grew as he walked off to the group, she looked around but didn't see any adults around and she was worried that Naruto would get hurt and she didn't want to see him hurt.

The kids in question were two boys and two girls, of the girls there wa a young blonde with short hair named Ino Yamanaka who was with her friend in red with pink hair, Sakura Hanaro. There were two other boys as well, a slightly pudgy kid who was eating named Choji Akimichi and finally a lazy kid that was just looking up at the sky named Shikamaru Nara. The other older kids were just picking on the kids that they had seen although Sakura was still shy and insecure, Ino however was angry that some stupid kids were picking on them just because they were older.

"What's your problems?" Ino yelled out at them.

"Your ugly face Blondie, and maybe with the girl with the freakish forehead there, man did you get hit by the ugly stick or something?"

Sakura was very sensitive about her looks especially her forehead, she did kind of have a slightly larger one and all the kids would make fun of it. It wasn't until Ino came along and became her friend and helped her through her insecurities a bit. Also she started to make more friends lately although she was still learning to have more self confidence like Ino. Hearing those words hurt like hell and she felt the sting of tears in her eyes at the moment.

"You guys are so troublesome," Shikamaru sighed. He was just trying to watch some clouds, he didn't even want to go to the park. It was always too noisy and there were too many trees that got in the way of all the good cloud watching spots. The only reason he was here was because his dad wanted him to spent time with Ino and Choji. Choji he didn't mind, he was a good friend but Ino on the other hand was very bossy and he already had one bossy female in his life. The last thing he needed was someone like his mother, but she was the daughter of his father's best friend and teammate.

When he got here there was that pink haired girl Sakura that Ino had been hanging out with lately. She wasn't so bad, so she was less troublesome than Ino. There was a shadow over him and he looked up to see one of the boys looking over him.

"What was that pineapple head?"

Shikamaru just sighed he just wanted to watch clouds was that so much to ask in life?

"Hey leave him alone you jerk!" Ino yelled out with a raised fist.

"Or what? You going to hit me little girl?" he laughed.

"I think she will, and I think I like to help."

The new voice drew the attention of everyone and there on the slide next to the bully over Shikamaru was a boy sitting on the top. He had on black shorts with an orange shirt with a black spiral symbol on the front. He had strange blue eyes, wild blonde hair and was wearing a mask too.

"Who the hell are you punk?"

The mystery boy just shrugged, "Name's Naruto and you better leave if you know what's good for you."

"Kick the kid's ass!" One of the bully's friend yelled out.

"Yeah and take his mask off, maybe we can make him eat it!" Another yelled.

He looked up at the kid with a grin, "So the big bad 'hero' wants to help out huh? Well come down here then and get a beating."

Naruto grinned under his mask, "Okay if you say so," he then quickly launched himself down the shoot and slammed into the older boy's stomach with his two feet. The boy was launched off the ground from the blow and landed coughing and gasping for breath as the air was knocked out of him. There was a pause as everyone was surprised by the quick move, Naruto got into a basic fighting stance his dad taught him and waved the boys in.

Ino saw how this boy was helping them out and grinned as she saw him drop the older boy. She had no idea who he was but he had style that was for sure, when she noticed the bully next to her was about to move she stomped on his foot, he cried out and then while hoping on one foot she kicked him hard in the shin of the other leg.

The boy fell to the ground holding both legs in pain.

Naruto now only had two boys to deal with as he saw the blonde take out one of the others. The nearest boy tried to grab Naruto, so he grabbed the wrist to the boy and with his other hand jabbed a finger in the right spot in the throat area, just where the rib cage starts there is a small curve and there is a nerve there. He pressed down and the boy's legs gave out in a second. He quickly placed that hand around the back of the neck of the boy and twisted and threw the boy head first into the stomach of the last one.

Naruto was actually surprised how well that move worked, sure he trained with his dad and stuff but that was the first time that he actually used it in real life. If it wasn't for the mask his surprise would have been apparent on his face.

Ino however decided to push it, "Alright you boys want more of a butt kicking? Because only two of us were fighting you want all of us?"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, "Why should I get involved?"

"Shut it you lazy jerk!" Ino shouted.

