Chapter 2

R&R. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I know it's a lot to take in, figuring out some random highschooler who is on a fanfiction site doesn't own Naruto. I don't even know why I have to write this. I don't think it's possible to get any money off of fanfic's. I just do it 'cause all fanfic's have it.

"... actually don't know anymore. He's been more reserved than usual." said a voice with a sigh.

"Maybe it has something to do with how he died?" suggested somebody. Naruto was in a hospital, he could tell that much. The voice he heard sounded like the Hokage. And the other one, he didn't recognize it. Naruto decided to pretend to still be sleeping, and see what they had to say.

"Maybe he finally awakened the demon!?" said a voice in shock.

"If that is the case, we must deal with it immediately!" said another equally scared voice. Naruto was pretty sure it was the two old people that were always bugging the Hokage. Naruto remembered them from the couple of times he hung out in the old man's office. They never really seemed to like him much, at least now he knew why.

"There shall be no such actions!" boomed out the commanding voice of the Hokage. The other two immediately backed down. Naruto jumped a tiny bit, alerting the three shinobi that he woke up.

"We'll discuss this later Hiruzen." A male voice said, right before Naruto heard the door close. After they left, he squinted his eyes open just a tiny bit, in order to see the hokage sit down on a chair in front of him.

"Naruto? I know you're awake." he said with a gentle voice. Naruto, knowing the gimmick was up, sat up, but instantly had the worst headache he had ever felt.

"Don't try and get up too quickly." With a slight chuckle, he cleared his throat. Naruto recognized the feeling he was letting out. This was when the old man got serious. Usually, he was quite kind, and light hearted. But wherever his duties as a hokage called him, his demeanor instantly changed. Naruto wondered what could have caused him to act like that.

'Maybe he actually believes those crazy old coots and thinks I made contact with the kyuubi?' Naruto didn't know why, but he felt it necessary to keep that fact a secret.

'What am I going to do when he asks me what happened?' That would cause a problem. Naruto didn't want to lie to his grandfather figure, but - no, he's getting too far ahead of himself.

'I'll deal with it when it happens.' his thoughts were interrupted by the Hokage's voice.

"So Naruto, how are you feeling? You've been out for 2 days. Do you remember exactly what happened?" Naruto hesitated before answering. Deciding it for the better, Naruto shook his head.

"I just remember the villager attacking, then something inside of me snapped. Then I woke up here." Hiruzen let out a sigh, noticing the boy's hesitation. He decided to play along with him, reassuring himself that he probably needed time to sort out his thoughts.

"I was afraid so." he said with a somber tone. "You got injured real bad. The doctor has said you'll need at least a month before you can leave the hospital, but knowing you, I have a feeling you'll be free before that." Naruto had to stifle a groan at that

Hiruzen suddenly reached over to a file on top of the stand next to Naruto's bed. "Don't worry. I did bring some good news." the old man said, while messing Naruto's hair affectionately, to which the blonde started to grumble about. No matter what he might say, Naruto secretly loved it, as he seldom showed affection.

"So, what'd you get me!" the exuberant young boy said rapidly "I know! It's a kunai set, isn't it! Wait no, you're so impressed with my skills, you've decided to instantly promote me to a ninja! Or wait, no Hokage! Or maybe…." as he trailed on enthusiastically, Hiruzen took the moment to appreciate Naruto's attitude. Even after experiencing such a traumatizing experience at such a young age, he was still able to come back from it. Noticing that Naruto was done with his chattering, and was looking at him expectantly, he decided to pull out the documents of the folder and present them to Naruto. The moment he saw them, he let out a gasp.

"Are those…." stammered a dumbstruck Naruto

"Yes, they are. I was able to get you assigned to the academy a year early. But," the professor warned Naruto while putting up his finger,"you better prove to me that I made the right choice and study hard. Is that understood?"

"Yes Jiji, I understand!" Naruto shouted. He then proceeded to envelope the Hokage in a hug, only to be reminded of his injury. He grimaced, while clutching his head in pain.

"Arrrg" Naruto growled. "How much longer do I have to stay here for!" he whined."And why do I have such a big headache!?"

"The doctor said something about how you had a really bad concussion, and it may have affected you due to how young you are." Then all of a sudden, the Hokgae took a serious tone.

"Now, Naruto, you better try not to escape. It would affect you permanently long term if you're not careful. Am I understood?" Hiruzen said. The little boy looked up at him with his bright blue eyes, and nodded seriously, if a bit scared.

'If he thinks I'm bad, I'll wonder what he'll make of Tsunade if he ever met her.' Recalling the few times she had treated him with a shudder.

"For now Naruto, I'll have to go. Urgent Hokage duties. I hope to see you running all around my office when you have recovered. Just make sure to see me, I have a gift for you to help you at the academy." the hokage said as he got up, and with a gush of wind (they were in a building; where is it coming from?) disappeared.

Now that Naruto was alone, he finally had time to collect his thoughts. What was that ability he used back in the alleyway? From what he understood, he turned certain parts of his body into water. That was the easy part. But how did he activate it, that's the real question. At the time, it kind of just happened in the spur of the moment. He was really paying attention. Naruto felt the desperate urge to try it right now, but he knew better. On the odd chance he actually succeeded, the old man probably placed Anbu in his room to observe anything he did. Although most of his peers would say otherwise, Naruto was actually quite bright and observant. He noticed things that usual took most people years of shinobi training and missions to accomplish the same.

