Crafty Chameleon

The News

There was a large mob of angry villagers and ninja surrounding a small apartment that was on fire.

"DIE DEMON SCUM!" A villager screamed.

"The demon can't get out right?" Another villager asked.

One ninja smirked, "No way, we sealed him inside this time. He won't get out."

"Ha good! Let the demon burn!"

*hiss*crackle*pop*hiss*snap*sizzle*crack*

Were the sounds given off by the big pile of burnt debris after burning for an hour. The mob broke apart and went their separate ways. No one saw a small soot covered mouse scramble out of the debris and scurry away.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the Sarutobi compound Hiruzen and Danzo were enjoying cup of tea and a game of chess.

"Ahh what a lovely day." Sarutobi said.

Danzo hummed in agreement as he sacrificed his pawn, "It's hard to believe Naruto has been a member of my ROOT division for 7 years now and it has nothing to do with those bloodlines."

"That's right, he tries not to use his bloodlines during his missions so he won't become dependent on them ... you know, Orochimaru still feels bad about that, right?"

Danzo sighed, "I know, he asked me to run background checks again which is a good practice anyway, but he's clearly still freaked out about what happened to Naruto when he was 8 ... he shouldn't blame himself though, no one could've known that that nutcase scientist would make his lab air tight so he could gas and abducted Naruto so he could use him as a subject in his sick experiments ... I think finding Naruto floating in that large capsule was the scariest thing I've seen ... "

Hiruzen nodded, "For me too and Naruto would be dead if Orochimaru didn't stabilize him in time ... at least, one good thing came from that. Those bloodlines are impressive."

"Which one do you think is more impressive?The Ghost bloodline, a bloodline that allows Naruto to faze through solid objects and turn invisible. It's very draining, but useful in small amounts. Mimic, a bloodline that gives Naruto the ability see when someone has a bloodline and let him copy it or turn it off or destroy it. It's also very draining, but useful too. Or the Shifter, a bloodline that gives you the actual ability to shape shift using either a sample of DNA as blueprint or his imagination to change into whatever he wants with chakra and calories as the only limitations?"

Hiruzen chuckled, "They are all incredible so it's hard to chose ... you know, I think it's not the bloodlines at all that impress me, but how Naruto handles them. I mean he has all these bloodlines and has yet to become arrogant like most people would with only one bloodline."

Just then Orochimaru entered the house carrying a stack of papers.

"Hey Danzo, Father, I have the reports for all experiments here ... umm Danzo are you sure all of these scientists are ... sane?" He asked his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who adopted him when his parents died, which is way he calls Hiruzen father. Orochimaru then adopted Naruto.

Danzo chuckled, "Yes, Orochimaru. My ROOT anbu investigated each one. They're all clean."

"Squeak squeak." Danzo, Hiruzen, and Orochimaru all turned to see a small black mouse bounding toward them leaving a trail of soot behind him. They knew who it was.

"You better wash those paws before you come inside, Naruto." The mouse skidded to a stop at Hiruzen's comment and checked his paws. He gave a shocked squeak when he saw that he was covered in soot and ash and he quickly scurried over to the small pond on the Sarutobi property. With a little plop he jumped in. There was something hysterical about a mouse doing the butterfly stroke.