Naruto had to admit, it was rather strange to be eating with someone that wasn't Iruka-sensei or the old man while at Ichiraku's, however he also wouldn't deny that it wasn't an unpleasant experience.
"So you work at the place that hired Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked for confirmation, she had overheard the girl around the same age as her talking to her father but hadn't actually talked with the short haired girl yet.
"Yep, I've been working there for a couple of years now," came Mitsuki's chirpy response that made the pair of civilians smile slightly at the girls apparent similarity to their favourite customer.
While the others in the stand were talking, Naruto was thinking about something Tenzō had told him, that in seven days' time he was going to be undergoing a specific training regime for a week that would forbid him from being in the village during that time. The brown haired shinobi had given him the cover of him going out of the village to learn the art of buying from a nearby town, however that didn't change the fact the blond wanted to know exactly what the training would entail and the more experienced ANBU operative refused to give him a single hint.
However that didn't change the fact that he forced himself to act as if nothing was wrong, keeping himself at least mostly cheerful as he ate his fourth bowl of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet, the good part was that he would be capable of explaining his slight lack of cheer as simply still being upset about what he learned about being a ninja.
"So what's your relationship with Naruto-kun that makes you eat with him outside of work?" the young ramen waitress asked the brown haired black ops operative.
"I'm just trying to turn him into a respectable civilian, the damn academy doesn't teach children how to behave as anything but ninja," Mitsuki responded with a grin, earning another smile from the brown haired waitress.
"Then why aren't you starting with manners?" Naruto's big sister figure asked with a smirk, earning a grin off the similarly aged woman.
"Cause this place isn't classy," the actress stated, earning a mock gasp off Ayame in the process.
"You take that back!" Naruto couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes with a smile tugging at his lips as he watched his sister figure acting in mock indignation with one of his newest friends, he was actually quite happy that the pair seemed to get along as well as they did and weren't at each other's throats like they could've been.
"I don't think I will," the short haired secret ninja said with a grin clear on her face.
"Why you…" Ayame growled out with an obvious lack of actual aggression in her tone before the young blond decided to intervene.
"Now now, I don't want you two fighting like this, so why don't you kiss and make up?" the whiskered child said with a smile on his face, causing the ramen waitress to splutter at his words.
"I suppose we could, Ayame-san, please come over," Mitsuki said with a sweet voice that made shivers go down the spiky haired youths spine.
"Uh… I have to check our stock levels, yeah, bye bye!" the long haired girl said nervously before vanishing through the back of the stall with speed that rivalled shunshin.
Naruto could do nothing more than stare in disbelief at his workmate as she simply proceeded to continue eating her bowl, with the noticeable difference being her lack of a happy mask now that there was no one else in the stand.
"Uh… Mitsuki-san, were you serious about…" the whiskered blond started before finding it too difficult to continue due to the blush on his face at the thought that arose in his head.
"Kissing Ayame-san? Not really, though if she didn't run away I would've," the short haired brunette stated calmly before placing more noodles in her mouth.
"Wait? What?" the blue eyed civilian started only to find himself lacking the ability to form a coherent sentence.
"To people of our profession, sexuality is a hindrance as we are expected to act as bisexuals regardless of our personal preferences," the green eyed ANBU whispered barely loud enough for him to hear.
"Uh… does that include me?" the whiskered child asked hesitantly, earning a small grin off the girl.
"It's unlikely but not impossible," immediately the young Uzumaki grew sick at the idea of having to pretend to like a guy for a mission, he really did not want to undergo something like that.
"Let's change the topic," he said with a hint of desperation in his tone upon receiving the answer he didn't want from the more experienced ninja.
"Fine then, I take it miso ramen with roasted pork fillet is your favourite food," the young woman's statement immediately managed to take Naruto's mind out of its funk and back into pleasant territory.
"Damn right!" the blond was about to start a rant about the flavours when the other ANBU's expression retook its happy mask, making him look to see that Teuchi had come out from the back with a stern expression on his face.
