Inari

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Notice: Hey guys sorry for the long absence but I'm back again with the latest chapter for this story. I'll keep the notice short, sweet and to the point. Thanks everyone for the usual support much love to all my readers. Thanks especially for the patience. As per usual please favorite, follow and review, and if you have any questions, suggestions and whatnot do not hesitate to hit me up either by leaving a review or sending me a pm. I also plan on updating the other stories soon enough, you guys are awesome for bearing me and my laziness sometimes. Thanks again fam and peace out.

Chapter 2: Inari

It was an early day in Konoha, Naruto was not necessarily a fan of waking up before sunrise, but these were the requirements of his training and, so it had to be done. The young blonde was suited in his ANBU uniform for the first time, but unlike the other ANBU members he had a plainly blank white mask. It wasn't until he graduated from his ANBU-In-Training role to be an actual ANBU operative that he would be awarded a mask with an animal design like Inu and Neko. But for now, this had to do, Naruto was happy enough being trained.

The young blonde was shivering as he stood in the Forest of Death with both Inu and Neko themselves staring down at him from atop the trees. Initially Inu was the only one meant to train Naruto, but when Neko had learned from Inu himself that he was training Naruto, she demanded that she joined in to help mentor and teach the boy.

Naruto had a small smile underneath his mask, he was excited to get his training started off and he was more than happy to have both Inu and Neko train him. Those two along with the Weasel ANBU operative have been guarding and watching over him since his childhood and so they were like older siblings to him. But despite this strange bond with these ANBU operatives, Naruto had yet to actually meet them without the ANBU masks, he only knows them as Inu and Neko. He had no idea what they looked like, or what their real names were. He had tried to find out so many times in the past but to no success, so he decided to drop the topic for now. But he still remained curious as to who were the people behind the mask.

The young blonde was broken from his thoughts when the two ANBU operatives jumped down from the tree branches to face him. They landed effortlessly like a feather, Inu walked over to Naruto and towered over him. Unlike his usual disinterested self, this Inu seemed more serious.

"Naruto one of your main strengths from what we've seen thus far is your incredible stamina and enormous chakra reserves" said Inu as Naruto beamed with pride, "But there lies your own weakness as well. Due to your abnormally large chakra reserves it makes it harder for you to control your chakra and as a result you have very lackluster chakra control. But also, physically your stamina is the only noteworthy attribute you hold"

Naruto's ego plummeted quicker than it rose when Inu complimented him earlier on, the smile on his face morphed quickly into a look of disbelief.

'If you're trying to motivate me Inu-niisan, it's not really working' he silently thought to himself.

"But that is why we are training you" said the spiky haired ANBU, "We see a lot of potential in you and we want you to live up to that potential. And the potential you hold for our line of work is tremendous. So, if you buckle down, listen to what we say, do as we say and play your cards right you will have a successful ANBU career, and who knows you might even go up from being ANBU to becoming Hokage one day"

"Yeah now were talking" the blonde yelled excitedly as he pumped up his fist into the air. The two ANBU operatives chuckled at the display.

"For today Naruto we will begin with the basics" said Inu as he threw Naruto two pairs of chakra weights, "Alright Naruto I want you to attach these weights to your ankles and wrists"

The young blonde nodded and did as he was told, the beads on the weights then lit up as it merged with his chakra and from that he suddenly felt the massive increase in weights surrounding his body. It was painful at first for his joints and it made it hard for him to stand up let alone move.

Inu had a sinister smirk underneath his mask as he stared at the struggling blonde, "Alright Naruto to begin the day I want you to do fifty laps around the forest clearing" he ordered. Naruto gulped as he looked at his surroundings it was a rather large forest clearing and with weights these heavy it would be nearly impossible to do such a thing.

"But that's not all Naruto, after that I want you to go and climb up and down that tree with the weights still attached, and do that 25 times" said Inu as he pointed towards one of the largest trees in the vicinity. Naruto was starting to regret his decision to join, but it was too late to back out now.

Hours Later

Naruto had finally finished the obstacles placed upon him by Inu, he was laying in the ground panting and drenched in sweat. His whole body was in utter pain and he was finding it difficult to stand, let alone walk or run. He expected a difficult training session, but this was just insane.

