Title: Otokoyo

Fandom: Naruto

Prompt: Anonymous prompt from naruto_meme, "Every year the word spreads among the children of one of the largest cities of Fire Country about the greatest game of Hide and Seek. If you go into the old, abandoned section of the city you'll find the people in white masks, and if you can hide from them until the sun rises you get a wonderful prize." Said prompt was inspired by OVA movie, "Kakurenbo".

Disclaimer: This story takes place before the series began but after the nine-tales attack. Oh, and I do not own Naruto. Seriously.

Chapter 1: A Dangerous Game

There are many stories that float around in the village of Konoha, and one of the oldest among them is the game of Otokoyo. Otokoyo, a game of hide and seek, is one of the most popular tales told among the genin. It is said that there exists a well hidden playground for ANBU; an abandoned section of the village where ANBU may do as they please. Once a year at the stroke of midnight, when the game of Otokoyo is called, their playground is open to all the genin who wish to play. If you can hide from them until sunrise, you'll win a wonderful prize. Many joke that the prize is your life. Some say the prize is unmasking a person in ANBU. Others suspect that there truly is no prize to gain, and that it is only a way to lure children in.

No one knows what the truth may be.

No one has ever won their game.

Ready or not...Here we come

Umino Iruka was thirteen years old when he first heard the story of Otokoyo. Most genin first hear the illustrious tale when they are in the Academy. The story would create such excitement and enthusiasm towards graduation that it was one of the main things young shinobi look forward to once they were genin.

"How is it that you've never heard the stories until now?" Kamizuki Izumo, one of Iruka's teammates, leaned against the tree as he took a bite of an apple.

from atop the tree branch, Iruka shrugged. "I just never bothered to pay attention to the stories. A lot of them are just that: Stories. Besides, I was busy with other things back then."

Izumo said nothing at first. Thinking back to their days in the Academy, Iruka was a troublemaker—making a fool of himself and causing chaos with the pranks he'd set up. When Izumo and their friend and teammate, Hagane Kotetsu, had become close enough to Iruka, Iruka had revealed that, back then, he was just in a very bad place since the Kyuubi attack. His behavior and the pranks were just a way for him to gain the attention he wanted and to temporarily forget the pain. Iruka never said anything more than that. Although it was no secret to Izumo and Kotetsu that he withheld many of his thoughts, especially about his parents.

"That's right. You always had some prank planned. But now, you've passed that and even gotten a little serious." Izumo grinned up at his friend. "Sandaime must be happy now that you've stopped your pranks."

"Oh!" Iruka grinned back with a devious glint in his eyes. "You think I've stopped with my pranks now, have you?"

Izumo stopped mid-bite on the apple he was eating at that comment. He looked at Iruka and back at the half-eaten apple, his eyes widened at the thought. "You didn't—Did you? Iruka! Come on, Iruka! Tell me! This isn't funny."

And despite saying that, he ended up laughing along with Iruka.

There was a small chill in the autumn air as the two of them waited under the tree at the training grounds. They were waiting for Kotestu, who had a bad habit of sleeping in. Thankfully for him, their jounin instructor had given them a break for today at the very last minute. So while waiting for their very late friend, the two of them had settled under the tree and talked.

"You know, Otokoyo isn't just a story." Izumo looked up at Iruka, frowning at the obvious doubt written on his face. "It's real."

"It sounds like a myth, 'zumo."

Now there was a look of desperation in his eyes. "It's true! Anko even said she was able to join Otokoyo once during her genin years!"

"And you believe that?"

"What reason does she have to lie about this?"

"I wouldn't know. I'll believe it when I see it for myself. Besides, what would ANBU want to do with us genin? It sounds like an unfair advantage if you ask me!"

Neither said anything more the moment they felt a small shift in their surroundings. Quick heavy steps were approaching them quickly. It didn't alarm either of them at the very least. Past the training dummies, a familiar spiky haired genin came running with his single bandage strip over his face threatening to fly off. Their very late teammate then began to shout their names at the top of his lungs.

"You don't need to shout, 'Tetsu. We could hear you coming from a mile away." Iruka grinned and waved at his fellow teammate. Once Kotetsu got closer, he jumped down from the tree, dusting off his behind of any stray debris.