"Mitsuki-san, I would appreciate it if you didn't try to molest my daughter," the normally kind ramen chef stated with an unusually stern expression adorning his face.
"I wasn't trying to molest Ayame-san, Naruto was the one that suggested we kiss and make up," the young woman stated calmly, effectively redirecting the older man's glare to the spiky haired youth.
"It was a joke, I didn't expect Mitsuki-san to actually try," Naruto responded while pointing a finger at his colleague, in turn redirecting Teuchi's glare back towards the more experienced ANBU.
"And if I was actually trying then she wouldn't have had a chance to escape," the green eyed woman said as the duo proceeded to stare at each other with blank expressions while completely ignoring the ramen chef.
"Now both of you stop that or I'll bar you from here," Teuchi stated seriously as he finally decided that he probably wouldn't get through to the duo in front of him and that he should just try and cut the losses now instead of letting things escalate further.
"Fine…" the moan that escaped the blond made a smirk appear on Mitsuki's face at the obvious way she could now blackmail him.
"Of course Teuchi-san," the brunette stated with a sweet voice and closed eyes, an expression that made Naruto rather nervous.
"Good, now eat up and buy lots more," and with that the older man went back through the back leaving the two assassins' alone in the stall.
"Well that was different, perhaps hanging out with you will be more entertaining than I initially expected," the green eyed woman said blankly, earning a sigh off the spiky haired youth.
"Does that mean you plan on following me every day?" the blue eyed Jinchūriki asked with a deadpan expression adorning his face.
"Maybe," she said with a small smile gracing her lips that surprised him at the sincerity he saw in it.
"Well, I guess I could have worse company," he decided to say with a toothy grin.
"Yeah… I know some people that would make you piss yourself," the way she said it caused the blond to give a nervous chuckle, "and you're definitely going to meet them soon."
"Really, well then I guess I should prepare myself for them right?" the spiky haired youth stated with his grin back on his face.
"If you can," and with that the duo returned to their meals as the spiky haired youth began to ponder who these people he would definitely meet would be.
XXX XXX XXX
The days passed quickly after that with him learning new things under the Mokuton user, such as how to walk on water, he was actually rather proud he managed to master that one in less than hour. He was still trying to master the art of enhancing his senses without blinding/deafening/choking on the sensory overload he suffered due to using too much chakra.
However the part that Naruto was most upset about was his anatomy lessons. Currently he had only managed to learn a few important points, namely the fatal points that littered it and a few nerve and blood vessel clusters that he was learning how to aim at for the purpose of stimulating a false death state in his enemies.
He had asked the older ninja the reason why he would want/need to know that and the answer he received was actually rather useful. Apparently there would be times when he would be expected to take someone alive and placing them in a false death state would make them easier to handle than if they were simply sealed since according to the KDF member, seals can be overpowered by enough chakra, but combined with the physical strain brought on by a false death state, such a thing would be significantly harder to achieve for the target.
Of course he wouldn't be so upset with his lack of progress on that subject if it wasn't for the simple fact that he was using a significantly large number of Kage Bunshin to assist him. The mere fact that it took him that much time to learn such a small amount of information really depressed him, he had been convinced that he would be capable of completing his training in record time due to the bunshin trick.
However he was finding that he needed it just to have the confidence he could complete the training within the six months that had been allocated for it.
He quickly shook his head clear of those thoughts as he splashed some water on his face to prepare himself for the rest of the day, he was still waiting for Tenzō to make a slip up and give him a way in which to get back at the man for the shower incident, he still wouldn't forgive the older ninja for not telling him it was mixed showering.
But that wasn't important right now, it was finally time for his special, week long training session and he was convicted to completing it with flying colours. It was with a grin adorning his face that he proceeded to leave his apartment, prepared for whatever the day would bring him.
And when it was all over, he would be having celebratory ramen with Mitsuki… well as long as he wasn't completely dead on his feet anyway.