Inu and Neko walked over to Naruto, Neko sighed and threw Naruto a bottle of water and a towel to wipe off the sweat.

"Now Naruto I want you to keep those weights on you until I say so, even when you're at home, at the movies, at a restaurant or whatever you must not remove them unless I say so" said Inu.

Naruto gingerly sat up and glared at the ANBU operative, "What? Are you insane?" he yelled. Inu chuckled as he shook his head, "Possibly, but like I said Naruto you need to do as I say so trust me. You need to keep those on until I say so" he reiterated.

The young blonde sighed, he was living in hell. After a few more minutes of resting Naruto stood up to pack his stuff ready to leave and call it a day. But he was stopped once he heard Inu's voice call out to him.

"What are you doing Naruto?" he asked.

"Umm packing up? Isn't training over?" he asked.

"What? No Naruto, that was just our warmup. We'll be doing something like that everyday for training"

Naruto's eyes bulged out in shock, "That was just a warm up?" he yelled in disbelief.

Inu nodded, "Yeah and this was the easy beginner phase. Later on, we'll be increasing the weights and you'll have to do crunches, pushups, squats and lunges among other exercises" he replied nonchalantly.

Naruto couldn't find the energy to even reply to that, he simply dropped his things back to the ground speechless at how such a grueling exercise was simply the warm up for the day. Even worse was how it was the beginner level and how this had to be done every single day they trained.

With a sadistic smile underneath his mask Inu called for Naruto to join him and Neko. Naruto sighed before gingerly walking over to his two trainers.

"Alright Naruto now begins the real training, for now though we will not be teaching you any proper jutsus just yet. Before we reach that stage, we need you to hone and master the basics so that you will have a better grasp of ninjutsu. We will only begin to teach you jutsus once we deem you ready"

"Wait what? What will you be teaching me instead?" asked a deflated Naruto. He was tired, but he was excited to learn some jutsus, but upon hearing the declaration made by his two teachers his initial enthusiasm was replaced quickly by disappointment.

"Until we deem you ready to finally learn jutsus, we will continue to improve your physical conditioning until you are fast, fit, strong and flexible enough for what we want to teach you. Aside from that we will be working extensively on your taijutsu. We will also delve onto the basics of ANBU stealth, infiltration and information gathering. You have a natural talent for those departments, so it probably won't take long for you to get a hang of those" explained Inu.

"Okay cool, so what else will we be doing?" asked an intrigued Naruto. He knew there was no point in arguing, right now he was just eager to get the basics down on lock, so he could finally learn all the cool, kick ass jutsus that would totally outdo the jutsus of his rival Sasuke along with the rest of his class.

"We will also be teaching you chakra control and genjutsu defense, while also helping you further increase your chakra reserves. Mastering chakra control will probably be the most the difficult but rewarding part of our basics training. If you learn to control your chakra jutsus will come naturally to you and you will be open to learning more and more techniques seeing how every technique requires proper control of one's chakra" Inu further answered.

"Also for the next few days I personally will be judging you and teaching you in your usage of ninja equipment such as shuriken, kunai and explosive tags. I'm an expert in Kenjutsu and in the usage of Bukijutsu, so I will be in charge of discerning what will be your weapon" Neko added on, "Most ANBU specialize in weapons and as I said I specialize in the use of swords and blades. I will judge whether you have what it takes to use a sword and if you do I will be able to train you myself in the ways of the sword. But other than that, I will also be teaching you how to perfect your shurikenjutsu to go along with whatever weapon I decide suits your fighting style best"

"Other than training with us now, we also expect you to keep up your training without us. It doesn't have to be what we are doing right now but it would be good if you continue to practice our exercises even when we are not around. It'll only make your development that much faster. Unfortunately, we will not always be here to train you seeing how we might be sent on missions from time to time and in the instance neither of us are available we expect you to continue practicing your craft, you mustn't stagnate in your development continue to train even without us" explained Inu.

"It would be even more preferable if in your spare time you decide to study" added Neko.

Naruto deflated upon hearing that, as exhausted as he was right now and even though his whole body was in utter pain he preferred this over studying. Compared to studying, the physical training he went through today was a walk in the park.