Crossing his arms indignantly, Kotetsu stuck his tongue out at Iruka. "Hey, you better not be calling me fat. I'm not fat like the Akimichi clan!"

Izumo frantically looked around and hissed, "Don't say that out loud. You don't want any of them to hear you now, do you?!"

"In fact, you really shouldn't say that at all, 'Tetsu." Iruka scolded with a small frown on his face before lightly bopping Kotetsu on the head as punishment. Kotetsu had the decency to look sheepish as he murmured a small apology. Iruka asked, "So what's the big rush? You know 'zumo and I are still going to be here."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about making you guys wait." He clapped both his hand together in front of him, signaling an apology. "Anyway, I came here rushing once I heard the news that the game is on!"

"The game?" The other two asked in unison.

"Otokoyo!"

At this point, Izumo's eyes widened; his entire body tense with excitement. "How? When?"

Kotetsu's eyes sparkled with excitement, ready to relay the exciting news upon his teammates. "There was a blank scroll left behind near the Academy grounds. Tenchi-sensei asked Rika—Remember Rika? Isshou Rika? She graduated with us. Anyway he gave it to Rika 'cuz she was around when he found it, and he thought it belonged to her. Ends up that it wasn't hers, but she took it anyway 'cuz it's still useful, and you know how she is about being practical and not wasting things. Blah blah blah. Man, I remembered how back at the Academy—"

At this point, Izumo took his friend by the shoulders and shook him. "'Tetsu! You're babbling! Tell us! Otokoyo?!"

"Ah right. Sorry. So she took it, right? And when she took a look at the scroll, there was writing!" Izumo gasped at this point. "Right?! The scroll had instructions on how to join the game. And apparently the writing would only appear when it's a genin. Hayate was with her when she wanted to test it. If a chuunin or even a jounin is around or anyone not a genin opens it, it's blank!"

"Fake." Iruka deadpanned.

Izumo spun around with wide eyes. "What!"

Kotetsu disputed, "But even Hayate saw the scroll himself! It's real!"

"'Tetsu, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but it sounds like a prank to me." Iruka patted Kotetsu on the shoulder. "As a Class A Prankster myself, I would've used the rumor, planted that scroll, have the genin come out at night, and I scare them."

"But Iruka—the scroll was blank until Rika touched it!"

"Being able to seal the contents of the scroll and have it reveal specifically only to genin. That takes quite a bit of power and control to ensure no one but genin sees the contents." Izumo added after much contemplation over Iruka's accusation.

Kotetsu nodded vigorously. "Yeah! It just screams 'ANBU' to me."

Exasperated, Iruka crossed his arms. "I'm sure it's not ANBU. If anything it's a trick by the jounins to get us to learn to work together more."

"Come on, Iruka! Let's go! It's ANBU! No one ever gets to see ANBU face to face!"

"You mean face-to-mask?" Izumo pursed his lips. "Maybe Iruka is right. It's probably fake. I mean it's ANBU. They'd kill us!"

"See 'zumo gets it," Iruka said.

With a groan, Kotetsu threw his hands up in the air. "Aww, you're both just too chicken to go!"

Iruka pursed his lips and said nothing more. Being "chicken," as Kotetsu says, was far from Iruka's reason to not join. The game of Otokoyo made no sense to him. Why would a bunch of elite shinobi want to play with mere genin? Sure, genin were no less than ANBU in his opinion, but in terms of skill? They were far from being equals. It had to be a hoax. Still, Iruka didn't explain his reasoning. He knew better than to take on Kotetsu's bait. But Izumo, on the other hand—

"I'm not chicken!" His hands were on his hips, glaring down Kotetsu.

There was a wide grin on the bandaged genin's face. He knew how to reel Izumo into his plans. "Prove it then. Come with me and we'll win in Otokoyo together!"

"Fine! I will!"

Iruka sighed. Now it's two against one. I better go before they drag me along.

While his distracted teammates talked about the facts of the game and the clues that would lead them to the secret location, Iruka slowly retreated. By the time either of them would look back at Iruka, he'd be long gone.

