Big thanks to my new beta reader Hanabi's Biggest Fan
A/N: I'm starting to get annoyed by all the "board certified psychologists" that read this story telling me I'm using the term sociopath incorrectly. If you really want a psychological profile to compare him to, look up Dexter Morgan. So please, unless you're an actual psychologist shut up and just enjoy the story or stop reading it altogether.
"Time for a little good news bad news," said Asuma as he approached his team, a lit cigarette resting at the corner of his mouth.
"Troublesome," complained Shikamaru sitting up and thus bringing an end to his cloud watching.
"It's not about lunch is it?" asked Chouji as he munched on his chips.
"Stop thinking with your stomach and you stop saying everything is 'troublesome'," ordered a very bossy Yamanaka Ino.
"Stop being so bossy Ino," ordered Asuma calmly.
However to the three assembled genin it was like a slap to their faces. Asuma had never told Ino to stop bossing them around before.
"Troublesome," sighed Shikamaru getting the impression he was not going to enjoy this day.
Asuma smiled slightly feeling pleased that he'd surprised them. He'd seen how well Kakashi's brats reacted when given a direct order and figured it was time he get on to it as well. "Ino, you're not the boss, I'm the boss. You follow, I lead. I'm not going to bring this up again."
Ino nodded once looking down slightly ashamed.
"Shikamaru," said Asuma, "not everything is troublesome. Today's discussion will be but I don't really care."
"Chouji, I know you need the calories for your clan techniques but eating during team meetings will no longer be tolerated. I expect you to have eaten all your required calories prior to your arrival for team meetings. Going forward, if I catch you eating during team meetings I'm going to confiscate the food and make you watch as I eat it in front of you," said Asuma.
Chouji paled considerably swallowing the food in his mouth and immediately putting away his remaining chips.
"Good," said Asuma smirking. "Now I have news. First, let me tell you about a little experience I had. So, about a week ago before our team meeting I did a favor for Hatake Kakashi. This favor had me and another chuunin helping him and his team with a combat simulation, specifically we were tasked with trying to eliminate a target while Kakashi and his team defended the target. So it was one jounin and chuunin versus one jounin and three academy-fresh genin. How do you think it went?"
Shikamaru clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I'm guessing you brought this up because you lost."
"Correct," said Asuma. "Now why am I bringing this up with you?"
"Because you don't think we'd be able to do the same," said Shikamaru. "What did they do? What strategy was employed? How much of the work was done by the genin and how much was the jounin?"
"We also have a different skill set than they do," said Shikamaru continuing. "Where their team may be more suited toward protection detail our team is more suited to capture and interrogation."
"I can't really tell you what they did as that would be cheating. What I can tell you is that they have trained very hard where you have not. It's not a matter of what this team is better suited to compared to what their team is suited to. It is strictly about training and the fact that I've allowed you three way too much slack."
"So what's the plan Asuma-sensei," asked Chouji nervously.
"You three will be going to SIPA," said Asuma with a grin, "And let me be clear now, it is extremely important you take this as seriously as possible."
"Was that the good news or the bad news?" asked Shikamaru clearly not trusting Asuma.
"That was the good news," said Asuma with a grin.
"So what's the bad news?" asked Ino with a thick gulp of nervousness.
Asuma grinned wider. "The results are going to be given to me, the hokage, and..." he paused to laugh. "your parents."
Shikamaru paled instantly. "Not her, please anyone but her."
"So you'd better take this seriously because I had to pull some serious strings to get you guys in there first," said Asuma.
"I though Sakura-chan already went through it?" asked Ino.
"Her team was sent through as the pilot group so it could have results put up to the council for financial approvals to the get program up and going," explained Asuma. "Pops only got it approved this morning and you guys are the first in starting tomorrow. I'll take you all over there shortly. Chouji, you start tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM, Shikamaru, you're the next day and Ino the day after that."
"Troublesome," said Shikamaru with a groan.
"What is this SIPA thing anyway?" asked Chouji.
"I'll explain as we walk," said Asuma ushering his students out of the training grounds and towards the village.
BREAK
Kakashi and his team trudged through the village gates on their return to the village after their first C-rank mission to Nami no Kuni. Kakashi was his usual calm and collected self as he walked behind his team with his nose in his book.
