Guarding over Naruto from the shadows were one of my top priorities, a small group of us keeping an eye on him even during the night. We would rotate our shifts, but today it was just me as necessity required the attention of most of my fellow ANBU operatives elsewhere. I remained completely out of sight, up on the rooftops lingering behind a wall above an alleyway, watching as Naruto walked alone and grumbled to himself. He'd grown up into a fine young boy, however to my understanding, he was a rather hopeless student. He struggled with techniques and remembering what he had been taught, even though he did his best and trained often by himself, but for the most part he was by himself with very little to do. Already he had been rejected for the thousandth time by his classmates to associate with them, and he had also been thrown out of a shop quite unkindly with a mask being launched after him.
It was not in my mission directive to interfere in Naruto's everyday life, and that I could only step in when he was in mortal danger or he posed a threat to the village, but there were several instances during my observations that I wished I could simply smack someone on the head for being rude. Their parents clearly did not raise them with discipline if they could not conceal their negative feelings from a little boy. It was simply illogical to treat him in such a manner, no matter how afraid a person might be.
Due to the lack of operatives available, my shift would not end until the evening and then I would return the moment dawn came, and the cycle continued just like that. I spoke quietly with the ANBU ninja I was replacing each morning, who informed me that Naruto had pranked his fellow classmates the night before by scaring them out of the cemetery and had happened upon Iruka, his class teacher. When the report was given, I tilted my head so that my mask dipped to the side. "He said he refused to go back to the academy?"
"That's right. Don't know how long it'll last, but he did not go this morning. He's still inside for the moment, so good luck." Then the ninja disappeared, the bear mask vanishing before me as I then assumed my duties. I observed Naruto through the window of his apartment, thinking to myself that it was in desperate need of a clean. Already I had reported many times that the cleaner who was meant to come and help take care of Naruto had failed to appear on many occasions, and recently she had stopped coming altogether. Lord Third was concerned, but since Naruto seemed competent enough to take care of himself, the Council had ruled that it was not necessary to spend any more time or funds on him.
Perhaps I could go inside and clean for him whilst he was out and I was not meant to watch over him. It would not take me long as it was a small apartment, but then again, doing so would be overstepping the bounds of my mission, and I always followed my orders with clear distinction. I observed Naruto all day until dusk, gave my report then returned the next morning like clockwork. All had been quiet in the night, though the ANBU ninja observed that Naruto had stayed in bed awake for hours before finally sleeping, seemingly thinking deeply to himself.
Iruka came that morning, most likely to drag Naruto to school, however the rather cheeky little student had decided to avoid Iruka by going out the back, wearing nothing but his underpants and jumped down into the street to escape. I had almost chuckled to myself, amused at Naruto's antics as I followed him to a back alley where he quickly changed, pulling on his clothes. "That was a close one." Naruto sighed, wiping his brow with his arm before taking off once more, leaving Iruka far behind.
Having been woken up early Naruto was clearly still sleepy, yawning as he walked with one hand in his pocket, wandering around rather aimlessly. "I have so much free time since I quit the academy." He yawned for the sixth time in a row. In all my time having observed Naruto, the fact that he was not a morning person was very noticeable. Keeping up with him in the shadows, I watched as the three children he had frightened during their courage test cut him off, all three of them standing so that Naruto was forced to stop and interact with them, shoulders slightly tense. "What do you guys want?"
"Naruto, we all decided that you can join our group if you want." The lead boy announced and for a fleeting moment, I felt satisfied and a little pleased on Naruto's behalf that someone was showing him kindness, offering him friendship when he had so desperately sought it before.
"Are you serious?!"
"Of course, but there's just one thing you have to do before you can hang out with us." My fleeting satisfaction swiftly vanished and I moved closer, a blur of movement as I hung above the boys concealed from sight as Naruto also grew suspicious, folding his arms and arching an eyebrow as he asked exactly what the boy meant. "Yesterday, my dad's patrol unit had a fight with some enemy ninja in the back hills, and he said they left the corpses out there. If you can bring back something from one of those corpses, then we'll let you join our group."
