Broken Tool

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Prologue

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The door opened silently.

"You wanted something Hokage-sama?"

The Third looked up from his paperwork momentarily and smile played on his lips. In front of him stood one of his most prized shinobi, an Anbu member to be exact, being the youngest Anbu member since Itachi, the Uchiha prodigy himself.

"Sit down, no need for formalities…"

He remembered with a pang of remorse when the boy had called him Old man…those days were far too long ago…Laying down his pen, he was silently thankful for the interruption from paperwork...it would be the death of him someday. He turned his gaze back to the porcelain mask of the Anbu sat in the chair opposite him.

"Take the mask off, you're not on duty."

A brief hesitation, before the porcelain mask was removed, and laid down carefully on the desk, a sound barely made. Calm, blue eyes stared calculatingly back at him, blonde sun kissed hair framing his face, once upon a time the boy would have been smiling like a fox and declaring his dream to be Hokage…no longer, the boy sat quietly, like a man three or four times his age. This wasn't to say that this boy was unsocial and cold hearted, he was just professional, Anbu had no need for laughs and smiles.

"Look at you…So young and yet already one the most powerful shinobi in fire country." he thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his aged face.

"Naruto." Said the old man. "You are only ten years old and are already at a point in power that is considered Kage level."

This was acknowledged with a small smile, if anyone else had been in the room, they would have thought that the ten year old didn't care, but Hiruzen Sarutobi saw that tell-tale flash of childish abandon behind the cool blue eyes. It had taken the council some time to realize how powerful the 'demon' had become; there had been a brief moment where the old man had thought they were going to execute Naruto on the spot. It had only been after Naruto had saved Homura and Koharu from an assassination attempt did they see how much Naruto could help their village, as more than just an Anbu member…

"Time and again you have proven yourself, and I have seen with my own eyes that you are a natural leader…"

He had been taught by the best too, himself and Jiraiya, when his perverted student had managed to tear himself away from his 'research'….But he had always wished that Tsunade would be able to teach him too…but after what happened to Nawaki and Dan, he would be surprised if she even thought about returning to Konoha.

"…The council has decided that you would be the best candidate for the place of the Fifth Hokage."

The boy nodded, honoured in every respect in the word, he had dreamed of this day for the whole of his life, a small part of him wanted to jump for joy and dance on the table.

But he was Anbu now, he had learned self control.

Sarutobi nodded, he had wanted more of reaction, a smile, a punch to the air…even dancing on the table might have been accepted… A memory stirred from a time before Naruto was born, when he had told Minato about his candidacy for the place of Fourth Hokage…The Third shuddered; he never wanted that to happen

…Ever…again.

It had been mentally scarring.

"However…" Continued the Third, coming back to his senses "There is one more mission to complete before it can be made official, there's an entourage of shinobi traveling from Hidden Grass to Hidden Waterfall, our spy in Grass thinks that they may be plotting to kill the Daimyo of Fire."

"Any particular reason?" Naruto asked, leaning back in his chair "It's not everyday you plan to kill the Daimyo."

"At this particular moment we're not sure… but they are suspected to be from Iwagakure."

"I see." The blond murmured, glancing down at the floor before asking. "How many?"

"30? Possibly more…"

The Third took out a small stack of papers "This is the intelligence report our spy sent back, it has rough details of almost everyone in the entourage" Naruto took the small stack from the Hokages' grip, flicking through the papers absent mindedly, before standing.

"Is that everything Hokage-sama?"

"For this mission you will be traveling with Kakashi and his squad."

The third watched as Naruto's face lit up, he and Kakashi had always gotten along, since the day they had met.

"I thought Kakashi-senpai was a sensei now?"

"Hmm...So he still calls him senpai... how amusing…" Kakashi had been the one that taught Naruto the ropes of Anbu, and the boy still hadn't forgotten.

"Not yet…" Sarutobi sighed wearily "he keeps on failing all the teams I give him."

"He doesn't want to destroy their childhood." Naruto shrugged nonchalantly "It's nothing personal against them"

The boy picked up his mask.

"So when do we leave?"

"Tonight, good luck Naruto"

The brief smile was replaced by the porcelain mask.

"Very well"

The Anbu left the room as silently as he had appeared.

Three masked figures were stood by the giant gates of Konoha. The first had sun kissed blonde hair, no need to explain anymore. His code name was Kitsune

The second was obviously a woman. Her hair was beige, not blonde, or grey, many would mistake her for an old woman because of her hair color, yet it didn't take very long to realize that they were seriously wrong about that. Her code name was Tora.

The third was the tallest, dark black hair that looked blue in the moonlight framed the Anbu mask, stood perfectly still. His code name was Yama.

Kitsune was tapping his foot agitatedly.

"He'll be here soon Kitsune-sama" she began, more than a hint of playful sarcasm in her lilting, silky voice.

"Please, don't call me that Tora-chan."

She smiled underneath her tiger mask, Naruto was like the little brother she never had. She had lost her friend Denu, killed by a missing nin on a mission they had taken together. She still blamed herself for his death. Yama didn't move, but Kitsune didn't really care, Yama was usually the silent type, not going out of his way to make conversation. Tora jabbed him in the ribs.

"Come on Yama-kun, lighten up will ya?" she teased. A brief rush of air and a fourth masked figure stood within the group.

"Yo…" a gloved hand was raised in a sluggish greeting.

"You're late!" Tora yelled, ready to pounce on the last member of the squad in her fury, but held back by the stoic Yama.

"Well, you see there was the little old woman…" The fourth member started, rubbing his silver haired head with one of his hands.

"And she had fallen over…" continued Tora, in a sardonic tone, removing herself from Yamas' grip.

"And she needed to get home…" Yama added, moving slightly from his rigid position, thoroughly enjoying the torture they were putting the silver haired Anbu through.