"I know what you're thinking Naruto, but she's right" said Inu, "ANBU need to be smart and intelligent. Especially Hokage, you know what the Sandaime's duties are. Most of his duties aren't in the battlefield they're mostly in his office managing the day to day running of Konoha. If you really want to be Hokage you need to buckle down and study, it's a necessary evil Naruto"

The young blonde sighed in defeat before nodding his head, "Very well, I mean if it helps me become Hokage I guess I can try and do it" he replied.

"Don't try to do it Naruto-kun, actually do it" Neko answered swiftly before Naruto conceded and nodded his head once more.

"Also, one final thing Naruto, we need you to go and watch your diet. We will send you food personally and we expect you to cut down on the ramen" said Inu.

Now Naruto was in utter shock, "No anything but that please" he begged the two of them.

Inu shook his head, "Sorry Naruto but this another thing that must be done, if you want to grow big and strong, and for your physical conditioning to really have an effect you need to eat right and fuel your body with the proper nutrients lacked by ramen. I'm not telling you to quit altogether but maybe don't have it as the main food of your diet. Have it maybe a few times a week" he said.

Naruto looked like he wanted to cry, this was a living nightmare. When he decided to join this, it was obvious that he didn't know what he was signing up for, but unfortunately it was too late to back out now and Naruto was too stubborn for his own good. He hated the sacrifices he had to make, but he wanted to be a great ninja so it all had to be done.

Inu clapped his hands before smiling at Naruto, "Alright with all that now done it's time to really begin your training. To start off with I'll be teaching you how to really climb up trees" he said.

Naruto looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean? Didn't I just climb up trees a while ago?" he asked, "What was so wrong with that?"

"To a ninja that's the wrong way of climbing up a tree, let me show you how it's really done" he said.

Three Years Later

Three years had passed since Naruto had begun his training, slowly but surely Naruto began to learn the basics until the point he was generally quite adept in most of the skills. He was far from being a master, but he was definitely far above than most of his age group when it came to these particular skills.

But despite the growth he had made, he continued to play it dumb in the academy as instructed by the Hokage and Inu. They didn't want him arousing any suspicion and so for his own protection they made him play dumb during his time at the academy. He continued to perform worse than the rest of his class, and he continued to get in trouble with the teachers.

The only noticeable difference for Naruto was the growth in height and size, due to the change of diet given to him by Inu and Neko he began to eat more proteins and proper carbs leading to a growth spurt. He was by far one of the tallest students in his class, and his physique was beginning to show the muscles he developed in training. But thankfully Naruto continued to wear his baggy orange jumpsuit, and because of how baggy it was it managed to hide the growing size of the young boy.

In the span of the first year, Neko had watched Naruto and after a full month of trials and errors with weapons she decided that the best weapon suited for Naruto were swords. She was more than delighted seeing how swords were her specialty and so with that she began to teach Naruto the basics of kenjutsu. Naruto was a keen learner in the art of Kenjutsu and Shurikenjutsu, and he showed a natural proficiency in the usage of weapons. Anything truly combat related Naruto was more than interested in all honesty.

Throughout that year Naruto also finally managed to truly learn the identities of Neko and Inu, it took a while but after getting closer and closer with the two of them they trusted him enough with their identities. Naruto couldn't believe that the guy known as Kakashi Hatake was actually really Inu, and he soon learned that Neko was actually a woman named Yugao Uzuki. They weren't just older sibling figures to Naruto anymore, at this point he now saw them as teachers and friends of his.

There were times in the past three years wherein neither Yugao and Inu were available to train Naruto, sometimes their absence would last for weeks and there were even sometimes wherein they were gone for a full month. Earlier on Naruto was forced to train by himself, but eventually both Yugao and Kakashi managed to find a substitute sensei for Naruto whenever both of them were gone. The substitute was another ANBU operative known as Yamato, he was a former colleague of both Kakashi and Yugao, and the two of them vouched for the man. At first Naruto was creeped out by the man due to his scary eyes but eventually he got to know him and the two got along pretty well. Much like Inu and Neko, Yamato didn't seem to have a problem with Naruto and he was more than willing to train him in his spare time.