Immediately I was remembering the boy's face and name, my memory swiftly recalling who his father was so that I could report him to my superiors. Ninja should not reveal the contents of their missions to non-regulated ninja, especially not to their children as it was a safety and security risk. He will have to face disciplinary action. "For real?!" Naruto grinned brightly, overjoyed to have this opportunity and very quickly went running off towards the hills. "Then I'll bring something back for sure! You can count on it!"
My frown furrowed further. The back hills were still a dangerous area as they had not yet been swept for enemy activity, Naruto should not go there. However, my mission directive did not state that I should prevent Naruto from doing anything risky, merely protect him if he was threatened or in danger. He was not yet in danger, as he was still inside the village. Biting down on my lip, I had no other choice but to go after him and stay close. I can keep him safe, even if there were other ninja out there, and perhaps if he was able to bring something interesting back, he might gain a little respect from his classmates for his bravery.
Sighing softly, I followed behind Naruto as he raced all the way out of the village and into the back hills, going deep into the woods. "Alright, I've gotta find that corpse." Naruto mused, coming to a halt as he looked around. I was almost directly above him, keeping a close eye on our surroundings and listening for movement, but thus far I sensed no danger. "I wonder where it could be, I've played here so many times I know the place like the back of my hand, but I should have asked the guys exactly where I should look…"
A flash of movement and sound caught my attention, immediately making my head swivel and my Sharingan activate but I remained perfectly still as the chakra signature informed me of the person's identity. Iruka, Naruto's sensei. "Naruto!" Landing upon the tree branch, Iruka then dropped to the ground below me, facing Naruto sternly. "Come on, you have to get back to the academy right now."
"No! I don't want to go to the academy anymore!" Naruto protested with a stubborn scowl, clenching his fists as he furiously shook his head.
"You don't understand, there are still dangerous enemies out here." The two of them argued, Naruto becoming increasingly adamant whilst Iruka maintained a calm composure, albeit somewhat distant. The behaviours of others always intrigued me, so I watched their exchange with a quiet intrigue, wondering why human nature made us all react in different manners in such a wide variety of ways depending on the situation, and even then the behaviours varied from person to person. It was fascinating, but Naruto's reactions always took me by surprise, and even after pouring his heart out to Iruka how lonely he was, he then suddenly preformed what he called a 'sexy' jutsu, to become a beautiful looking young woman with a voluptuous figure which immediately knocked Iruka out.
Stunned, I barely remembered to follow after Naruto as he laughingly hurried away from his teacher, disappearing into the brush. Leaping from branch to branch, I kept over Naruto's head as he eventually ran into an area where the ground was littered with kunai, swords and explosive tags which had already been detonated. The scene of the fight, though I could not see any bodies lying around with my Sharingan. Had the boys been mistaken? Or had they lied that there was a body out here. In all truth, it was likely that it had already been taken away.
Naruto diligently searched for over an hour, scouring the ground, the trees, the undergrowth and everywhere in between for something of interest to take back but ended up empty handed. He flopped down in the middle of a small clearing, groaning unhappily and in defeat. "It's not here." His stomach growled, my keen senses picking up the sound as I continued to watch over him. I hoped that his hunger would drive him to go home, for I was already aware of the fact that three ninja were also nearby, watching him. They had not moved to attack and did not display any malicious intent, so for the moment I let them be. If I pre-emptively struck out, it might cause them to become aggressive and therefore place Naruto in danger.
So long as I was close by, Naruto would be safe from them. No one would be able to compete with my Sharingan, and if things became too dangerous, I could merely take Naruto away from here or transport him into my time-space dimension with my Kamui so that no one could touch him. "Come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything at all today." Looking around hopefully for something to eat, Naruto spotted a bird's nest up in the tree branches and so climbed up to it, hopefully looking inside for eggs. "Well, it looks like I just found my lunch!" Something glinted as I moved around to observe over Naruto's shoulder, never once making a sound. "What's that?"