Ready or not...Here we come

It was nightfall by the time Iruka finished the last of his chores at the market district in Konoha. With two large bags of groceries in his arms, Iruka walked through the vast crowd that had gathered in the district. There were some people who passed him and called him over for a small chat. Exhausted from the day, Iruka politely declined and tried to hurry home. The young genin had spent most of the day getting his eagerly persistent teammates off his back about joining Otokoyo. No matter how many times he had told them he wasn't interested in wasting time chasing a hoax, they didn't listen. Luckily for him, their patience had run out long before his ever did.

If they tried any longer, I probably would have given in. Iruka thought before looking down at his chest. Around his neck was a silver chain holding two dog tags that he held dear: a memento of his parents. And I probably wouldn't have had the time to visit the monument today.

Iruka reached the end of the market district with a sigh of relief. He once again looked down at his treasured keepsake. There was a ghost of a smile at the memory of his parents before his lips began to hum a tune. Earlier, there had been a catchy jingle playing on one of the vendors' radio. Although Iruka was unfamiliar with its name, the tune had trapped itself in his head.

The walk home wasn't too far from the market district. As soon as he made his way up the stairs to the floor of his apartment, Iruka jostled the bags into one arm while his free hand searched his pocket for the keys. The clinking of his keys cried out their existence, but for the life of him, he somehow couldn't get himself to dig the keys out of the abyss that was his pocket. After much struggling, Iruka growled in frustration and precariously dropped the groceries onto the floor. What he hadn't realized at that moment was that his chain around his neck had snagged onto one of the items protruding from the bags. The sudden jerk had caused the clasp of the chain to snap and the momentum forced it over the railing.

"Ah!" His hand reached out to grab them, but it still had evaded his grasp. He watched the dog tags twinkle under the moonlight before it fell onto the ground floor with a small clunk.

It was fortunate that the streets were empty. If it had been busy, the search for the tags would have proved difficult. A sigh of relief escaped his lips at the fortunate circumstances. He swung his legs over the railing and carefully landed onto the ground floor. The dog tags continued to twinkle under the light of the moon.

As he reached out to grab the tags, there was a flash of white before a creature snatched them away. Iruka squawked and fell onto his butt. Alarmed, he pulled out his kunai and readied himself for an attack. When he looked up to locate his enemy, all he saw was an odd creature shadowed in the darkness. It made no sound, and Iruka couldn't even figure out where the eyes were or if it even had eyes for that matter. He tried to make out what exactly he was going against—a wolf, dog, tiger—but he still couldn't tell. The only sure thing was that between the creature's teeth were his parents' dog tags.

After what felt like several minutes, Iruka warily stood. His eyes were glued onto the strange creature in the shadows. So far, the creature was still and silent. Although shadowed, Iruka could sense that it was on guard, as if expecting an attack. If he listened closely enough, he could catch the soft panting of the animal and the chinking of the tags against its teeth. Iruka's teeth grazed his bottom lip in contemplation. Those tags were an important part of him. He needed them back.

"Hey," Iruka cautiously raised one hand out as a way to placate the animal, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need those tags you have in your mouth."

Even though he couldn't see the creature's face, he was sure that it was looking at him strangely. It didn't matter to Iruka. He was just grateful that the creature had not thought about mauling the poor genin. Suddenly, the creature turned its head behind him, as if listening to a conversation. The tags once again escaping Iruka's grasp.

"H-hey!" There was a howl in the distance. Without another glance at Iruka, the creature ran off with the tags still in its mouth.

"Come back here!" Iruka yelled out, quickly chasing after the creature.

The creature, Iruka had finally identified as a dog, was quick and darted through several alleyways and districts. This dog was either determined to lose the genin chasing its tail or quickly reach its destination. Either way, Iruka never lost sight of it. With playing pranks and running from his pursuers back in his academy days, it was no trouble at all chasing down this accursed dog holding ransom his precious keepsake. It was one of the few mementos he had of his parents. And he'd be damned if he'd ever lose even one of them—especially to some damn mutt.