Walking along the street was a different experience since he 'dropped out of the academy' and got a fulltime job, it was still strange for him to see the looks of indecision on the people's faces, obviously they didn't know what to think of his sudden decision or his lack of pranks. He was also certain they were probably confused about the fact that Konoha's Jinchūriki hadn't become a ninja, sure they didn't like the idea of him being a ninja but it was tradition for a jinchūriki to be used as a weapon and he was apparently nothing more than a regular civilian now.
Walking up to the second hand shop he brought a key out of his pockets and proceeded to unlock the door, providing him with access to the store that held the entrance to the ANBU HQ.
Going through to the back, he entered a small room that had no way to see inside without the Byakugan, then again that doujutsu was almost unblockable, not completely unblockable there was a single process that allowed an object to black out anything beyond it, it was what made the masks and cloaks ANBU wore capable of keeping their identities a secret from that clan.
Putting his hands in what had become his favourite handseal, the spiky haired youth proceeded to create a single solid copy of himself that immediately proceeded to walk out of the room and start preparing the store for opening while he headed towards the vault that housed his true workplace.
'6310081' he thought to himself as he proceeded to enter the new code, he'd initially been annoyed at the fact it had been changed, that is until he found out that the code was changed every week and cycled between ten different codes, at which point he proceeded to force himself to memorize the codes and their order of use.
It also explained how Hatake still knew the code to enter the base.
Walking down to the common room, he simply walked in and had a quick glance around, silently thanking whatever deity was watching over him that Yūgao wasn't there for him to blush at… again.
"Are you ready Uzumaki?" came a voice that he had grown intimately familiar with courtesy of the sheer number of times he had heard it.
"Hai Tenzō-sensei," the whiskered boy stated with conviction in his tone as he turned to face the man that had been teaching him for just over a week.
"Good, Mitsuki will take your bunshin out of the village when she arrives, however now it is time to show you the second entrance to this facility," the spiky haired wood user stated seriously, earning a set of wide eyes from the blond.
"Before that, get changed and put this on," the dark eyed man stated seriously as he handed the boy a dark cloak and a blank porcelain mask, "you will receive your true mask upon the decision of your codename, until then however you are simply 'recruit'."
"Hai Tenzō-sensei," the blue eyed boy stated as he felt a cold shiver run through his spine at the knowledge he would finally be wearing a mask, the physical evidence that he truly was in ANBU, even if it was one that lacked distinguishing features.
It didn't take long for the spiky haired youth to get changed, now wearing his training outfit underneath the mask and cloak while the standard issue scent neutralisers worked their magic and made him practically invisible to even an Inuzuka's nose.
Returning from the changing room, the boy was greeted by the now masked and cloaked KDF member, who gave him a simple nod of confirmation before he started walking towards a rather plain looking door that the young boy hadn't paid much attention to before, initially he had simply believed it was the female changing and shower rooms, though he hadn't thought about what it was after discovering it was mixed showering.
Following the significantly larger man through the arch, he was greeted by the sight of a long corridor that he could barely see the end of at the end he started at.
"This hallway leads to the 'public' entrance, whenever you are wearing your uniform you must enter and exit through this area," said the man wearing a cat mask with red crescent moons surrounding the eyes and black stripes pointing in from the edges.
"I see, where are we going anyway?" the young blond asked hoping that he would have some time to prepare for where he would be exiting.
"To an area underneath the Hokage's residence," the more experienced ninja stated calmly, earning a slight amount of surprise off his 'apprentice'.
"Really? That's pretty awesome, so what am I doing for my new training?" he asked hoping that the man would tell him now that he was nearly there anyway.
"You will learn soon enough," Naruto felt another cold shiver run down his spine, however this time it came from the hint of guilt that he could detect within the man's voice, he had never heard Tenzō speak like that before and it honestly scared him.
