Things Change [Naruto AU]

7

««« A/N - The kids in this chapter are about 14 years old. »»»

A boy hid in the shadows beside a very large building. He also hid his chakra so that he wouldn't be noticed. He was doing a good job too. He spied on the occupants of the building, they hadn't caught onto his presence yet. He smirked and listened to the conversation going on inside. It was the Kazekage and a Hidden Leaf shinobi discussing plans of chunin exams.

It had been close to a year ago when the plans for the exams were supposed to take place but complications postponed it. The boy stayed by the room with the Kazekage long after the shinobi left even though he should have relayed the info. After that an assassin of the Sand arrived as expected from the boy. The boy had spied on the Kage long enough to know his intentions during the chunin exams, he planned to kill the Hokage and pin the murder on the jinchuuriki that was to take the exams there. It had been a sound plan and from the meetings he spied he knew that everything would be perfect for them only if the boy wasn't listening and going to interfere.

The boy finally left the shadows and walked down an abandoned street, the moonlight showed off his midnight hair as well as the blood red clouds on the large cloak he wore. Silver shined brightly on his forehead and revealed the Hidden Leaf headband only different, it had a large line cut through the symbol. When he arrived at his destination it was a small rented house that he shared with two others who wore similar cloaks to his own and the same headbands with cuts. He grabbed a cup of water and sat down to discuss his findings to the pair that stayed in the house.

"The usual Kage stuff, a talk with a Leaf shinobi about the exams, and then a talk with an assassin over his son." Sasuke said simply. The blonde nodded and thought for a moment.

"What's the definite plan that they are going with?" Sakura asked. She had cut her hair to her shoulders after they left their village. It was a change to prove herself different from before.

"They plan to antagonize the boy and put him into tail beast mode, get the Hokage over there to fix it and let him die. They then plan to get the boy killed by blaming the murder on him and getting a stronger jinchuuriki." Sasuke said. It was a barbaric plan, that's why they were going to intervene.

Instead of Gaara being brought back to his village they planned to tell him the truth and let him join Akatsuki. This also applied to all of the Sand Siblings as well, they may follow their brother if they knew the plans that were made against him but then again they may fight back.

"That's all we need to know. Let's go to our hideout near the Leaf. The chunin exams are soon, we need to be close and ready." Naruto said while standing and going outside, leaving the two alone. The pair looked at each other for a little while until the pink haired girl turned away and blushed causing Sasuke to smirk. They got close after they left but never intended to get too romantically involved, that may jeopardize their big plan. Instead they just did small things now and then, this being an example.

The next night the three ran out of the village unnoticed with straw hats on their heads to obscure their faces if they were seen. It took two days to reach the hideout that Naruto spoke of and when they arrived they relaxed before deciding on business. After a well deserved sleep they started to take things serious.

"So we wait in the village until the one tail attacks, then..." Naruto said waiting for his comrades to finish.

"I go and break into the scrolls room with the hand signs you taught me and take the scrolls on all of our old classmates and their clans including anything suspicious." Sakura said with an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"I help Sakura out and kill any shinobi who tries to stop her or who raises alarm. I'll also meet with my spy down and give him new instructions." Sasuke said with a voice of less interest.

"Good, and I'll help Gaara out and stop the tailed beast after it kills the Hokage. Then I'll try to convince him and his siblings to join us." Naruto said with a monotone voice. They had changed a lot. After they left they needed to earn money and fast. They mainly took mercenary jobs and assassinations as well as some espionage. They came accustomed to murder than before when they were true Leaf shinobi. None of them would be surprised if they appeared in a bingo book or on wanted posters for bounty.

They stayed at their hideout for a week until the ninjas from other villages started to arrive for the beginning stages. They snuck into the village and spied on the those who entered. They also checked on the progress of those who were young inside the village, this included the other ninja in their class and even the Third Hokage's grandson. They even enjoyed watching the exams from afar and placed small bets on winners and losers of events. This continued until they had reached the part of the plan that would rock the village to its core.

««« End of Chapter 7 »»»