It began when he was four and dying. He was out in the shadier districts of town, trying to find a shelter for the night. The paper lanterns glowed faintly in the sky, seemingly far away in the fogginess of the night. The sounds of drunken singing and hollering permeated the air.
Two men, stumbling in the darkness, hands filled with cups of their liquid courage, stepped out into the nearby light of a flickering lantern. Their eyes were unfocused, but they immediately realized that they were not alone –and just who was in the alleyway with them.
"Look," the first sneered, pulling his lips back, spittle flying. "Look who we've found!"
The other giggled, peering at their catch with bloodshot eyes. Naruto flinched back, twisting his fingers through the rough material of his rags. The two men took two swaggering steps forwards, and Naruto took two hesitant steps back.
The two men kept advancing, and Naruto kept backing up. With every step, Naruto's heart constricted in fear. His eyes dilated. He tried to run, but his legs were wooden and would not move. Like clockwork, the two men kept advancing, and Naruto kept backing up.
And then his back hit a cold brick wall.
Naruto's spindly arms flew into motion. He whirled around, trying to find a way out. He turned panicked eyes left and right. There was nowhere to go. He turned back around, and there they were. Looming above him.
By the dim light of the moon he could see his terrified reflection off the sharp black blade one of the men held in his hands. The other was cracking his knuckles, a crick crack that made Naruto shudder and realize: he was going to die.
The man with the knife approached, and Naruto pressed himself against the wall. He brought the knife right under Naruto's chin, and Naruto's breaths began to come in short pants. He could almost feel the knife going through his soft throat, warm blood spilling over cold knife as the men laughed all the while.
The man giggled again and leaned forward, so close that Naruto could smell the foulness of his breath. But them he stopped abruptly. A low, guttural sound emerged from the man's throat. "You killed my wife," he hissed, his voice breaking halfway. His words came out choked, and Naruto could hear the sharp rasp of tears in his voice. "And I –I…You'll pay, fox. You'll suffer just like my wife and children did, with their bodies crushed in rubble and their mouths open in a scream of distress. You'll pay."
Naruto reared his head back, trying to avoid the blade. But it was too late. His life was forfeit. The man pushed forwards with a cry and swung the blade at Naruto's head. Shouting and the sound of ripping flesh.
His world went dark.
He woke to the sound of the dull murmurs of the hospital, a white ceiling above him and white sheets below him. He blinked his eyes blearily. Beside him, he could make out the Hokage, who was watching him in silence.
Naruto broke the silence first. "I…uh, really got hurt, huh?" He sank deeper into the sheets uncomfortably.
"Naruto," the Hokage began, then stopped. He looked Naruto in the eyes. "I'm really sorry, Naruto, that we weren't able to stop the assailants before they…ah, hurt you. But I promise it won't happen again." At this the Hokage looked past Naruto and at the window, where he knew the ANBU stationed to protect Naruto were lurking.
Thank goodness the ANBU were able to arrive in time…But this does not bode well for the future. What if another incident happens? What if they are unable to reach Naruto in time?
Naruto looked at the Hokage and squinted. "What do you mean by…ANBU?"
The Hokage started, eyes flickering to Naruto. "Where did you hear that?" he asked sharply. How did Naruto know the name of his special forces? Had he come in contact with them? In the edges of his awareness, he could feel his ANBU stiffening. They were no doubt listening in.
Naruto floundered at the Hokage's tone. "Erm…I felt it? I mean, there was something…In my mind. Or something? And, um, I think they're listening in?"
The Hokage stood up and swept by Naruto. He motioned for Naruto to follow, and Naruto immediately crawled out of the bed, glad to be up and moving again. Naruto glanced worriedly at the window, wondering if these mysterious "ANBU" were still there.
The Hokage led Naruto into his office, where he seated himself with a flourish. He picked up his pipe and sighed. "Naruto," he said, "How many people are in this room?"
Naruto opened his mouth to answer the obvious answer of "two" when he heard something again, the same fleeting sensation that had whispered the word ANBU to him.
If he is truly a powerful sensor, then he will know that there are actually six people in this room, which include the four ANBU hidden from sight. But if he doesn't know…How could he have known that there were ANBU listening in to our conversation from before?
Naruto's ears perked up and opened his mouth to answer triumphantly, "There are six people in this room, which include the four ANBU hidden from sight!"
At the Hokage's stunned look, he grinned. His excitement was palpable. "Was I right? Was I right?"
The Hokage nodded stiffly and sighed, drawing out a brush. "Naruto…You have the gift of a sensor. It allowed you to sense the chakra of nearby ninja. Because you have this increased chakra awareness and given the fact that you were recently attacked…I think you should start the academy early."