During the tenth month of Naruto's basic training, Kakashi and Yugao had decided Naruto was ready to finally move on to the second stage of their training. He was finally ready to learn some jutsus, it started off with the basic jutsus such as Henge, Shunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi and the Bunshin no Jutsu. But unfortunately for Naruto he held too much chakra to form a normal Bunshin no Jutsu and so in its stead Kakashi taught Naruto the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, an A-Rank jutsu. Naturally Naruto was extremely happy to learn such an advanced technique.

This was the beginning of something great, Naruto was beginning to truly develop under the tutelage of Kakashi, Yugao and Yamato. But even then, he was still far off from being promoted to be a true ANBU Operative, he had two more years of the academy and that was said to be the goal for the group. Once Naruto's batch in the academy were finally about to graduate into genin, that would be the preferred time to test Naruto to see if he was finally ready to take up the mantle as being an ANBU Operative of Konoha. It was a tall order, but two years was a long time, and with the teachers Naruto had he had the utmost confidence for his test. Now it was only a matter of what the Hokage would have him do to see if he truly was worthy of being a part of one of Konoha's elites.

The next two years continued to revolve around the basics, they wanted Naruto to master them but know that he had a foundation for his ninjutsu he began to learn more and more jutsus. In the early parts of the second year, Kakashi had even taught Naruto a training method using his shadow clones. It allowed Naruto to learn more and more in a short space of time by allowing his shadow clones to train in different areas of expertise, but in the end, he gets their knowledge and experience by simply dispelling them. To keep Naruto safe and to stop things from getting way too out of hand, Kakashi limited Naruto's clones in training to fifty at most.

In terms of jutsus, Kakashi and Neko focused in Naruto learning variations of clone jutsus, Kenjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, and a few other forms of combat ninjutsu. They also taught him supplemental jutsus such as the Kanchi no Jutsu. It helped tremendously that they found out how Naruto was a sensor type, it helped further with his infiltration, tracking and stealth. With the improvement of Naruto's chakra control they even managed to teach him some basic D-Rank and the occasional C-Rank Genjutsu, he struggled in this department but with the current training set up he managed to learn more and more but it was taking significantly longer than the other techniques he was learning.

At first, they were skeptical with Naruto's affinity towards Genjutsu, but after a full year and a half of chakra control training they learned that Naruto could learn the basics of Genjutsu with enough training. And after a while he did manage to learn the basics, they were nothing to fear but these Genjutsu techniques were enough to provide subtle advantages towards battles, and they allowed for either open spots in combat or clean escapes.

One thing Kakashi refrained from however was elemental manipulation, he decided Naruto wasn't ready for that yet and he was saving that for when Naruto finally graduated to become a proper ANBU operative. Naruto knew that, and he was willing to wait, at the moment he was still learning and mastering the current techniques he was being taught.

Academy Test

Today was the big day, Naruto's classmates all sat excitedly at the seats around the room. The young blonde played it cool, the test had been finished earlier today and even though Naruto knew he could have easily perfected all the obstacles placed upon him he knew he had to purposely fail this. He still held the reputation of dead last among his class, he had the worst grades, the worst disciplinary record, and the worst performances in the practical tests within the academy. He ended with the worst grades in the exams and of course Sasuke ended up with the highest.

Even though he failed Naruto didn't care, none of them knew of his true capabilities and he knew learning from Kakashi that underestimating one's opponent is the gravest mistake anyone cane make. Complacency and arrogance can easily cost a ninja his or her life.

Naruto looked around his classmates and he remembered some of the good times and the bad times he's had in the class. In the class were three of the other dead lasts in the class, three of his only friends. There was Shikamaru Nara, Choki Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto tended to butt heads with the latter but overall, he got along with fine with those three. Their love for mischief and trouble made them somewhat close, and they were really the only classmates that didn't totally bully Naruto in his time in the academy.

The other notable students were Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga, Naruto had no real opinion of them seeing how shy and silent they were. The two rarely spoke and so Naruto neither liked nor disliked them, they were always just there in the class minding their own business. The Shino guy seemed alright to him, but the Hinata girl was very strange, but Naruto found her to be a very nice girl regardless.