Iruka continually chased the dog around every corner. Each time he was close to grabbing that mutt by its fluffy tail, it would suddenly evade his grasp. Iruka would yell profanities at the dog with intermittent moments of cajoling it with a nice bellyrub or a juicy steak. Still, the mutt continued its course with Iruka's pleas left on deaf ears. Finally the dog started to slow as it sauntered through a narrow pathway.

"Gotcha!" Iruka leaped to tackle the dog down for the tags. Yet, before the poor boy could even grab hold of the tags, the dog disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Dammit!"

"Iruka?" At the sound of his name, Iruka looked up to find Kotetsu and Izumo waving back at him from the clearing.

Iruka furrowed his brows. "Tetsu? 'Zumo?"

Where the heck am I?

It was at this moment Iruka took a chance to look at his surroundings. Right through the narrow alleyway, he found himself standing in an open area illuminated by lanterns. The entire clearing was surrounded by walls except for the alleyway he had come from and the strange, decrepit building before him. There were no windows that indicated it was a home of some sort; only two large red double doors possibly leading to one's doom by the ominous feeling Iruka had by staring at them. Strange statues of portentous creatures stood alongside the entrance under red arches which only seemed to perpetuate the idea that one should never go beyond the doors. However, it did not explain why there were many young shinobi standing before those very doors. Iruka recognized some from his Academy days, and others he was sure that were in other genin teams he saw in the mission room once or twice. This still didn't answer where exactly he was. Iruka didn't pay attention to where he was going and now ended up near some terrifying haunted house.

"Hey! Iruka!" His friends ran over to him.

"I thought you weren't interested in joining in the game!" Izumo tilted his head.

Iruka blinked. "I'm not."

This time Kotetsu interjected, arching a brow. "So why are you here?"

Oh no this isn't… Iruka looked back at the crowd of kids and his friends. Apparently there were more children who believed in this hoax than Iruka hoped.

"No, no, no. I am not going to play into some stupid prank." He needed to find that dog. That stupid four-legged mutt that stole his parents' dog tags. "Did you see a dog around here? He has something of mine."

"A dog?" Izumo and Kotetsu glanced at one another before Kotetsu answered for them both. "No. We haven't seen one. But since you're here, you should just stay and join in. There are a lot of us this year. It's going to be really fun."

"Um…," Iruka glanced around the clearing once more, spotting the familiar few genin earlier. Gekkou Hayate stood alongside his long-time crush Uzuki Yuugao. Yuugao was the easiest to point out with her straight purple hair. He saw Mizuki with an arrogant grin on his face as he was bragged about winning the game to one of the girls. There was Isshou Rika fiddling with her kunai holster hanging around her hips while a couple of her friends chattered about Otokoyo. Everyone there was nervous and excited, pondering the secrets behind this special game.

A dark howl echoed, silencing all the genin. They looked around frantically for the sound. The howling only reminded Iruka of his parents' missing dog tags.

"I should go. I really need to find that damn dog." Iruka turned around to exit through the alleyway he entered from, only to find that it wasn't there.

There was only gray monotonous concrete.

"But…I was just—how?!" Iruka touched the concrete, hoping to unlock its secret and open up for him. With his clenched fists, he pounded on the wall. "Hey! I need to get out! Hey!"

"Iruka…look." Kotetsu's voice shook slightly.

"Not now, 'Tetsu. I really need to get out of here and find that dog."

"But," This time it was Izumo, "ANBU."

No…it couldn't be true. Iruka slowly turned around, and saw there was indeed ANBU standing in front of the red double doors. The porcelain masks they wore were painted in ribbons of crimson shaping a single unique persona. Five personas stood: Fox, Tortoise, Tiger, Falcon, and the Hound.

Hound…

The Hound was the most recent addition to the ANBU forces. His skills and mission-success rate in the elites had spread around the mission room and branched out that even civilians knew of him. Iruka and his teammates overheard a couple of jounin gossip about how captivated they were at the Hound's speed and abilities, but at the same time expressed their intimidation towards him. He was a legend, but no one ever wanted to be around the shinobi's presence. The ANBU gave off such a cold feeling; his killing intent, even if wasn't towards you, only seem to suffocate anyone nearby.