It was his three students' various moods that were of note to everyone they passed. One was calm, one was nervously looking between the other two teammates and the final member looked outright furious. What would surprise most was that Naruto, the most happy-go-lucky person in the village, was the one with the dark cloud over his head.
"The hokage has been expecting you," said the gate guard with a nod to Kakashi.
Kakashi spared the man a brief glance and nod as he continued walking with his book open in front of him.
It seemed like the longest walk in village history to Sakura. The entire trip back had been taxing her nerves as she waiting for the inevitable conflict between her teammates even with Kakashi's assurances they would remain professional.
Kakashi put his book away as the group entered the central administration building. It was on their walk up to the hokage's office that Kakashi spoke, "After we report, we'll take a week off of team activity so you can all cool off. Sasuke and Sakura, you'll continue your training with your tutors. Naruto, you and I will resume working together."
Naruto responded with a rough nod and grunt while Sasuke and Sakura quietly acknowledged the man's orders.
"Team 7 reporting in from a successful C-rank mission," said Kakashi once they were finally allowed into the hokage's office.
"Welcome back," said the hokage trying to be friendly but unable to miss the darkened mood of one of the team's members and the nervousness of another.
"Mission number 11854, C-rank escort and protection detail for one bridge builder Tazuna to Nami no Kuni. Leaving the village my team took up a loose manji formation around the client. Sasuke took advanced lead while I took up a trail position. Naruto created a perimeter using his kage bunshin and creating an additional layer of protection for Tazuna-san by having two additional clones stay with him at all times in order to erect a barrier at the first sign of attack," reported Kakashi pausing to allow the hokage to process the basic information.
The hokage nodded shortly after allowing the report to continue.
"We were three days out from the village when we were attacked by Meizu and Gozu, the acclaimed Demon Brothers," stated Kakashi as he removed two scrolls from his pouch and set them on the hokage's desk. "They were hiding in a water puddle that Sasuke easily recognized as a poorly executed genjutsu. As he passed them he suddenly reached inside their genjutsu to electrocute them both with teiza-sha no jutsu (tazer or electric stunner).
"I ordered Naruto and Sakura to barrier themselves and Tazuna for a short time while Sasuke and I interrogated the two men. We found out that both men were hired by Gato Corporation to eliminate the bridge builder. We also found out that both men were part of a team under the lead of Momochi Zabuza. Unfortunately, they did manage to hold out on one piece of information that would bite us later. I decided that given the time constraints we'd gotten sufficient information from the pair." Kakashi paused for a moment as he glanced briefly at Sasuke sending a silent message to the hokage in doing so. "They were eliminated, heads are in the scrolls on your desk and I had Sasuke burn the bodies to ash."
The hokage nodded his acknowledgment once more.
"I confronted Tazuna-san to verify the information which he immediately confessed. I made the determination to continue the mission in spite of it now being A-rank."
"I assume you advised Tazuna-san he would be billed with penalties?" asked the hokage interrupting.
"I did," said Kakashi. "He agreed in the process of begging us to continue."
"And the decision to continue?"
"I have trained my team specifically for this scenario to occur. I was absolutely confident they could handle anything that came at us," said Kakashi without any doubt.
"Very well, proceed," said the hokage relighting his pipe.
"It was two days later we were attacked a few miles from Tazuna-san's home by Momochi Zabuza directly. Following the standard procedure established through training, Naruto erected a double layer barrier surrounding himself and Sakura as well as the client. Zabuza used Kirigakura no Jutsu but using my Sharingan as well as Sasuke's we were able to see through the mist."
"Naruto, your barriers, what did you use?" asked hokage.
"I used two clones to immediately put up a daburu chakra shoheki around Tazuna-jiji. Then two more clones put up a kaze shoheki around Sakura-chan, me and the barrier with Tazuna-jiji. I then sent out clones to keep an eye but with the mist they were basically useless and were killed fast. I'm pretty sure Zabuza was really pissed at me," finished Naruto but not without directing a very angry glare at Sasuke the entire time.
"I assume there is a reason Naruto-kun is unreasonably angry with Sasuke?" asked the hokage.
"We'll get to that," said Kakashi with a sigh.
"Very well, continue," said the hokage puffing calmly on his pipe.
"After a prolonged engagement, we were able to put Zabuza into position to be eliminated. It was at this point we were interrupted by a shinobi posing as a Kiri oinin. He placed Zabuza into a death-like state using senbon. Before I could check and verify his death the oinin picked up Zabuza and vanished. It was a very clever ploy.