Naruto's eyes lit up. After months of hounding the Hokage into letting him into the academy, he finally accepted! All thoughts of the attack dissipated and Naruto bounced on his heels excitedly. "Thank you!"
The Hokage dismissed Naruto and, when he felt the child's chakra disappear completely from the building, mused quietly to himself. Being a chakra sensor, there would be many ninja who would want Naruto on their teams in the future. There weren't many good sensor-nin in the ninja force, and the talent was very rare besides. He would have to get Naruto a private tutor to teach him how to use his ability.
The Hokage let out a puff of smoke and began to write.
Naruto couldn't believe his luck. He was set to start at the academy in fall, and he was finally going to become a ninja. His feet carried himself to the playground, where he could see many other kids playing on the swings and running around playing ninja.
Naruto watched them for a while, unperturbed by his own loneliness because those children were playing ninja and he was going to become a real ninja. Naruto kept gloating to himself for a while until he realized that there was a dull buzzing at the back of his mind.
He closed his eyes to focus on the sound, but it abruptly disappeared. Naruto opened his eyes in confusion, and the dull buzz returned. He squinted and tried to listen.
Wow…look at him, he's so cute! I wonder what type of flowers he likes…
Naruto frowned. Who was talking to him? Whoever he had heard, they couldn't have been talking about him, because he was quite sure nobody would say that they liked him. He turned his attention back to the playground, and saw two girls who were giggling in the corner.
He's so dreamy…I wish I knew –KYAA! DID HE JUST LOOK AT ME!?
Naruto jumped at the loud sound, worried for a moment that one of the girls was hurt. But the pink haired girl was only blushing, pointing at a dark haired boy on the swings while the blonde haired girl besides her nodded in agreement.
Naruto looked around worriedly if anyone else had heard the cry, but nobody had even looked their way. It seemed as if none of the people at the playground had heard the shrill exclamation. Shaking his head in confusion, Naruto kept watching the two girls, his eyes straying to where the pink haired girl was pointing.
His gaze landed on the black haired boy on the swings and an older boy who was pushing him. The voices in his head changed, and it was only with this change did Naruto realize that the voice he was hearing before was of a young girl, and now he was hearing the voice of a young boy.
I hope Brother never leaves me! It's great to finally be able to spend some time with him!
Before he could ponder longer on this conundrum, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around in fright, ready to bolt, but his assailant quickly retracted their hand from his shoulder.
Before him stood a tall woman who had long purple hair, her lips pursed in annoyance. "I'm Uzuki Yugao," she introduced, "The Hokage asked me to instruct you. I am a sensor ninja, and I've been informed that you also have the makings of one."
Naruto's brows furrowed at the introduction, still wary. So the weird things he was hearing in his mind was a talent that Yugao also had? Did she also hear weird things? He opened his mouth to ask, but paused. What if she was trying to trick him? Instead, he asked: "What's a sensor ninja?"
Yugao replied stiffly, "A sensor ninja can sense the chakra of other ninja. A lesser version of this talent can be honed in all ninja, but a sensor ninja has a particular affinity for the art."
Naruto cocked his head. "What's chakra?"
Yugao sighed.
Naruto sat on the grass, deep in thought. Yugao had brought him to a different clearing –Training Ground 13 –and had explained to him all about what chakra was and how ninja used it to perform various feats. But Yugao had described chakra as "a warm ball of light," and Naruto was pretty sure that that wasn't what he was sensing.
But Naruto just nodded and listened, because Yugao was the first (bar the Hokage) who had actually sat down and helped him without any malicious intent. It was quite nice.
"Now that I've explained this to you, I want to test the limits of your chakra sensing. I will go and hide in the forest to the right of where we are, and you are to find me. You have an hour." With that, Yugao disappeared and Naruto stared at where she was just a moment ago in shock.
Naruto picked himself up and wandered into the forest, worried. Naruto had never really felt the "warm feeling" that Yugao described as sensing chakra, and he was worried that he wouldn't be able to find Yugao in time.
He tried to listen for the soft whispering that he had heard before, but his mind was disappointingly void of other voices. Naruto thought back to before, when he had been looking at the girls, and realized that to trigger whatever he was hearing, he probably had to be looking at somebody.
With this in mind, he knew that there was no way of finding Yugao, as he could not see her. Even worse, he was going to fail her. He was going to disappoint her.
Naruto abruptly turned on his heel and marched right back out of the forest. Yugao, hidden in the canopy, watched after him in silence. Perhaps, she thought, the scene at the Hokage's office was a fluke? But no matter. I'll wait a little longer…perhaps he'll surprise me.
