Soon after Naruto left her mindscape, she could hear the sounds of footsteps drawing closer.
Four sets of footfalls.
Assuming their skill level to be somewhere near Orochimaru's, she judged the distance between them and estimated that they would reach in about a couple of minutes. At this moment, Minato hastily instructed her to lie down and pretend to be unconscious, which she did.
Naruto! The seal!
Seal? Oh! Understanding her father's intentions, Naruto channeled her chakra towards the center of her forehead. Soon, her long blonde locks disappeared and were replaced by short unruly hair that spiked all over the place. Simultaneously, her features grew less feminine and more angular. Overall, she looked just like a boy. (A/N: I'll switch to calling her a boy from her since she looks like a boy, but Naruto's still a girl)
A second after he closed his eyes, the footfalls stopped right outside the door. Imagining the people outside making signals to each other and what not, Naruto waited patiently as the door soon swung open. It was quiet for a few moments, before someone appeared next to him. The movement was so sudden that Naruto nearly jumped in surprise, yet he somehow managed to maintain his image of unconsciousness.
Low murmurs were exchanged- too low for him to pick up any information of could hear the sounds of people rifling through papers as the presence next to him kept its focus trained on him, not allowing a single movement of his to escape its notice. Finally, after an unbearably long wait, he could sense the people regrouping around him as they exchanged signals, before he found himself moving through the air.
It took all of his concentration to not recoil his body from the physical contact, as he was hoisted over someone's shoulder in what seemed like a fireman's lift. Before he had time to regain his bearings, he found himself being carried at high speeds. The sounds of leaves rustled in the background as they travelled through the air. In the background, various bird calls and insect cries could be heard. Despite his closed eyes, he could sense that they were travelling in a triangular formation with a person in the middle- that person most likely being the leader of this squad.
Currently, Naruto was relying on every fibre of his being to not reveal that he was actually conscious, in order to escape the man's physical hold. Despite having only been in Orochimaru's lab for several years, that was long enough to leave him with a slightly sociopathic personality and a strong phobia of people. Especially men. And he was more than certain it was a he, judging from the broad shoulders and the fact that the man was was rather muscular. In fact, Naruto could feel his lean muscles bursting with strength with each chakra-powered step he took.
Redirecting his senses away from the man's physique, a faint scratching sound entered Naruto's ears, which closely resembled the sound of cloth against skin.
Perhaps that person was wearing a bandage or a mask of some sort?
Naruto briefly considered to himself. Receiving the information that Naruto took in as he processed his surroundings, Minato fell into a contemplative silence for the first time that night. Curiously, Naruto directed his attention inwards.
Papa? Is something wrong?
Almost as soon as he saw Minato in his mindscape, Naruto ran up to him and asked concernedly.
It's nothing. Just that by the clues we are getting and from your memories, I can pretty much safely conclude that we're in Konoha or somewhere near its vicinity.
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. With his eyes shut, they basically had no information to go by yet Minato had somehow managed to approximate their location.
Konoha? How do you know that?
The sounds. The chirping sounds that you hear belong to a species of bird native to Konoha. That and if you remember, the… visitors of the lab mostly wore the Konoha hitai-te. Thinking along these lines, I would say my guesses or more or less correct.
Naruto fell into a silence. Minato's words had brought up less happy memories of his time in the lab, and of days that he would rather not remember for the rest of his life. Thinking of the horrors of the lab still sent shudders through his body. Of course, only Naruto's mental apparition in his mindscape did so, as his physical body was too scared to move even a muscle.
Naruto. Snapping her back out of her thoughts, Minato called out to him. I want you to wake up soon and play the part of a child who is excited by everything. Can you do that?
A child?
Naruto, despite being only six, had never had much of a childhood so it was rather difficult to tell him to act like a child. However, he had received all kinds of training whilst under the damned snake so acting like a child shouldn't be too hard.
Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto left his mindscape. Soft groans escaped his lips as he pretended to stir while draped along the man's shoulder. Almost instantly, the man slowed to a stop just as Naruto opened his eyes to take in his surroundings.