"At that point my team withdrew to Tazuna-san's home to recover. I'd nearly depleted my chakra reserves and Uchiha-san was pretty beat up from the encounter. Fortunately Sakura-chan has taken extraordinarily well to her iryonin training and was able to reduce my recovery time by at least half. I used the time to work with my team in planning our next encounter as we would now have to deal with Zabuza and his accomplice. We expected the attack to occur at the bridge but we also took precautions to ensure Tazuna-san's family was protected at all times. Once again we can thank Naruto for his clones, it allowed us to place a great number of sentries all around Tazuna-san's property."
"Well done," said Sarutobi with a big of pride and hoping to break Naruto out of his foul mood.
Sadly Naruto didn't react beyond glancing at the hokage momentarily before returning his glare at Sasuke.
"Anyway," said Kakashi resuming the conversation, "as I said before, I took the opportunity to plan our next encounter which I believed was most likely to occur at the bridge. On the third night, Naruto had an altercation with Tazuna-san's grandson. In his anger Naruto told the boy off and stomped out the house to cool off."
For an instant the hokage had a horrible feeling that Naruto's anger towards Sasuke may have to do with that child. If Sasuke had killed the boy... Naruto's anger would have been uncontainable.
"Naruto," said Kakashi, "please tell the hokage about your encounter in the forest."
Naruto growled at Sasuke before turning towards the hokage and took a few very deep breaths in a poor attempt to calm himself. "I trained that night, probably too hard. I fell asleep out there. When I woke up the next morning there was a girl standing over me, she woke me actually." Naruto paused as his breath shuddered slightly. "Haku was nice. She told me she was out there picking herbs to help a sick friend. I helped her out. We talked, and eventually she asked about what I was doing there. I told her I needed to get stronger. Then she said something I don't think I'll ever forget. She said that a person is strongest when they have someone precious to protect, and it made sense to me. I really understood it just then. I found a truth in her words, I felt them in here," he clutched his chest and heart, "and then she left. Shocked me though when as she left she said she was actually a boy. I'm still confused on that one."
The hokage chuckled at Naruto's joke. Then he noticed Naruto suddenly become much more serious and the anger and killing intent he suddenly started radiating again startled him.
Kakashi put a gentle hand on Naruto's shoulder causing the boy to calm and settle for glaring at Sasuke once more.
"It was five days after that Zabuza attacked," said Kakashi. "Just as in the first fight Naruto erected his barriers around the client and Sakura. But because of the presence of the oinin I authorized Naruto to give full assistance to Uchiha-san in confronting him."
"Uchiha-san will report what happened next," said Kakashi.
"I engaged the oinin first in taijutsu to gauge his speed and strength. He was slightly faster but my Sharingan gave me an edge in dealing with him. We were in a stalemate momentarily when he used a hyoton jutsu with one handed seals," explained Sasuke as clinical as possible. "Uzumaki-san provided ranged support as best he could. He sent in multiple clones and provided substitutions as needed to avoid any possible lethal blows. Eventually the oinin was able to erect some manner of ice mirror barrier trapping me inside and making himself untouchable from the outside. The oinin's speed increased dramatically, even though my Sharingan could see and anticipate the attacks I did not possess the speed to dodge all of the hits.
"Uzumaki-san, in what I believe was frustration, came inside the mirrors eventually to attempt to assist. He did surprisingly well in avoiding the oinin's senbon. Unfortunately the oinin finally managed to hit me in the neck placing me, I believe, a similar deathlike state as he did to Zabuza on our first encounter."
"Naruto, please pick up the story here," interrupted Kakashi.
"When that... when he went down I thought for a minute I'd lost a teammate. Someone I am supposed to protect and be able to trust and rely on. I used... that," said Naruto giving the hokage a poignant look that spoke volumes.
"I see," said the hokage giving Kakashi a glance before looking back to Naruto.
"What?" asked Sakura letting her curiosity get the better of her.
"Naruto, you really should tell your team at the very least," said Kakashi calmly.
Naruto looked up at Kakashi before looking back at the hokage.
"It's okay Naruto," said the hokage.
Naruto then shook his head and glared at Sasuke. "Not him!"
Kakashi sighed. "This will not end well."
"Very well, Naruto continue your story without the classified details," said the hokage.
