The Silent Fox
Chapter 4 – Morning Memorials
It was past 5am at the memorial stone outside training ground 3. Dog sat quietly, as he did every morning he woke up in Konoha, staring at the names of his old team mates. He'd had to come later than usual though, since Fox needed to sleep more than Dog did, but a solid hour before starting his shift would be enough for him. Naruto himself sat to Dog's side, not paying attention to the memorial stone whatsoever. He'd removed his mask and was repeatedly trying, and failing, to complete the first step of the leaf sticking exercise. It had taken several hours of effort the previous night before Naruto had been able to access his chakra. Explaining how to manipulate it had been a challenge with the boy's limited vocabulary, and Naruto seemed to have an ungodly amount of chakra for a child his age; more than most Chunin at Dog's best guess, from the surge of energy when Naruto had first accessed it; which made it very difficult for the child to control. Layered on top of his shaky understanding of Dog's explanation, it was quite the challenge. Dog was happy to be patient though.
Dog sat staring at the memorial for a while. He'd thought he'd learned his lesson, but he just kept making mistakes. He never should have left Rin behind the first time, Obito would still be alive otherwise. Now he was sure that staying away from Naruto had been a mistake, Hokage's orders be damned.
He felt a small tug on his sleeve, and looked round to see the leaf stuck firmly to Naruto's forehead. 'Chakra', the boy signed tentatively.
"Well done Fox." Dog praised, smiling a little. Naruto returned the smile cautiously, but lost concentration as he did so, letting the leaf fall to the ground. "Looks like you still need a little more practice though.". Dog smiled, and picked up the fox mask, handing it to the boy. "Come on Fox, lets get going."
TSF-TSF-TSF
It was just after lunch, and the Sandaime's work was in full swing. Dog watched as Crow looked after Fox, teaching him some new signs as best he could. Fox seemed to enjoy learning the sign for shinobi, and enjoyed it even more when he was taught to say that he was one. Fox seemed to be quite comfortable with Crow, more so than with Owl, much to Owl's chagrin since he'd put in so much effort to get along with the boy over the previous couple of days. He didn't even seem to flinch when Crow reached forward and and pushed his hands into position for one of the more complicated hand signs he learned. Perhaps it was because Crow had been the one to hand him his mask. Fox made another attempt at the phrase he was trying to get across, and Dog was able to see roughly, that he'd signed 'I am a shinobi' to Crow. He saw Crow sign back 'well done', before ruffling the boy's hair.
The boy began to sign again. 'I am a chakra', he signed. Crow seemed to stop still in confusion, before Fox reached up and removed his mask. The boy then pulled a leaf from his pocket and stuck it to his forehead. He took his hand away, and Crow was slightly surprised as it stayed in place. The corner's of Fox's mouth turned up into a small smile. Crow signed and spoke simultaneously, "Well done Fox, but you have to keep your mask on at all times while you're here." Crow handed the mask back to the boy, who put it back on obediently. "Here, I'll teach you how to say it properly. Like this. I have chakra."...
TSF-TSF-TSF
It had taken just under two weeks for Naruto to get sufficiently consistent with the leaf sticking exercise for Dog's liking. After three days, the boy could keep one leaf stuck to his forehead. Four more days after that and he could keep two on his face, one for each cheek. Now, after another six, Dog look down as Naruto pointed to the three leaves he had stuck in place, one for the forehead, and one for each cheek. "Well done Fox, I think you're about ready to wear that mask properly." He picked up the fox mask, and began to unfasten the makeshift band that he had attached to the back. With one hand, he brushed the leaves away, and with the other, he held the mask up to Naruto's face. "Now stick it on like you did with the leaves."
Dog watched as Fox screwed his eyes shut for a moment in concentration, and then he felt the mask morph ever so slightly in his hand as it adjusted to fit Fox's face perfectly. He turned back towards the memorial stone, sighing contentedly, and pulling Fox close into a one armed hug. "I'm proud of you kid." He spoke aloud. Dog felt his thoughts drift for a moment, until he felt Fox pull away from him. He turned to see the boy meet his eyes for a moment. 'What is that?' he signed, and then pointed to the memorial stone.
Dog paused for a moment, taken aback. This was the first time that Fox had actually asked about anything, rather than waiting to be told. "Those are the heroes of Konoha, Fox. We keep their names here to help us remember them all." The boy looked a little confused at that. 'What is a hero?' he signed, although he struggled a little with the unfamiliar sign for hero.
Dog sighed and reached forward, tracing the name of his erstwhile team-mate carved into the smooth marble, before he finally replied. "Heroes are people who save others."