Lush greenery greeted him as a crescent moon hung low in the night sky. Moonlight filtered through the few gaps among the thick canopy of the trees, such that Naruto could barely see a few feet in front of him without his enhanced senses. Pretending to suddenly realise that he was on someone's shoulder, Naruto made a startled sound of surprise as he tried to escape the man's grasp.
The man was surprisingly gentle as he set Naruto on the ground, stepping back to give him some personal space. It was at this moment Naruto could finally see the four people who had rescued her. Of the four, three were wearing masks. More specifically, a dog mask, a cat mask and a bird mask.
ANBU. As expected, Papa is right.
Aww. Naru-chan, you're too cute. Having so much faith in Papa.
Somehow, it seemed that recognising that the Shinobi were from Konoha had put Minato in a surprisingly good mood. Or maybe it was because Minato personally knew that the shinobi in front of them were trustworthy. Either ways, he was evidently in a good enough mood to make such lighthearted comments.
Barely able to stop himself from rolling her eyes, Naruto shifted his gaze to the old man standing in the center of the formation. He was dressed in black shinobi attire with a rod-like weapon hanging from his back. At the moment, he was smiling kindly as he moved to Naruto's side.
"Little boy, what's your name?"
"Naruto! Ojii-sama, where are we going?" Naruto's voice was overwhelmingly loud in the still night, as he excitedly replied the kind old man. He had to keep himself from laughing out at the sight of the four shinobi jumping at the unexpected volume of his voice.
"Do not speak to Hokage-sama with such disrespect." The ANBU wearing the bird mask suddenly spoke out, his tone heavy with disapproval.
"Tori." The man who was addressed as Hokage-sama angled himself to give the bird-masked ANBU a meaningful stare as he shook his head in warning. Aware that the latter had understood his meaning, he turned back to Naruto as he warmly continued.
"Well Naruto, Sandaime Ojii-sama. And we're heading for our home town, which is a shinobi village called Konoha. We're taking you along with us since we found you alone in the abandoned laboratory, alright?"
"Okay!" Naruto didn't even hesitate to answer as he responded excitedly. "Yay! I've never seen a village! Is the village going to be my new home?"
The Sandaime was slightly taken aback by the excitement in Naruto's voice, before he chuckled gently. Nodding his head, he replied with a short "yes", only to be greeted by the young boy's excited cheer as he did a dance out of happiness.
"Wah!" Naruto yelped, as he felt himself slip before a strong arm wrapped itself around him and lifted Naruto up. Realising for the first time that he was 20 feet above the ground a tree branch, Naruto gulped nervously.
"Thank you dog onii-chan!" The dog-masked ANBU had been the one to help Naruto, and he simply nodded his head in acknowledgement of the thanks. With a command from the Sandaime, he swung Naruto over to his back as the four resumed their journey back home, the scent of dog fur lingering in Naruto's nose.
When Naruto opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of what looked to be an office. The Sandaime was seated behind the table, in front of him. Blearily rubbing his eyes, Naruto realised that he had fallen asleep somewhere along the way, much to his astonishment. Naruto wasn't used to being so comfortable around strangers, but it did help that the dog-masked ANBU was a gentle person by nature.
In fact, Naruto soon noticed that his arms were still tightly wrapped around the dog-masked ANBU's neck as their face were only inches apart, It seemed that the ANBU had removed his mask some time ago and he would have dislodged Naruto from his back, if not for the fact that Naruto had stubbornly refused to let go.
Naruto took in his features. The ANBU was a good-looking guy, even as his silvery hair seemingly defied gravity. The ANBU's hitai-ate was lazily draped across his face such that it covered his left eye, and the other was currently looking right at Naruto.
"Eep!" Releasing his grasp, Naruto collapsed into a heap on the ground. The ANBU continued to stare at Naruto for a moment too long, before the ANBU returned his attention to the Sandaime. After being dismissed, the ANBU disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"I trust that you have slept well." Naruto turned his attention away from the cloud of smoke to the Sandaime as he cheerily replied. "Yep, Sandaime Ojii-sama! Sandaime Ojii-sama, can I ask a question?"