"I'd listen to her if I were you guys," Naruto said crossing his arms over his chest. The bullies decided that being embarrassed by a bunch of kids younger than them was bad enough for the day as they picked themselves up and tried to make a dignified retreat, not that it worked.

Naruto laughed as the boys went away, he noticed the blonde girl walk up to him, "Hey thanks."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled, "hey no problems I hate bullies and I can't stand to see it happen."

"Well thanks, I'm Ino by the way, this is Sakura, the lazy boy on the floor is Shikamaru and the kid that is still eating is Choji," Ino said pointing everyone out.

"Cool, I'm Naruto and this is...uh...hold on," they watched the boy look around and then seemed to find someone behind the slide. "Come on out, it's okay Hinata."

He pulled out a girl with short hair and pearl like eyes who seemed very nervous as she was looking down at the ground and fidgeting with her fingers. Ino could already see this girl was like Sakura, actually maybe a bit worse off so.

"This is my very best friend Hinata, well say hello."

"Oh! Uh...h-h-hello." She gave a small bow to the group.

"So you guys want to join us?" Ino asked and both kids faces lit up at that, she had no way of knowing that they had no other friends and this was the first time they were asked to join in. They gathered up together to get to know each other. Naruto was sitting next to Hinata of course but he took a place next to a nice looking pink haired girl as well. Shikamaru was laying down looking up at the clouds but still in the circle, and Choji and Ino finished it off.

"So I got to ask...why the mask?" Ino asked Naruto.

He just shrugged, "My aunt Anko gave it to me on my birthday, and my dad wears one and he told me that his dad wore one too. So...well it's kind of like family tradition, besides I think it looks cool and I am going to be a ninja like my dad too."

"So you're from a ninja family?" Sakura asked, her family didn't have many ninjas in it. In fact the last ninja was her grandfather and her father who used to be but he retired soon after she was born, something about wanting to see her grow up and not wanting to miss out on it.

"Yep! And so it Hinata too, we're going to join the ninja academy as soon as we can."

"Cool so am I, my dad as well as lazy boy and Choji here come from ninja families too." Ino said smiling.

Hinata looked to Sakura, "W-what about you? Are you going t-too?"

Sakura had been thinking about it, all her friends were going to join up and she wanted to follow in the path of her family as well. She had no idea what else she did want to do with her life and she kind of would like to carry on the family tradition. "Yes I think I am."

"Of course she is and she'll be a good one too," Ino smiled at her friend who blushed a bit.

"Hey you want a snack?" Choji asked Naruto and he did consider it.

But he didn't want to pull his mask down, with family it was okay and maybe Hinata too since she actually knew what his face looked like. "I'm good but thanks, so do you guys want to play?"

That day both Hinata and Naruto made four new friends that day, Hinata was shy but she soon found a friend in Sakura and Ino especially since they were the first female friends that she ever made. Naruto finally had more friends to play with as well, and even though Shikamaru liked to look at the sky he did play when you finally motivated him to do it.

Everything was going really well too, Naruto kind of like the new friends he made. Choji seemed to like food and he told the boy about the best ramen stand in town while he told Naruto about the best BBQ place as well. He watched clouds with Shikamaru for a bit as he picked out shapes out of the clouds, Ino was kind of bossy but he didn't mind. Sakura was very nice as well, she was kind of like Hinata but after a bit she seemed to open up to them.

Unfortunately three adults came walking up, a large man, a man with scars on his face and a man with long blonde hair. "Hey kids, time to go home." The blonde one said.

"Aww, Daddy we were having fun with our new friends," Ino whined.

Ino's father looked to see the two new faces, he knew a Hyuga when he saw one although it was strange to see one playing with other kids. He didn't see any seal on the kid's forehead either so that might mean she was either too young or a main branch member which was even stranger.

"So who are these two then?" The large man asked as Choji went up to his dad.

"I'm Naruto Hatake and this is Hinata Hyuga," Naruto said smiling up at the adults hoping they would be nice. Sometimes some adults looked at him strangely and he didn't like how they looked at him.

"Hatake..." Shikaku Nara said looking at the boy. 'Huh...must be Kakashi's kid, with that mask it must be. Heard rumours of him being some kind of monster or something but what the hell kind of 'monster' could be a kid?'