Naruto, on the other hand, was confident in his ability. He wandered off randomly, glancing at everyone he passed to scan them. Finally, he found a ninja.
Man, this sucks. The new Icha Icha is sold out…
Naruto walked up to the silver haired man and tugged on his pants. "Um, excuse me, but can you help me? I'm looking for someone…"
The man jumped a little, then turned to face Naruto. "I didn't see you there," he said jovially, though when Naruto listened a bit harder, realized that the man was only faking his surprise, "Do you need anything?"
Naruto bobbed his head and put on the cutest face he could –he stuck out his bottom lip and widened his eyes. "Can you help me find someone?"
The man agreed readily and offered his hand to Naruto. "How can I resist such a cute boy?" The man asked jokingly, but Naruto heard otherwise. There was something about sensei and son and I wish, but it was faint and Naruto didn't give it much thought.
Naruto led the man to Training Grounds 13, where he stopped abruptly and asked, "Can you sense if anyone is in the forest? I think my friend might be hiding in the trees…"
The man's brows furrowed and Naruto stared hard at him.
This chakra signature…Uzuki? But why would Naruto…?
Naruto frowned in annoyance. The voice wasn't giving him anything useful. "Um, mister, can you feel where she is? Like, think really hard about it! I know she's a good hider!"
Naruto grinned. Got it. "Thank you mister!" He cried, and ran off in the direction of the second tree to the left. The silver haired man stared after the boy in confusion. He hadn't said anything about Uzuki's location…
Yugao, seeing that Naruto was running towards the tree she was hiding in, deftly hopped down and nodded at Hatake. It was curious how Naruto had needed his assistance to locate her. If his were truly a chakra sensor, then he wouldn't need any help detecting her.
"Naruto," Yugao started, and the boy looked up at her in excitement. "I need you to tell me exactly what you feel when you try to sense chakra."
Naruto frowned; he had been expecting some praise, but…"When I focus, I can hear a voice," Naruto admitted, "But it works only when I'm looking at someone, I think."
Yugao's lips thinned as her mind worked furiously to decipher what Naruto meant. "Look at me," she ordered. "What do you hear?"
Naruto paused for a moment and answered: "Cats."
Hatake giggled faintly in the background, and Yugao rolled her eyes in annoyance. "And now?"
The answer was immediate. "A knife."
Yugao nodded. "I think I know what you can do, Naruto. I would like you to keep your ability secret for now; I need to talk to the Hokage about this."
Naruto nodded firmly, not intending to betray the trust of someone who treated him fairly. Besides, his ability was really special, wasn't it? It would be cool to have a secret of his own.
Yugao looked up sharply and caught Hatake's eye, silently swearing him to secrecy. He gave a small nod and left. She turned back to Naruto. "Naruto, I want you to relax for the rest of the day. I'll contact you later."
And with that, she disappeared. Naruto watched after her in anticipation. Would she maybe teach her instant disappearing trick to him one day?
The Hokage sighed as he dismissed Yugao. Her report was very trouble; it seemed that Naruto was not a chakra sensor, but rather had the ability to read minds, similar to the Yamanaka. This made Naruto a prime candidate for the Interrogation Corps, but he did not want Naruto exposed to the things they did there.
The best thing he could offer Naruto now was probably just training, so that Naruto would be able to use his gift and learn how to control it. And, as much as he did not want to think about it, Naruto would be a dangerous weapon in an enemy's hands. He needed to ensure that Naruto would not defect from Konoha.
Considering he had already pulled Yugao out of the ANBU Corps because of a heavy injury that needed time to heal, he might as well assign her as Naruto's mentor. Not to mention they were probably getting along pretty well, if his crystal ball was showing him right.
Now that he thought more on it, he realized that there was a possibility of subterfuge from the inside, mainly in the form of the illegal ROOT Anbu which he had disbanded years earlier, but he knew was still active. He didn't have enough evidence to interrogate Danzo though, so his hands were tied in that manner.
If Naruto were ever to be used against him…Hiruzen didn't think he'd be able to fight back. Letting Naruto roam on the streets was a security risk; who knew who could influence Naruto? His ANBU couldn't watch over Naruto every second, after all. No; there was only one way he could ensure that Naruto was under supervision at all times while also training him for the ninja force.
He would have Naruto join the ANBU Corps.
By doing so, he would be able to keep an eye on him while also allowing him to form bonds with his ANBU, deterring the possibility of him turning traitor. There were also several Yamanaka and Uchiha in the ANBU, who could contribute to Naruto's training…
It was decided, then.
Naruto was going to join ANBU.