Opening the door on the other end, they were greeted by a bear of a man that wore a black trenchcoat over standard dark shinobi clothing while a pitch black bandana covered his head and held his Konoha hitae-ate in place. However what scared Naruto the most was the expression on his face, the scowl that bore past his mask and into his soul, one that burned with a hatred unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.
"Recruit, this is Morino Ibiki, he will be your instructor for the next week," the older ANBU stated seriously before turning back towards the door that Naruto noticed was locked by a similar lock to the one in the store.
"Huh? Wait, what do you mean by tha-" he tried to ask before the world turned black.
XXX XXX XXX
"Ow… my head," he muttered as he regained consciousness only to feel a massive force impact on his cheek and make him accidentally bite himself, "ah! What the-" again he found the impact striking his face, loosening a tooth as he tried to get his bearings.
"Wrong!" a firm, powerful and impossibly intimidating voice sounded upon the second hit, making Naruto open his eyes to see the man he had been introduced to standing there with a snarl on his face.
It was then that Naruto's mind registered the fact he was in a solid cell completely stripped of his clothing as barbed wire was wrapped around his limbs, holding him in place while simultaneously causing discomfort courtesy of the sharp barbs digging into his tender flesh.
His eyes widened in shock at his current predicament before he attempted to enhance his limbs with chakra, only to find that he couldn't feel it despite all his training in how to control the energy.
"What is your name?!" the venom contained within Ibiki's voice was enough to make Mizuki sound like Maneshi when trying to beat him in a drinking contest.
"Uzu-" once again he found a hand impacting with his face, successfully drawing blood this time, "wha-" once again he was rudely interrupted, this time by a fist impacting with his stomach, forcing his breath out of him while also disrupting his half-filled stomach and making him empty it via the ancient art of vomiting.
"I'll ask again, what is your name?!" the imposing figure demanded, earning a silent glare off the spiky haired youth, "better."
As soon as that word was uttered the blue eyed boy proceeded to find himself on the receiving end of several more punches, causing his skin to bruise and his mouth to bleed.
"What is your name?!" once again the man demanded an answer and once again the whiskered child simply glared at the man that had started beating him as part of his 'training'.
He was almost shocked out of his anger by the appearance of a viscous smirk on the man's lips, one that displayed pleasure at the prospect of inflicting pain on him.
"Did you know that it was Hokage-sama that permitted me to do this?" the smirk on the man's face sent chills down the spiky haired youths spine, "he gave you to me so I could break you, so that you would become a puppet for Konoha to use at its pleasure."
Naruto began to feel rage build up in him at this man's declaration, at the mere fact this man said that the Hokage ordered him to break him.
"You know don't you? Jinchūriki like you are good for nothing except placing on the battle field and letting them destroy everything in their path and once that's done… they are just an eye sore to everyone in the village," Ibiki stated, his infuriating grin still plastered on his face as he watched the rage building in the blond.
"You are just a weapon, an explosive that is to be conditioned to go off at the enemy forces before being stored away, out of sight and out of mind until it's needed again," Naruto couldn't stop himself from snarling at the man that was currently talking to him, "you are no different, Hokage-sama let you run around so freely because he wanted you to have something to lose… you are simply an expendable asset."
"When I get out of here… I'll kill you, you sick bastard," after finishing, Naruto found himself once again heaving as the bear of a man's fist impacted with his stomach.
"Yes, that's better, I like my victims with a bit of spunk," and with that the darkly dressed man stated with a sadistic grin, "I'll enjoy breaking you."
The next thing Naruto knew his mind was overcome by an excruciating pain as the sadistic torturer proceeded to dig his shoe into his groin, grinding his heel all the while grinning like a madman at the agony that spread across the blonds face.
"Yes, I really will enjoy breaking you down and spitting you out little man," the glare that he received in response simply made him smile wider as he wondered how he could push the boy before having to trade with Anko.
All he knew was that he would start having fun once he had gotten the basic stuff out of the way and got down to his actual specialty.