And so, one day, a year or two ago, Naruto realized that the Hokage had put Anbu to guard him. The first time he noticed it, he felt a shadow go over top of him. Later he noticed the clang of a mask falling. The Anbu didn't care that they exposed their position, thinking it fine since he was just a toddler. Naruto scoffed at that. If this was what the supposed "elite" of the village had to offer, then how were they suppose to watch over th -

'Wait, if there are Anbu always watching me, then where were they that night!? Or any of the other times, for that matter! Have they been trying to get me killed the entire time!"

Naruto was fuming. He decided then and there, that the older generation weren't going to be any help to him. If he needed something, he'd have to get it himself. Naruto had to stop himself from going down that train of thought.

'I still have to think about my meeting with him'

Naruto spent a while trying to think about, but eventually succumbed to sleep

Hokage Office

The man known as the God of Shinobi, sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. He had been trying to figure out what exactly happened that night. Since Naruto refused to tell him, he turned to the Anbu that was meant to be guarding him that day. Turns out, conveniently enough, that the Anbu was drugged, and got his mask stolen. While it was extremely unlikely that an elite of the village was drugged by a handful of citizens, he had no proof otherwise, so he had to take it at face value. Although, he made sure the Anbu in question had to take some remedial training.

So, since there was a dead body there, he decided to evaluate the scene of where it happened. The corpses of the man seemed to have been exposed to extreme heat. If that was it, he'd just assume that the kyuubi took control, end of story. He calls Jiraiya, they look at the seal, voila. Problem solved. However, that was not the case. Not only was the body blistered from heat, it was also drenched in water. From all the reports they had, the only affinity the kyuubi has shown was fire. So where did the water come from? Hiruzen was certain it had something to do with what the boy was trying to hide from. No problem. He'll eventually tell him, when he got more comfortable with whatever happened. Or so he kept telling himself….

Time skip - 2 weeks

It was the dead of night, the town that was usual bustling with noise, was all but silent. Down a hallway of a certain apartment, one could see a silhouette. It was approaching a door. When it finally reached its target, the figure started fumbling his keys, until he finally got a solid hold of them and opened the door.

"YES! It's good to be home." shouted a certain blonde.

"SHUT UP BRAT, SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" shouted a particularly angry villager.

"And the moment's gone." Naruto sighed to himself. Well, no matter. Naruto wasn't gonna let anybody ruin this for him. He was finally out of the stupid hospital! No more needles, or food that you can't chew. It was soooooooooo boring. He never had visitors, except for the Hokage, who could seldom visit him.

After getting himself comfortable, he decided to hit the hay and meet up with the Hokage, just like he asked him to.

'The old man's gonna be so surprised when I walk in good as new. One month my ass!' thought Naruto while getting ready for bed. With that final thought, he passed out.

"Old man! I'm here!" one very energetic Naruto cried while barging into the Hokage tower. The secretary gave him a glare. Naruto ignored it and continued to barge his way to the old man's office. After arriving, he noticed the Hokage in the middle of a meeting with the same two old geezers from the day he woke up from the hospital. He decided to listen in on their conversation, but stopped when he felt someone grab his shoulders from behind.

"It's rude to listen in on other people, you know." said a voice from behind him, making Naruto let out a yelp. Behind him, stood an Anbu with a tiger mask and a short sword on his back, wearing the standard Anbu gear.

The three elders inside took note of Naruto, so the other two left with their heads high, promising the same as last time, To return on a later date.

Now, Naruto was annoyed. He had a chance to listen in on their conversation and maybe learn something about the demon inside of him, but the Anbu behind him made him miss out.

'It's O.K, I'll probably figure out sooner or later, right? The Hokage wouldn't hide it from me forever.' pushing the situation aside with that thought, and giving one last glare at the Anbu, who has yet to leave his spot, Naruto strolled into the office with a smile on his face.

"Jiji! I'm better!" Naruto shouted, while jumping onto the chair in front of the hokage's desk.

"That's very good. I heard they let you out of the hospital last night, I was wondering when you were gonna come visit. Normally, I would take you out for ramen, but I'm afraid I'm too busy right now. We'll have to arrange for a later date. Don't worry," Hiruzen said with a slight chuckle, as Naruto pouted,"I did bring you something to help you with the academy in the meantime."

Opening a drawer in his desk, the Hokage pulled out a scroll, and presented it to Naruto. Naruto greedily grabbed it, and tried to read the cover.

"Beginners guide to being a ninja, how to unlock your ch-katra?" he looked up at Hiruzen with a confused expression.

"Chakra. You'll learn more about it if you read the scroll." Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

"Thanks Jiji! You're the best!" And with that, Naruto stormed out of the office to go practice with his new scroll. Hiruzen looked fondly at him while he left. Ever since he was a child, Naruto had always wanted to be a ninja. Hiruzen really wanted to be the one to teach him, but knew it could land him into a bit of trouble, for showing favoritism to a child. Guess what he's about to do had to be enough.

"Neko!" the Hokage called. Instantly, the same tiger masked Anbu from earlier appeared.

"Hokage-sama?" he asked while looking up.

"I need you to watch over Naruto. Do whatever you need, whether it be watching him from the shadows or approaching up front. If asked, your codename will be Yamato. You know what to do in case it leaks out. Am I understood?" he asked sternly.

"Hai!" the anbu shouted, and with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'I hope he doesn't have to resort to restraining Naruto, that could cause a problem.' The old man thought sadly.

A.N: I tried to make this chapter longer, it's about 2000 words. And just to be clear, the man in the cat mask is tenzo (or Yamato, whatever you want to call him). I searched it up, and it said he wore a cat mask, even though I kinda thought that was Yugao's thing. If you know what his mask actually is, it'll be much appreciated if you tell me (through P.M or review). Thanks for reading!

Edit (2020-04-10): I've corrected Yamato's mask to a tiger.