Then there were the three fan girls. There was Ami, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno. Naruto wasn't necessarily a fan of the Ami girl, he found her obnoxious, catty and annoying. As for Ino Yamanaka, Naruto thought she was quite pretty for their age, but she was far too much of a drama queen for his liking. He didn't mind her, but she got a bit too intense for him at times. Then there was Sakura Haruno, Naruto had a few run ins with her and even with the constant rejections Naruto couldn't help but continue to have a crush on the girl. He definitely got annoyed by the constant rejections and their obsession with Sasuke, but he still remained determined on Sakura. He's had a crush on her since the first day they met, and since then she's continued to plague his mind. He really wanted to just go and show off his true skills and to kick Sasuke's ass in front of everyone, but he knew he couldn't really do that seeing how it would blow his cover.

Then there was you guessed it, Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto's ultimate rival, he absolutely hated the guy and his guts. Naruto always thought that Sasuke was an arrogant and stuck up guy who felt superior to everyone, and he wanted nothing more than to put him in his place. But he knew that unfortunately he couldn't do that.

Naruto shook his head the second both Mizuki and Iruka arrived, the two of them read out the names of those who had passed, unsurprisingly his name wasn't called out and this was easily noticed by the class. Many began to mock him and insult him for failing as the dead last once more, and it also turned out that Sasuke was named Rookie of the Year. The girls in the class swooned over Sasuke as they all gathered to congratulate him, he remained unimpressed and uncaring about the accolades.

Iruka looked around and asked all the people that passed to come back to the class tomorrow at noon to name the new genin teams. With that final announcement the class was dismissed, Naruto stayed in his seat unmoving ignoring the audible insults and jeers directed at him by many of his fellow classmates, but as per usual he didn't give a flying fuck. He just had to put up a façade. Soon everyone in the classroom left aside from Naruto and Mizuki, the latter walked up to Naruto seeing the gloomy expression on the young man's face and he decided to approach him. He walked over to Naruto and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Naruto looked up at Mizuki and he only saw a solemn smile on his academy instructor's face, "Come with me to the roof Naruto, I think we need to have a talk" he said in a sincere tone.

Hokage's Office

"Are you sure about this Naruto-kun?" asked the Hokage.

Naruto was kneeling down before the Hokage. He was wearing his ANBU armor and his blank white mask, "Hai Hokage-sama, Mizuki offered me another means of passing the test and it was by stealing the Scroll of Seals" he explained to the Hokage.

The Sandaime took a drag from his pipe as he nodded his head in understanding, "I see that is very unfortunate indeed" he replied, "Naruto I think it is about time for your initiation test into ANBU".

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "What would you have me do Hokage-sama?" he asked in anticipation.

Hiruzen sighed regretting what must be done, "Naruto as you already know the missions of ANBU can be dark and dangerous. Most operatives have gone through psychological torment as a direct result from the work the village has them do. It is now time you finally prepare yourself for what is to come if you truly want to join ANBU. Naruto, I want you to neutralize the threat" he answered in a serious tone.

Naruto remained silent for a good twenty seconds as he evaluated what the Hokage had just ordered him to do, "You want me to kill him Hokage-sama?" he asked, Hiruzen sighed and nodded.

"Unfortunately, it must come to this, you had to do this eventually and now is the time to do it. Killing is never right Naruto but its better you get this over with and learn that sometimes it has to be done. There have been times where I have been far too merciful and that has come back to haunt me" he stated as he thought about his wayward student, "Your first kill will always stick to your mind and it will always haunt you. But at least you sleep easy knowing you neutralized a threat that could have gone on to kill innocent people"

Naruto gulped as sweat dripped down his forehead, he knew he had to do this eventually, but it shook him learning that today was actually the day. And this wasn't to a random individual, this was to someone he knew personally.

"I hate having to order this you know Naruto-kun, but this is the job description of not only ANBU but of ninjas. I regret every kill I've ever made, but my biggest regret to this day remains sparing someone I should have killed a long time ago. My sensei told me the same thing when I was young, sometimes you have to take the burden of killing onto yourself so that others could rest and live easily and peacefully. It never gets better Naruto-kun but it has to be done"

Naruto sighed and collected his nerves before nodding, "Hai Hokage-sama, I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to train for ANBU. I will handle this mission myself and I will return with the traitor being neutralized. I know it won't be easy, but I swore to protect Konoha, and I plan to uphold that promise" he replied.