"He's pretty nice, although a bit loud," Shikamaru sighed.

"Well then glad that you met some new friends Ino," Inoichi said to his daughter, "Sakura we're suppose to walk you home today since your dad is a bit busy with work today."

Sakura nodded and went with her best friend and her dad but looked back towards Naruto and Hinata, "Goodbye and I hope to see you both around later too."

Hinata had on a small smile at being accepted by someone else, while Naruto had on a huge on under his mask that always seemed to show despite it being covered. "See you later Sakura, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru! We'll see you again here another day!"

"This is great Hinata we got more friends to play with, this is great!" Naruto jumped excited he couldn't wait to tell his dad. Hinata nodded her head, she was still shy around them but they made her feel better, less lonely in fact. All in all for the two of them it was a great day as the sun was setting it looked like it was getting dark.

"Hey Hinata you want me to walk you home?" Naruto said seeing how dark it was getting.

She blushed a bit, "Uh...Y-you don't have to do that Naruto-kun."

"Oh come on I never get to see your home and it's getting late and it might rain. My dad's off on a mission and might not be back home until it's late anyway. So come on, let's go," He grabbed her hand making her blush very red as she felt kind of strange. She felt like her stomach was fluttering or something and was feeling very warm.

She didn't understand why she got like that but in a strange way it was kind of nice too as Naruto nearly dragged her home.

-Uchiha Compound-

Itachi Uchiha should have been a happy person, here he was the youngest member to make ANBU Captain, a prodigy and pride of his whole clan, someone that many admired and respected. But was he happy? The thing was he could rarely remember being truly happy in life, things just came too easily to him. There was no challenge here and the only amusement was from his best (and only friend) Shisui, but that wasn't much. In fact sometimes he wondered why he was friends with him at all but there was just something about him that he actually liked. It was hard for him, he couldn't really relate to anyone these days, the closest were maybe his little brother and his best friend.

He mentally sighed walking the halls, he felt like his talents were being wasted, he was said to be the strongest ninja in the clan and maybe soon in the whole village but what did that truly mean? Was there anyone out there that could pose a challenge to him? It was so dull to just cut through his enemies so easily, it was almost maddening actually. He came to the outdoors training area only to see his little brother training again, only he noticed a bit more of a fire burning in his little brother. This actually peeked his interests as he walked over to him.

The punching block looked like it was nearly about to start splintering a little, and his brother's knuckles seemed to be bleeding a bit. "So what's gotten you into such a state?" He calmly asked.

Sasuke was surprised, not noticing his older brother until that moment. "It's nothing."

Itachi raised a single eyebrow at this, "I don't believe that for a second."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, "I want to be better than you..."

"Oh?"

"Everyone looks at you, everyone sees you but me...I might as well be a ghost," Sasuke's anger filled him a bit and his older brother saw the look of anger in his eyes.

'Interesting...' Itachi looked at the board and then to his little brother. Itachi believed that emotions were a weakness that needed to be either controlled for cut out of you. They only hindered you, but apparently his little brother was starting to improve a little on his training with his anger. 'If this is anger then I wonder what a stronger emotion like hatred would do? Which is stronger, no emotions or filled with them?'

It was an interesting question to Itachi, which would make the better ninja? He looked at his little brother and decided that he would watch his progress and see how this would affect his brother, to see if maybe one day he could be an equal to him. After all out of all the clan members it was Sasuke that trained the hardest and the most. If anyone even had a chance it would be his little brother.

"Well then give them a reason to see you," Itachi said to a surprised Sasuke, "You're an Uchiha so start acting like one, you want to prove your worth then get stronger. Because what is the point of power if you can't use it?"

With that he left and heard the sounds of his little brother training harder than before. He almost smirked at the sounds. But he quickly put that away, after all he had other things to do now, being an ANBU Captain meant a lot of work and he had a lot to do now. Although there was one thing that was troubling him, there were rumours of some missing nins that were dressed in black cloaks and had red clouds on them. It was a strange design but the three that were mentioned seemed to be class S ninjas, it was something he would look into after all, it was odd to have missing nins acting as though part of some group.

Normally they were loners but this group was somewhat odd, plus maybe they would give him the challenge to test his power out.

Next up chapter 9: Demon Knight