Searching through the nest, Naruto found a kunai knife with what I could only determine as a secret missive tied around the hilt. His eyes brightened, grinning as he lifted the kunai a little higher. "Wow! I've never seen a kunai shaped like this before." Jumping down with his hunger forgotten, Naruto lifted it high into the air so that the blade caught the sunlight. "The enemy ninja must have used this kunai during the battle yesterday. I found something that I could bring back to my friends!" Taking off at a run, my Sharingan picked up on movement and the three enemy ninja came into my vision. Their bodies glowed with the chakra movement of their systems, allowing me to see clearly where they were and how close they were becoming.
Hurry Naruto, my guess is that they want that kunai, or rather, the paper wrapped around it. If I can get you out of here and into the village before they catch up, then you'll be alright. With one hand ready to stray up to the sword upon my back, my other hand swiftly placed talisman papers onto several tree branches in order to create traps and cause hindrance to the others, streaking ahead so that I was even closer to Naruto than usual. My orders were to not allow him to become aware that he was being watched at all times, and therefore could not see me following him, but all orders were obsolete when his life was in danger.
For the moment, I will follow my mission, but if those ninja attack him, I will have no choice but to intervene. "Now I'll be able to make some real friends!" Naruto crowed happily as I listened to my traps being sprung, however the ninja quickly became wise to the path and went around it, using their superior speed to overtake Naruto and cut him off, appearing in front of him. "Huh?"
"Hey kid." Three of them, just as I had suspected. Their lower faces were covered with cloth to obscure their features, and their headbands hailed them as ninja from Takigakure, Village Hidden by Waterfall.
"Ah great. What do you guys want? I'm kind of in a hurry here." Naruto drawled, rather ignorant to the fact that he was in serious danger from these ninja.
"Hand over that kunai, nice and easy." Here I also viewed a flaw in my mission directive. My duty was to protect Naruto, but the information on that paper could prove vital to the maintaining of Konoha's security, so in a situation where I had between the two, my directive did not give clear instructions on which I was meant to prioritise. I will simply have to choose both as a high risk priority, and hope that these three ninja do not prove to be incredibly powerful, though it was well known that Takigakure Jonin were well known for being strong. Three of them against one of me…I shall have to be careful.
"No forget it, this is mine and I'm not giving it to you!" Naruto announced loudly, hiding the kunai behind his back before slipping it into his pocket.
"I see. Then we shall have to take it from you with force." All three Takigakure ninja drew their swords, pointing them at Naruto who balked and stared down the end of the blade, staring at it before releasing a terrified yell. Immediately he took off, kunai and shuriken following after him so I started forwards, drawing my own sword and like a shadow, moved in a zig-zag movement behind him, crossing over his retreating path to knock aside any of the kunai which would touch him and using my Sharingan to accurately judge the direction of their path.
In a desperate attempt to subdue the ninja, Naruto once more performed his 'sexy' jutsu but the three ninja continued their attack before then taking off their veils to reveal that all three of them were women. "What?! You're all women? No fair!" Complaining loudly at his predicament, Naruto then attempted a clone jutsu to stall the three kunoichi, however his clone was poorly made and could barely stand upright. It was enough to allow him to continue running, however, so I took this as an opportune moment.
"Unbelievable. That has to be the most pathetic excuse for a clone I have ever seen." The middle ninja muttered before cutting through it with her sword, neutralising the clone as I dropped down behind them, sword in hand. "Now go and get him, no mercy!" I think not, enemy. My sword flashed and cut a long line of flesh along the closest kunoichi's leg, causing her to cry out as I swiftly danced around them in a blur, using all the speed I possessed to throw them off guard and cause them injury with my sword before disappearing once more.
There, that should slow them down a little and whilst they are still trying to figure out who attacked them, Naruto should be able to escape. I followed after him immediately, not wanting to let him go too far beyond my sight. I was impressed when Naruto led the Takigakure ninja into the forest directly over traps as a means to confuse and stall them further. My attack had not delayed them long and they were quick to follow his tracks, but the traps were seemingly more effective as they did not expect them to come from such a young boy.