"Very well Naruto, for your initiation test for ANBU I order you to find and kill Mizuki"

With that said Naruto quickly vanished from the Hokage's office, with Naruto disappearing Hiruzen could only sigh as he took yet another large drag from his pipe.

"The ninja world can be unforgiving Naruto-kun, I just hope that you don't close yourself off like so many did before you"

Outskirts of Konoha

Mizuki stood in a forest clearing outside of Konoha waiting for the arrival of Naruto, he had himself prepared with shuriken and other forms of weaponry. The second Naruto arrives he was going to go kill him for what he had done to Konoha thirteen years before.

He waited for twenty for minutes until a small figure arrived and called out to him from the distance.

"Mizuki, you are to surrender to me for the crimes you have committed against Konoha" said the voice, the Chunin looked for the source of the voice and in fact saw Naruto standing there in this strange new getup far different from his usual orange jumpsuit.

Mizuki could only burst out in laughter, "Stop playing around Naruto so do you have the scroll or not?" he asked in a sickly fake tone.

Naruto shook his head before throwing five shuriken towards the Chunin, Mizuki noticed this and scowled before jumping away to avoid the hits of the shuriken.

"I see you're really not here to give me a scroll are you brat. Why are you here then you little shit?" the Chunin yelled with malice in his voice.

Naruto remained unfazed as he finally went face to face with the real Mizuki, "I had a feeling all that good teacher bullshit was a ruse by you. You always pegged me as a snake Mizuki, I'm here to bring you in to the officers of Konoha…Alive or dead" he threatened.

Mizuki once more burst out in laughter, "Like you can kill me dead last" he yelled mocking Naruto, "In your past life you were quite skilled in murder but now you couldn't even kill a bug. You're nothing but a weakling, a failure for a demon"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "A demon you say?" he asked out of interest.

"Oh, that's right you don't know don't you, you're the Kyuubi. You're the same demon who attacked Konoha thirteen years ago" Mizuki yelled out in anger before throwing a few explosive tags at Naruto. The young blonde jumped back to avoid the explosives, his face remained unaffected and emotionless despite the declarations made by his former academy teacher.

"The Yondaime died sealing the Kyuubi into you many years ago, you murdered the Yondaime you demon freak. I will be known as a hero of Konoha once they learn of how I managed to slay the Kyuubi itself" he yelled, "How does it feel finally learning the truth of why everyone loathed you, why they abused you, why they hurt you and why they denied the attention you craved so much"

Naruto continued to remain unfazed by the declaration, it then unnerved Mizuki when he saw a small grin form on Naruto's face and a small dark chuckle emerge from the young man's mouth.

"I've been having suspicions of that for the past few months, I've been reading up on Jinchuuriki recently Mizuki-teme and now you've just confirmed it for me. I should be thanking you I've been wondering for months now whether I really was a Jinchuuriki but now I really know" he admitted.

Mizuki was surprised he expected Naruto to lose his cool or to go emotional upon the realization, but instead Naruto was calm.

"See here's the problem teme, you expected me to spiral into this self-depression but I for a fact know that I'm not the Kyuubi. It is the insolence and ignorance of people like you that truly makes you the demon between the two of us"

"You take that back you fucking freak, how dare you compare me to you. I don't have the blood of thousands upon thousands of Konoha people on my hands" Mizuki yelled in anger before throwing the gigantic shuriken strapped to his back.

Naruto saw this and simply unsheathed his katana the second the shuriken came close to him, as a result he managed to deflect the shuriken towards a nearby tree instead.

"I don't have the blood of thousands of Konoha civilians, but by the end of tonight I'll have the blood of a Konoha traitor on my hands" he declared before vanishing with a speed Mizuki had yet to see. Within a second Naruto appeared in a blur in front of Mizuki and before he could react the blonde plunged the katana straight into the traitor's stomach. Mizuki couldn't say a word or react, he was far too shocked at what had just happened. He fell down to two knees in front of Naruto.

The blonde stared at Mizuki with empty and hollow eyes, he grabbed his katana straight out of the man's abdomen. Naruto placed the blade by Mizuki's neck, he knew that even though this man was a traitor he didn't deserve to suffer for too long, he had to give him a quick death.