There were some whispers among the genin, but no one dared to move. Everyone watched and waited as the elites glanced around at the children.

"Looks like we have a better turn out this year." A deep gruff voice emanated from Tortoise.

There was a womanly sinful hum of amusement from Fox that brought shivers down their spines. "Hopefully this lot will provide a more interesting hunt than the last batch."

"Ah, there are some stragglers." Tiger announced as he eyed the three genin far off from the rest of the group.

Falcon scoffed. "Maybe they've become frightened at the sight of us. They should back down then."

Hound followed Tiger's gaze towards Iruka and his team. He lifted one hand towards the three, palm upwards, and beckoned them over by curling four of his fingers towards him in a slow single motion. Kotetsu and Izumo didn't budge; their fear immobilizing them. Their legs glued to the very spot they stood upon. Although Iruka didn't want to be here at all, he wasn't going to show fear.

Falcon thought he wanted to back out because he was scared?

Iruka would show him. He was a rebel like that. Forcing his own legs to move, he walked between his friends towards the crowd. "Come on."

Startled out of their thoughts, Kotetsu and Izumo quickly followed, gathering together with the other genin. The elite shinobis looked around once more before the Hound stepped forward and spoke. His cold low voice struck fear into everyone's hearts.

"Beyond these doors is where the game of Otokoyo shall take place. You will have a ten minute head start before it begins." Hound paused, looking around the children as if expecting a response. "The rules are simple. Run and hide before sunrise. You're allowed to weapons and any jutsus you have at your disposal. ANBU will not use any weapons or jutsus of any kind."

"That's pretty dangerous." Everyone glanced at Mizuki. His sardonic tone and haughty smirk directed at the ANBU. "What if we were to accidentally kill you?"

Tortoise shook his head, obviously amused. "You won't kill us, genin."

Mizuki jumped at the warm breath against the back of his neck. The other genin around him gasped at the sight of Fox. No one had seen Fox move. She whispered to Mizuki, "It's you who should be afraid that we could accidentally kill you."

Fox jumped away, her mischievous laughter echoing throughout the clearing. From her pouch, she held up a couple of tags that had strange writing on it. "As Hound said before, we will not use weapons or jutsus of any kind. Our goal is to catch you before sunset. We will place a tag upon your person and send you out of the game. If you're not caught once the sun has risen, you win."

Hound began, "So it's time—"

"Ah—um!" Iruka instantly shot his hand up, catching Hound's attention. "Can we still leave if we don't wish to play, Hound-san?"

Hound didn't say anything, but tilt his head at Iruka. Before Iruka could utter another word, the ANBU appeared only inches in front of him. He blinked at the sudden proximity between him and the deadly assassin. At this distance, Iruka noticed that Hound was not that much taller than him. In fact by his built, Hound was probably not that much older either. Iruka glanced at the silver hair that seem to defy gravity and wondered if there was any shinobi he knew that matched Hound's identity. By now, the silence was becoming unnerving to Iruka. Maybe Hound had not heard him right. That was probably the reason why the assassin had come so close to him. Iruka opened his mouth to repeat the question.

Hound interrupted, "I heard you."

He can read my mind?

"I can't read your mind. You're just disturbingly easy to read for a shinobi." There was no amusement in his voice.

"Hey!" Iruka fumed. "I may only be a genin but—"

"Are you afraid, genin?"

Iruka narrowed his eyes at the insinuation. ANBU or not, Iruka didn't like being looked down upon. "No. I just have better things to do, Hound-san."

Hound leaned forward so close to Iruka that he was forced to lean back to accommodate. Iruka might have been afraid, but there was no killing intent emanating from the assassin. In fact, Iruka was pretty sure that he was playing around with him, trying to make him feel small. And if, in fact, this was Hound's way to intimidate him, he was certainly going about it the wrong way. Iruka continued to narrow his eyes at Hound as he once again tilted his head. "I'm afraid it's too late, genin. It's almost midnight. The game is about to begin."

Before Iruka could protest, Hound and the other masked shinobi were gone in a shroud of smoke.

A/N: Hope you guys like it so far. I'm almost finished with the second chapter. :) Please review.