Sasuke then began to leak a very subtle killing intent sparking Naruto to unleash his own directed back.
"Enough, both of you," ordered Kakashi harshly.
"I defeated the oinin, tied and bound him including a chakra seal I had learned that week," said Naruto in almost a growl. "He was no longer a threat. I carried him over by Sakura and put him inside another barrier setup both inner and outer.
"I did my best to stay out of the way until the fog cleared. When it did Kakashi-sensei had killed Zabuza. Seeing everything clear I canceled all my clones and let the various barriers drop. Sakura-chan went to check on Sasuke. When she said he was alive I felt relieved. It was then that Gato showed up with an army of goons and cheap ass samurai."
"It should be mentioned that while all of this was happening Naruto's clones had prevented a kidnapping attempt on Inari and Tsunami," added Kakashi.
"Continue," said Sarutobi.
"Meanwhile, back on the bridge Naruto's clones and I decimated Gato's goons. I personally killed Gato," explained Kakashi setting three additional scrolls on the hokage's desk.
Kakashi nudged Naruto to continue.
"I thought it was over, I thought we won," said Naruto bitterly. "When I went back check on my prisoner I arrived just in time to see Sasuke kill him. He just slit his throat. He was already beaten. He was captured and he... He just killed him for no reason. But the look in Sasuke's eye, it was sick and then Sasuke just started stabbing the dead oinin over and over again. Kakashi-sensei finally pulled Sasuke off. The mask had fallen off the oinin at some point. It was Haku." Naruto could hardly hold back his tears.
"He was my enemy," said Sasuke coolly. "We were told to give no quarter."
"We were told to capture if possible!" shouted Naruto barely restraining himself.
Sasuke blatantly ignored him reverting into his darker self.
"Sasuke did exceed his mission authority," said Kakashi.
"Did the boy, Haku, have any value?" asked Sarutobi.
"It is highly likely he had information from his association with Zabuza. Which means information on Kiri," said Kakashi sadly.
Sarutobi frowned. "You will be reprimanded in your record and you forfeit all mission pay."
Sasuke clicked his tongue arrogantly. Then he had the most intense and massive killing intent he'd ever felt concentrated on him by the hokage. He saw his death several times over.
Sakura meanwhile fainted dead away.
Naruto didn't even flinch, which surprised Kakashi and the hokage both.
"Know your place genin," said Sarutobi not so calmly. "You are also suspended from team 7 for 3 weeks effective immediately." He then took a piece of paper and wrote something down before putting it in an envelope and stamping it with the hokage's seal. He then handed the envelope to Sasuke. "Report to Danzo immediately and give him that."
Sasuke took the envelope without a word and walked away.
Once the door closed Sarutobi let out a sigh. "That boy is a problem."
Naruto though was still angry. "That's it? A slap on the wrist?"
"He failed to follow orders," said Sarutobi. "That is the maximum punishment I can give him. Killing a foreign shinobi, prisoner or not is not a crime."
"That's crap jiji," said Naruto unhappily.
"I agree, it is crap," said Sarutobi. "But the law exists for a reason. Our rules of conduct exist for a reason."
"But you're hokage, you make the rules," said Naruto.
"If only that were true Naruto-kun," said Sarutobi. "I'm sorry you had to lose someone who inspired you so. It's not fair. But that doesn't change the value of his words to you. It doesn't change your truth."
Naruto looked down sadly. "I can't trust him ever again, can I?"
"That's for you to decide," said Kakashi. "But remember my speech to you on your first day. When we're on a mission it is important you set aside your personal feelings to get the job done."
"I know, but this isn't about personal feelings. He can't be trusted. He didn't follow your orders. He also killed someone that was not a threat. What's to stop him from putting the kunai in me or Sakura-chan's back next time?" Naruto argued back.
Sarutobi sighed heavily. "You make a valid point Naruto-kun. But I would ask you give him one more chance. The chuunin selection exam is coming soon and I won't be able to find you a suitable replacement in time if I were to remove him. Do you think you can deal with him until then?"
Naruto actually thought about it for a few minutes before answering. "I suppose but I'll tell you now, if he tries to hurt me or Sakura-chan I'll kill him where he stands."
"Agreed," said Sarutobi without pause or thought. "Now Kakashi, please wake your other student. Naruto, you said you'd tell her about your secret."