TSF-TSF-TSF
Owl glanced down at the small child in his arms as he shunshined towards training ground 3, which he had been reliably informed was Fox's usual training ground. Tonight, Dog was planning to negotiate with his neighbour, Guy, to try and persuade him to move to a different room, thus leaving the adjacent apartment free for Fox. Rather than subject Fox to such pure and unadulterated youthfulness, Owl had readily volunteered to start teaching Fox the shunshin. Dog had come in with Fox that morning and smugly announced that Fox was now able to wear his mask properly, and was now ready to learn something new. The fact that Fox had lost his concentration once during the afternoon, allowing the mask to fall off and skitter away, almost landing on the head of an unsuspecting Genin before Owl had reached out and snagged it, had done nothing to dampen Dog's pride over the whole thing. Nor had it for Owl for that matter.
He placed Fox carefully on the ground as they reached the training ground, and spoke to him slowly. "Would you like to learn to move fast like me? We call it the shunshin.". Fox took a moment to digest the new signs he was seeing, before signalling an affirmative. "Okay then, so start by trying to channel your chakra to your legs. It should help you run faster. When you've got it down, we can see how fast you can go."
It had taken fox a full fifteen minutes before he was ready to start moving around whilst channelling his chakra to his legs. After that he spent a full half an hour running around at top speed before he was finally too tired and had to take a break. Owl had found it quite amusing if he was honest. Six year old children weren't exactly know for their coordination, and Fox had bumped into a fair few trees while hurtling around on his chakra enhanced legs. Fox hadn't really gotten any faster in his half hour of practice, but he did get a little more experienced when it came to dodging trees by the end of it.
Owl reached down and lifted the tired little boy into his arms as he turned to leave the training ground, ruffling the boy's hair as he did so. Fox looked up at him and began to sign. 'Are you a hero Owl?'
"What do you mean?" Owl replied quickly, wondering where this was coming from.
'Like on the stone.' Fox signed, before pointing towards the memorial stone at the edge of the training ground.
Owl sighed, glad that his mask would hide the turmoil on his face. "Not yet Fox, but someday, I think I will be."...
TSF-TSF-TSF
Dog had been successful in persuading Guy to move, but Guy was sent out on a long term mission the day after they'd had their conversation, and so the actual moving had to be postponed until he returned. Dog still savoured the time he had with Fox though, and Fox seemed to have also gotten used to having a very large, and quite warm pillow to hug as he slept. Dog had also wasted no time with Fox's training. A further two weeks of practice, and Fox was determined to start putting his shunshin to good use.
Dog arrived at the Hokage's office just before 6am, ready to start his shift, before Fox started signing, asking to be put down. Dog complied, and Fox immediately lined himself up, bending his knees a little, and getting ready to try and jump up to the rafters. Dog smiled at this; Fox hadn't warned him beforehand what he wanted to try, but there couldn't be much harm in letting him. With a swirl of wind around his body, Fox leaped up into the air, doing his best to perform a shunshin. In all honesty, it was more of a chakra empowered leap than the precise and exacting shunshin of a shinobi, but he managed to cover the distance well all the same. A little too well actually. There was a shuffle of small feet, and luckily, Crow, who had been waiting in the rafters already, reached out and snagged Fox by the collar, preventing him from tumbling over the edge and landing on the Hokage's desk. It wasn't bad for a first real attempt, all things considered.
The Sandaime, who had just been ushered through the door of his office by his night guard detail, chuckled a little at the sight. "Perhaps some tree climbing practice would be a good idea Dog. Both for a little safety, and to help him control his chakra a little better.".
Dog knelt quickly as he heard the Hokage enter. "Yes, Sandaime-sama." He replied.
The Hokage continued, "Come back down a moment Fox, I want to speak to you."
Fox complied quickly, dropping into a crouch before the Hokage, who continued. "You've been with us for a month now Fox. Are you enjoying yourself?"
'Yes, Hokage-sama' the boy signed back.
"I'm glad. You'll make a fine shinobi when you get older. Maybe you'll even take this hat from me someday if you keep progressing as quickly as you are." The Hokage said with a smile. "Would you like to be Hokage some day Fox?"
Fox looked thoughtful for a moment, before he looked up, meeting Hiruzen's eyes. 'No, Hokage-sama. I want to be a hero.'
A/N: So this one was a little short, but I'm happy with it overall. I don't want to get too bogged down or repetitive, but I think it's important to show how Naruto is developing so it doesn't end up with some kind of deus ex machina "oh hey look I know the rasengan now" kind of bs later down the road. It's also given me a great chance for Naruto to have some bonding time with Dog and Owl. It felt a little difficult to write at parts as I was doing my best to avoid any hints of repetitiveness, but I really did enjoy this time-lapse style of chapter.
Also I feel like I should perhaps say this explicitly, but aside from when people are occupied, both the Hokage and all of the ANBU sign to Naruto alongside talking to him. Except if they have their hands full of course. I didn't want to keep mentioning it, but in case anyone was confused, just consider them to be always doing that when possible :)
A small note about schedule, I don't really have one, but I'll be aiming for one or two chapters a day, maybe more if I really get in the swing. I do have a full time job though, so I make no exact promises, but you can expect fairly regular updates, especially on weekends.