Slightly surprised, the Sandaime was blank for a while before he chuckled, nodding encouragingly.
"Who was the dog-masked onii-san who carried me just now? He seems like a really gentle person!" Naruto asked curiously. He clearly recognised the ANBU, in fact Naruto was almost certain that ANBU's name and face was in a bingo book that he had seen before. Yet, Naruto just couldn't seem to remember that person's name for the life of him.
The Sandaime had an amused glint in his eyes. "He is Hatake Kakashi, a jounin of Konoha and one that most would not call gentle."
Ahh! The Copy Ninja, that's right! No wonder he looked so familiar. Papa, isn't he a student of yours?
A giggle resounded in Naruto's mindscape. Yep, he is! Kakashi has grown up pretty well over these years even without me and Kushina around. And it looks like he has made quite a few friends as well.
Naruto chose to ignore the blatant excitement in Minato's voice. How do you know he has made friends?
Like what you said, he's gentler. When Kakashi was still a kid, he was very withdrawn and he would hardly look after people like he did for you just now!
Tuning out the rest of Minato's excited rambling of how much Kakashi had changed, Naruto returned his focus back to his situation, only to see the Sandaime staring curiously at me. Upon seeing the confused look on Naruto's face, the Sandaime only smiled.
"As I was saying while you were distracted, Naruto, I have some questions that I want to ask you. And I would like you to be perfectly honest with me."
Already having a vague feeling where the conversation was headed towards, Naruto cheerfully gave the 'Okay!'.
"A few hours ago, in the laboratory that we found you in, there was a large surge of chakra. Do you know anything about it?" The Sandaime was no longer smiling as he closely observed Naruto's every action. The latter kept his face expressionless, neither answering or denying as he already knew that the Sandaime knew he was somehow connected with the Kyuubi's chakra surge. After all, all the other prisoners were locked up and in various states of mental retardation during the time of the experiment. Coupled with the fact that Naruto just happened to be in the most important room of the laboratory when they arrived, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together.
Taking his silence as an affirmation, Sarutobi decided to cut to the chase. "Naruto, are you the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki?"
Again, Naruto's face was placid, until he finally let out a resigned sigh.
"Yes." Naruto's answer was curt, as per Minato's instruction. Knowing that any lies at this point or attempts to dodge the question would only diminish the trust the Sandaime would have in Naruto, in the end they had both agreed that honesty is the best policy.
"But," Naruto quickly continued, seeing that the Sandaime was planning to ask more questions. Receiving the Sandaime's encouragement, Naruto got down into a half-kneeled position.
"Naruto-"
"If I may be so presumptuous to request that Sandaime sama does not reveal my identity as the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki." The Sandaime had leapt up in surprise at Naruto's sudden actions, only to receive a further shock when Naruto made his plea. Currently, the young boy had his fists cupped in front of him, his head bowed low such that the Sandaime could not read his expression.
Lapsing into a short silence, the Sandaime carefully considered Naruto's request, especially since it was the only request that Naruto had made thus far. However, he could only sigh helplessly in the end.
"I'm sorry Naruto. As much as I would like to agree to this request of yours, I cannot. The flare of chakra was clearly felt by the majority of the village and I have to give them a suitable explanation. At best, I can only delay the time before the news is released to the public to give you some time to make arrangements and settle down in the meantime." The Sandaime truly looked apologetic as he helplessly sighed once again.
Knowing that there wasn't much else that he could hope for, Naruto resumed his original standing position and proceeded to reply to the Sandaime's questions to the best of his ability, with Minato providing some help along the way.
Having finished with his questioning, the Sandaime arranged for an ANBU to take Naruto to the orphanage. Just as Naruto was about to leave the office, the Sandaime stopped him.
"Naruto, perhaps do you know about your family?"
Naruto paused for a split second, before he turned around and flashed the widest grin the Sandaime had ever seen. "Nope! I was kidnapped by Orochimaru on the day that I was born so I've got no idea about my family. Sorry bout that Sandaime Ojii-sama."
Being officially dismissed this time, Naruto left the room with an impassive expression.