Tears began to cascade down Naruto's eyes as his hands grew shaky, blood spurted down Mizuki's mouth and guts and with the last of the Chunin's strength he looked up to Naruto and glared at him.

"Kill me you fucking demon" he said in a meek tone, Naruto steeled himself sliced off the man's head. As soon as his severed head rolled onto the ground Naruto dropped into his knees. He was angry at Mizuki for everything he had said and done but the feeling he got for his first ever kill haunted him. The Hokage was right the first was never easy and he was sure it would never get easier.

Naruto then ran towards a nearby tree needing to vomit, the surge of emotions and the smell of blood made him sick. He continued to vomit endlessly until there was nothing left to spew. The young blonde sighed before grabbing the storage scroll on his bag, there he placed the body of Mizuki and he made his way back to the Hokage's office. The stench of blood still covering him, he couldn't believe it he had finally lost the childhood innocence he once held by having his first ever kill.

Hokage's Office

Hiruzen waited patiently in his office alongside Kakashi, Yugao and Yamato, after a couple more minutes a bloody Naruto arrived through the windows and there he regrettably handed a storage scroll to the Hokage. Hiruzen already knew what was inside the storage scroll and he decided to not dwell on that.

"Welcome back Naruto-kun, I can see that you're first mission was a success and as such for your bravery and the skill you showed in vanquishing one of Konoha's enemies we have all decided it is time for you to finally join the ranks of ANBU" said the Hokage.

Hiruzen walked over to his desk and laid out five masks for Naruto to choose from. There was a spider mask, wolf mask, leopard mask, horse mask and last but not least a fox mask. The Hokage saw Naruto's eyes glued to the fox mask and he decided to intervene.

"Naruto-kun the masks for spider, wolf, leopard and horse have all been vacated for recent retirements and transfers. If there are any other animal codenames you wish to be known I'm sure we could arrange something"

"Hokage-sama what about the fox mask, tell me about that" he asked surprising everyone in the room. The tension was slowly rising but Naruto definitely seemed most interested in the fox mask out of the ready available ones.

"Naruto-kun the fox mask has been vacated and it hasn't been worn for the past seven years. Many believe it to be a cursed mask with the Kyuubi's attack many years ago and all" explained the Hokage.

"That and the past six users of the mask have all died a gruesome death, none of them reaching more than a year from wearing that mask. It's strongly believed to be a cursed mask Naruto" Kakashi added.

Despite the dangerous reputation of the mask Naruto's interest remained adamant, "If it's all the same to you guys I want the fox mask" he said with a wide grin.

Hiruzen sighed knowing how stubborn Naruto could be, "Are you sure about that Naruto? The fox mask tends to have a controversial standing with the ANBU and it has quite the negative reputation" he said hoping he would change his mind.

But of course, Naruto was decided, "That's fine I know what I want Hokage-sama and I want the fox mask" he declared as the Hokage sighed.

"Very well Naruto" he said before handing Naruto the ANBU mask with the fox design. Naruto quickly grabbed the mask and ran his hands across it, a smile graced his lips knowing this was the one for him. He wore the mask for the first time and he knew then and there that it was the perfect fit.

"What'll be my new codename Hokage-sama?" asked Naruto.

Hiruzen thought about it for a sec but then a single name popped up in his head, "Naruto you're ANBU codename from now will be Inari" he answered.

"Inari?" asked the blonde.

"Inari is the god of foxes in the Shinto religion, very fitting for yourself Naruto-kun"

Naruto grinned undeath the mask, "Inari, I like that" he muttered softly.

Glossary

Kanchi no Jutsu - Sensing Technique

Henge - Transformation Technique

Bunshin no Jutsu - Clone Technique

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Kawarimi – Body Replacement Technique

Shunshin No Jutsu - Body Flicker Technique

Author's Note

Yo guys hoped you liked the latest chapter it was a bit dark but hope you guys enjoyed it. I made Naruto quite strong here but not really OP he's definitely the strongest in his class but he's no Kakashi or Itachi when they were his age. Anyway, I plan on updating the other stories soon, but thanks for waiting fam. Remember please favorite, follow and review my story please guys. Also, if you have any suggestions of questions please leave a review or hit me up with a PM. Thanks fam peace out