"Do I have to?" asked Naruto nervously. Now that the issue with Sasuke had been addressed he felt relief. It was even more so now that Sasuke was no longer around. That anger he had felt was now just sadness for the lost 'almost' friend.
"It would help you more than you know if you did," said Sarutobi in his normal grandfatherly way that tended to make Naruto feel guilty even when he hadn't actually done anything.
"Fine, but if she hates me I'm blaming you," said Naruto grouchily.
"She won't," said Sarutobi. "Try to have a little faith in your teammate."
Naruto glared at Sarutobi with one raised eyebrow as if to say, 'didn't we just go over that'.
"Welcome back Sakura-chan," said Sarutobi. "I'm sorry about earlier. Uchiha crossed a line."
"I understand Hokage-sama," said Sakura nervously as she noticed Sasuke was no longer in the room.
"Anyway, Naruto here has something he'd like to discuss with you," said Sarutobi leaving no room for Naruto to wriggle out of it anymore.
"So, earlier I told them I used 'that'. And we basically skipped over what 'that' is," began Naruto.
"So what is 'that'?"
"This is going to suck," whined Naruto pulling his hair and scratching his head suddenly. "Okay, so I have kyuubi sealed in me," he blurted with a cringe.
"Huh?" asked Sakura confused. "But I thought Yondaime-sama..."
"You can't kill them," said Naruto. "Kami I wish you could."
"Is that why you get those stares?" asked Sakura.
"Yeah, unfortunately," said Naruto with a sigh. "Dumb-asses, don't know the difference between me and demon. Like pissing me off if I was a demon is a great idea."
"People are stupid Naruto," said Kakashi. "They are little more than cattle when given a little information and no comprehension."
"But you and jiji aren't stupid," defended Naruto.
"A person is smart, people are stupid," said Kakashi reiterating his point. "One person can understand something and have it explained. People hear something and tend to talk and distort and make a complete mess of the truth."
"That sucks," complained Naruto.
"Agreed," said Kakashi and the hokage at the same time.
"So Naruto has the kyuubi sealed in him but he gets treated like he is the kyuubi?" asked Sakura still trying to process the information.
"Exactly," said Kakashi and the hokage once more in sync.
"That's awful," said Sakura indignantly on behalf of her teammate.
"Thank you! I've been saying that all along," said Naruto loudly and very proud of his teammate for coming to that conclusion.
"So, on the bridge, that really horrible feeling..." said Sakura with a shiver.
"Yeah, that was me using its chakra. I've never done that before. It was... Weird," explained Naruto. After a pause he shivered once more. "I was so powerful but I was also so angry... So much anger and hatred in its chakra. I think I'm going to have to be very careful using it in the future. I think if I used too much I might lose myself to it. It's really kind of scary now that I think about it."
"That is very wise of you Naruto-kun," said Sarutobi feeling proud of his young genin. "However, you're going to have to learn to use its power Naruto. Never waste a resource."
Naruto nodded once understanding completely.
"Anyway, you and Kakashi can work on that later. Sakura-chan, I hope you understand that this knowledge of Naruto-kun is very highly classified. Revealing this information to anyone is punishable by death."
Sakura nodded once. It was yet another burden she would have to carry, another secret to bury deep.
"The five scrolls are the heads of the four shinobi we killed and the body of Gato. I figure you can send an infiltration specialist posing as Gato and clean the little fucker's accounts out. Maybe get us out from under the civilian council's financial thumb so to speak. The bounties on the others will be split with my team."
Sarutobi nodded once. "Congratulations you two on your first A-rank completion. Go see the quartermaster for you pay disbursement. You'll get your bounty disbursement in a week."
"Later jiji," said Naruto feeling a lot better.
BREAK
Sasuke was fuming mad when he reached Danzo. He'd never been so humiliated and that fool hokage had only made it worse by punishing him. He couldn't let that... That... Haku live. He'd had the gall to think he could defeat an Uchiha. That couldn't have gone unpunished. Sasuke did what was right.
Sasuke handed the letter to Danzo roughly. While Danzo read, Sasuke stood there stewing in his rage.
"Clearly our training needs to be stepped up," said Danzo burning the letter in an ashtray on his desk. "You're mine for the next three weeks. Let's see if we can't fix your issues with following orders."
Sasuke had a black hood draped over his head a moment later followed by harsh hit to the head leaving him unconscious.