The Silent Fox
Chapter 7 – Part of the Team
Dog had waited for hours in the waiting room of the restricted ANBU section of the hospital, waiting for news. In the short time that it had taken him to bring Tiger over, the wounded man had continued to pale as he coughed up increasing amounts of blood. The medical ninja had forced him back, immediately bringing Tiger into an operating theatre. It came as no surprise to Dog that Cat had come rushing into the waiting room less than ten minutes later. The two had been intertwined in some sort of fling for closing on two years now, but they were secretive enough about it that the exact closeness of their relationship was still unknown.
Cat had been pacing up and down for almost an hour now, breathing heavily, although, as a highly trained ANBU, it obviously wasn't the exertion that was causing this. Running a hand through her hair, Cat stopped, taking a deep breath, and turned to sit opposite Dog. "Hokage-sama told me what happened." She said. Dog was taken aback, rather than upset like he had expected, she sounded quite angry. "He was worried that something like this would happen. He told me months ago. An ANBU guard detail is no place for a child. He was going to have the boy taken care of properly, but all of you persuaded him to train the useless little child instead!". She sobbed loudly as she ended her sentence.
Dog stood up, making to place a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't Fox's fault Cat, both he and Tiger did their jobs well, you just need-"
Cat slapped Dog's hand away with a growl. "I don't need to do anything, least of all on your advice. If Tiger dies, his blood is on your hands. You know he was grooming you to take over from him right?." She stood back up, walking over to the window, staring out into what was now a gentle blanket of rain. "We were gonna have a kid you know? With you finally beginning to be a bit more reliable, he told me he was getting ready to hand over the reins and rejoin the regular forces." she choked back another sob before continuing, her volume lowering with every word. "I don't know what I'll do without...", she trailed off.
Dog walked over, this time placing a comforting hand on her shoulder successfully. "You still can Cat. He's strong. He'll get through this.".
They stayed that way for a few seconds, one shaking with barely restrained tears, the other awkward and out of place, unable to give any real comfort. She shrugged his hand off, not turning around. "Get out of here Dog. Tiger needs me here. You have your own people to care for.".
TSF-TSF-TSF
It was an exhausted Dog that brought Fox with him into the Hokage's office the following morning. He had returned to his apartment to find Naruto already asleep, being watched over by both Owl and Crow. After sending them off with gratitude, Dog had climbed into bed beside the boy, holding him close. It was still early, but he must've been tired out from the sudden stress of the whole thing. He was proud of the boy, so proud that his chest hurt. The feeling of happiness at Naruto's reaction, and subsequent survival, intermingled awkwardly with his melancholic worry over Tiger. There was no doubt that if he hadn't gone to save Fox, he wouldn't have been injured so severely, or perhaps not at all. But there was also no doubt, that without Fox, the Hokage would be dead. He'd held his head in his hands, and sleep had eluded him for hours.
Naruto had understandably woken early, given his early bedtime, and so Dog hadn't gotten more than a couple of hours sleep before he was bombarded with frantically signed questions about Tiger's well-being. Honestly, trying to comfort the child while being so unsure himself had been one of the hardest things that Dog had ever done. To escape further interrogation, he'd taken them out to the memorial stone early, since Naruto seemed to respect his need to be left to his own thoughts there. It wasn't his teammates names that drew his attention this time however, as he found his finger drawing back and forth across the smooth, uncarved marble that held space for the next hero of Konoha. He hoped against hope that Tiger's wouldn't be the name to fill that spot.
It was a few minutes past 6 when the Sandaime finally came through the door. He glanced up towards the rafters, and Dog could see in his eyes, that the Hokage was just as tired as he was, if not more. Walking over and placing his hat on his desk, he rubbed his hand against heavily bagged eyes, before calling out. "Come down Dog, we need to talk.".
Dog did so, dropping to a knee before the desk, as the Hokage took a seat, speaking up again. "Tiger will live, but it was a close thing.". Dog looked up to meet the Hokage's eyes, but found only a small amount of relief within them, relief tempered with sorrow. "He's not woken up yet. They aren't sure if he ever will. So you'll be taking over as Captain of the day guard Dog. Congratulations on your promotion.".
"And what of a fourth team member, Sandaime-sama?", Dog questioned. The Hokage leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath.
"It seems to me that you already have one." he said, finally.
Dog was about to nod when Owl stepped forward from beside the door. "Is that safe, Sandaime-sama? It was a mistake to put Fox in harms way. If he wasn't such a genius... if he hadn't listened so well when we trained him... he might've died!".
The Hokage looked deeply at Owl, considering his answer. "You're right Owl. But he did listen. He trained hard. He could've died last night, but without him, I surely would have." The Hokage sighed again, looking away, unable to bring himself to meet Owl's now burning gaze.
Crow spoke up. "I think he's earned his spot on the team. Not many six year olds could claim to have saved the life of their Kage. Neither you, Owl, nor I, have claimed such an accolade either.". It took a few moments before Owl finally bowed his head in acquiessence. "What of Danzo, Hokage-sama?" Crow continued.
Hiruzen sighed, recalling the long and tense negotiations of the previous night. "He won't dare make any more moves in future, against Fox, or against myself.".
Owl raised his head again sharply, "You mean he hasn't been executed? Or even arrested!".
Dog turned to berate the passionate young man for his disrespect, but Hiruzen stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Danzo has been dealt with. If I were to simply have him executed, there would be nothing to stop a fanatical and violent retaliation from Root. No, he put a collar round his own neck with whatever madness possessed him to make that attempt on my life. If it had succeeded, he would have been able to make an attempt at becoming the Godaime, but with his plot's failure, and with the relevant people informed, he daren't set a foot out of line lest suspicion fall immediately upon him. If all goes well, Fox will be strong enough to protect himself by the time he has recovered his political position.".