"But she lived a really long way away.." Tora said, gesturing of towards the centre of Konohakagure.

"And you helped her to get back..." Yama chuckled, his usual stone like behaviour forgotten for the moment.

"And that's why you were late" concluded Tora with a flourish of her hands.

The fourth member sweat dropped.

"Do you two actually practice this?" The fourth member asked, the pain evident in his every word. His code name was Inu.

"Oh you're so easy to wind up" Tora laughed.

Yama laughed, it was only when he was around Tora and her random flamboyance that he laughed, and both Kitsune and Inu knew there was something more than camaraderie there… even if neither of them noticed it yet…

Inu sent a lazy punch toward the hyperactive Anbu, forcing her to move. Kitsune didn't stir; he was just stood with his back to the group, staring out of the gates. He hadn't even acknowledged the arrival of Inu.

"Coming to say goodbye Hokage-sama?" Kitsune asked quietly.

Kitsune turned back to the shadows, from which the Third Hokage appeared out of. Tora, Yama and Inu turned around, suddenly realizing that they had been caught off guard, and fooling around no less. The Hokage smiled, he might not have had the Byakugan, but he knew the looks of embarrassment that would be on the faces of the three. The old man chuckled.

"Well it is your last mission as Anbu Black Ops…I should at least wave you off."

"I see...well since we're all here…" even behind his fox mask; Naruto glanced towards the Hokage. Sarutobi knew the drill, but a feeling of uneasiness settled in his stomach, what happened if Naruto was killed on this mission? There was no one else he could think of to take the place of Hokage after him…

"Scatter."

After a rush of air, only the Hokage was left, but the feeling of uneasiness still stayed. Nothing would go wrong… this was Konoha's Piercing Wind he was thinking about here, the most accomplished Anbu Konoha had ever seen.

The cool dawn finally arrived and the squad stopped for a moment, perched high above the floor on the ancient branches, Kitsune had gone to scout the surrounding area.

"Are we there yet?" Tora whined, hanging upside down from the branch, held up by only her knees.

"No." Yama all but growled, having been asked that question every ten minutes for the past two hours. Tora swung round, landing nimbly on her feet next to the annoyed man, who was seconds away from throttling her.

"It's still a day away." Inu pointed out, relaxing against the worn tree trunk, seemingly asleep, but still keeping an eye out for Kitsune.

"Lies." Tora spat, before lying out on a branch in the sun. Yama shook his head. Anbu were supposed to be the elite of their village. Then why was almost everyone insane? Kitsune just seemed to materialize on the branch next to him, resting casually as if he had been sat there the whole time.

"Anything?" Inu asked, beginning to stand.

The blond shook his head.

"There was nothing I could find." Kitsune shrugged, leaning back to stare at the pale blue sky.

"So they haven't even noticed we're here yet." Yama chuckled quietly, folding his arms "That gives us the advantage."

Tora yawned, throwing her arms up in embellishment.

"C'mon boys, less chit chat."

Inu sighed, why did she have to be on his team?

"Everybody ready to go?" Kitsune asked, already on his feet and ready to leave.

"We get in and out as quickly as possible." Inu instructed his squad with a grave tone "We want no survivors who could possibly continue in their attempts to kill or overthrow the Daimyo of Fire country."

There was a tense silence that even kunai couldn't cut.

"So we go all out?" Tora whispered seriously, her voice laced with regret. Inu nodded.

"The mission details say we spare nobody."

Kitsune stared at the floor.

They had received word of mission success a couple of days ago, the Hokage, Homura and Koharu had gathered outside he gate, waiting for the return of their soon to be Hokage.

They watched as one figure walked towards them. His entire body was covered in blood, none of it his own, and only a speck of his sun kissed hair showed. His white Anbu masked was stained red. The Hogake knew something was wrong just by the way Naruto was walking towards them.

Where was there rest of the team? Had they been killed on the way back? He squinted and saw three shapes on the horizon; they were all still alive… So why was Naruto so far in front?

"Is everything al-" The Hokage started, concerned by the blonds' behaviour.

The white Anbu mask hit the ground by his feet.

"I quit" Naruto growled, his blue eyes flashing in anger. "I can't take the role of Hokage."

He didn't wait for the old man to speak, and disappeared in seconds, leaving the Hokage and the advisors in shock.

"He walked…away...from his dream" muttered the Hokage, barely managing to hold himself in check. Both Homura and Koharu were stony faced, before disappearing themselves. One thought only in their heads. That was the last time they would trust the demon child. The three other members of the team appeared, Inu and Tora removed their masks, Yama stood silently next to them.

"What happened Kakashi? I heard the mission was a success!"

"It was Hokage-sama, Kitsune was as untouchable as ever, but…something happened…"

Tora spoke. "He wouldn't tell us anything! He didn't even speak to us the whole way back!"

Sarutobi mentally cursed, nobody knew what was wrong?

"Did he say something to you Hokage-sama? Anything?" Yama asked, also removing his mask. Hiruzen sighed wearily, allowing himself to feel human for a moment, holding his head in his hands.

"Unless I didn't hear him correctly, he just resigned from being a shinobi"

Tora gasped, her deep brown eyes widening in surprise and fear. "No! Permission to leave Hokage-sama!"

"Granted" She left in a burst of speed. Yama ran after her, without even bothering to ask the Hokage for permission to leave, he was far too concerned about his team mates. Kakashi stood still, watching them run off and disappear around a corner. With his mask resting on the side of his head he stared forlornly at the Hokage monument.

"I'm sorry Minato- sensei, I couldn't even keep that promise for you."

It was then that Sarutobi Hiruzen decided to leave, for it would be a long day and Hokage's were not supposed to be human.