Dog decided it was his time to speak now. "With all due respect, Sandaime-sama, will you be safe with a guard squad at reduced strength. Although you won't be attending the upcoming Chunin exams since they are in Iwa, will it be appropriate to bring Fox along to the next ones in Suna?". It was a very valid point. The day guard rarely had to do more than protect the Hokage in his office or run messages since the council meetings were in the evenings, and as Hokage, there was no resident of the village with higher prestige, and hence anyone seeking an audience would come to him. The only real exceptions were important diplomatic missions, such as the Chunin exams. Konoha was not sending any teams to the upcoming one, since their relationship with the hosts, Iwagakure, had been tense since the Third Great Shinobi war, and the one prior, there had been no teams that made it through to the third stage. The next set of exams after those in Iwa would be held in Suna, and Konoha would be likely to send a strong showing, with at least a few Genin making it through to the final stage.
"Fox will do fine," Hiruzen replied, "We have the best part of a year to train him before the exams, and besides, Sunagakure is an ally of the leaf. I would be more hesitant if it were Kumo, but the Suna exams will be safe."
Dog bowed his head slightly. "As you will, Sandaime-sama. Does this mean that Fox is now an official shinobi? I'm concerned about leaving a paper trail, since if we can keep him hidden it will be safer. At the same time, his service should be recorded. When the time is right in the future, he can burst into the limelight, and make his father proud. I don't want for them all to blame Naruto forever."
The Sandaime smiled down at Dog. The young ANBU was growing in real time. Having someone else that he cared deeply about thrust upon him, he was slowly but surely bringing himself out of his previous funk. He really would fill Tiger's shoes admirably. "Very well Dog. I'll create a file under the name Uzumaki Naruto. It will be an S rank secret, and I will maintain it myself. As of now, Fox is officially a shinobi of Konoha, and part of the Hokage's day guard.".
TSF-TSF-TSF
That evening, Dog brought Fox straight home, forgoing his usual physical training in favour of the upcoming conversation. While Fox had been with the Hokage's guards for several months now, things were about to change. He would no longer just be an extra sitting on the sidelines, but would have to truly pull his weight as part of the team. Training him to be ready for the trip to Suna in 9 months or so wouldn't just be a matter of improving his strength and ability to defend himself, but Fox would also need to learn what it meant to be part of a team. Not to mention basic skills such as restraining his chakra presence. The only reason that Fox was never noticed by visitors to the Hokage's office was that Dog's Fuinjutsu array was still in place, and Fox would only ever stay in that one place. That would need to change going forwards.
Dog sat Fox down on the bed next to him, and looked straight into the boy's eyes. "Okay Fox, you were listening to what Sandaime-sama was saying earlier right?." The boy nodded slowly, putting his thumb to his lips and chewing the nail. "That means you're gonna have to learn to be like Tiger, and take over some of the things that he used to do. And you're gonna have to watch your spot on your own too.".
The boy nodded. 'How long will it be till Tiger is back?'. Dog sighed. The boy didn't seem to really get it, even if he had been listening earlier. "I don't know Fox, it might be a long time. But you need to do your best until he is, then he'll be very happy when he returns.". The boy nodded again, smiling a little this time. Dog felt bad in all honesty. Fox didn't understand, and he'd let the boy live in blissful ignorance. Maybe for the best, but Dog felt like he was lying to the kid. Then again, if anyone had the fight in them to survive that kind of wound and return to duty, it was Tiger. As long as he truly believed Tiger would be back some day, then it wasn't technically a lie. He could live with that, he thought. Still, it might take more than just a few tries to explain the chain of command to the boy. He'd do it though. In 9 months time, Fox would be ready.
Review responses:
Poseidon1702: Thanks for the call out, I'd forgotten it was in the tags :) I planned to reveal it soonish anyway, but now it's removed it at least won't be a spoiler for any new readers. Also I think I might have a fix for the title alignment. Fingers crossed it has worked when this goes up :)
777torn777: Ah you may have guessed who it is by now, but all I meant in the previous a/n was that the unnamed character that it is has been aged up.
A/N: Whew, I loved the start of that chapter, but couldn't really decide how to end it :s. I was so incredibly tempted to have Naruto take the Namikaze name. I really really wanted to. Ugh. Felt cute, may retcon later I guess? If anyone has an opinion on this, I'd appreciate a review about it. Basically I'm thinking that since the file will be an S rank secret too anyway, there isn't really any reason to keep the two secrets separately. That said it does feel slightly like gratuitous wish fulfillment, hence my dilemma.
Exciting announcement though, I'm getting a good friend of mine to make some cover art for the story. We read through it together last night and he showed me a quick preliminary design and I'm super excited :). He's playing around with some new computerised art software though so idk when he'll be finished. Also I started back at work today after a period of heart related illness. I was surprised to find that they're allowing me to make a "phased return" which means I'm on half days for at least another week, which is good news for the release schedule, and also good news for me since I'm already exhausted after half a day haha :)
I'd like to take the opportunity to recommend a fanfic that, although not a Naruto one, did go some way to inspiring this one. Taliesin19's "Grow Young with Me" is a Harry Potter fanfiction which sees a widowed Harry finding solace with a young Muggle from a local cafe. Like how TSF has been so far, it has a slow burn Hurt/Comfort kind of genre, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Although TSF will have increasing amounts of action and fighting in later chapters, the way that Taliesin19 handles the relationships in their fic did inspire my approach here somewhat.