The net caught them and I smirked to myself as I passed overhead, keeping up with Naruto who began searching for the next one only for Iruka to call out his name. "Sensei!" I was about to signal Iruka to our location, however the three enemy ninja behind us had once more escaped their trap and, with very little warning, my Sharingan activated itself once more and fast played the next sequence of events for me. Kunai came flying out of the bushes, one catching Naruto's shoulder and another in his leg, causing him to cry out in pain as he then fell down a cliff which he had been running towards. Quickly I acted upon impulse, dropping to the ground as real time caught up with me and I knocked aside each of the projectiles away from Naruto has he fell down the cliff regardless. Honestly, he was very clumsy.
My mask obscured my face from view, meaning that when I came face to face with the three kunoichi, all they saw was a white mask with red markings in the shape of a cat. "So you're the one who attacked us!" The middle one growled, teeth bared at me as all three of them took up offensive stances. "Kill them!" Our swords flashed through the air with metallic clangs, my Sharingan allowing me to read their body language and movements instantaneously. I noticed when their muscles tensed, when their movements changed and how they all attempted to overwhelm me at once. I sprung upwards into the air and came back down with an extended leg, kicking one of them aside before then using my sword defensively to block the other two, meeting their blows with a fierce exchange.
This allowed time for Iruka to reach Naruto, who had fallen unconscious at the bottom of the cliff. "Keep her occupied, I'm going after the kunai!" The one with the greyish brown hair ordered, quickly pulling away from the fight in order to go after Naruto, leaving me with the other two. My eyes quickly observed them, taking in their strengths and weaknesses, the chinks in their armour and surveyed their attack forms, finding every single flaw I could find and exploit. In the next bout, I instantly went low and came up underneath the first one's defences, pushing my feet into the ground in order to gain extra momentum as I drove my sword hilt into her stomach and winded her, sending her entire body flying against a tree as I then whirled around.
The next kunoichi had better defence, but was not as fast as her comrade. I moved around behind her in a flash, eyes blazing red but as I brought the blunt edge of my sword down, intending to knock her out, she flung a smoke bomb onto the ground and immediately disappeared with her companion. My sharingan allowed me to see even through the smoke, but I landed upon a trap which immediately exploded the moment I stepped on it. Damn it! I barely escaped in time, moving beyond the blast range which took out several trees and created a new clearing within the forest, the sound and vibrations ricocheting as I landed safely up in the branches.
Breathing heavily, I took a moment to lift back my mask and wipe my brow which was covered in sweat. My stamina was failing quickly, I could not keep this up for long, but I did not have a choice. By now the other two would have caught up and reformed their team, meaning that both Naruto and Iruka were in danger. Shaking off the tingling in my limbs from where their powerful blows had rattled me, I continued to jump from branch to branch, following the chakra signatures I could see with my eyes.
Iruka did well to stay beyond their reach, however the sudden onslaught of multiplying shuriken proved too much to evade, so I quickened my pace. I overtook them and swung my sword, slicing partially through several of the branches then deflected a hoard of them in order to continue defending Iruka's back as he carried Naruto upon it. "No way!" The three ninja yelped as their weight caused the branches to buckle underneath them, throwing off their balance as they leaped for the next one, only for that to fall too. "You little bitch!" Such language was unnecessary, especially in front of a child. Unconscious or not.
"Fire Style – Fireball Jutsu." I murmured calmly and quietly, my hands forming the correct sequence before blasting a huge fireball at the ninja, forcing them to scatter. I sent shuriken after them, driving them to keep on moving however they regrouped behind me, forcing me to turn. Just then I saw an exploding tag flying towards them upon a kunai, so I immediately found cover as the tag exploded. The explosion forced the kunoichi to land again, scowling until the smoke cleared and one Kakashi Hatake appeared, landing upon a branch in front of Iruka and Naruto.
"Hey, you two alright?" It was a surprise that Kakashi had arrived, but not an unwelcome one. He had once been a part of the ANBU himself and was a formidable Jonin. I could rest easy now. After having explained how Iruka's students had told Kakashi of what was happening in the hills, he had decided to come take a look for himself. I followed Iruka and Naruto as they escaped, leaving Kakashi to deal with the Takigakure ninja himself. It proved no problem, and in no time at all he had all three of them bound up and unconscious. He was a very impressive ninja, I'd give him that.
"Thanks a lot Kakashi, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up when you did." Iruka thanked the senior ninja, who was unscathed from his bout with the kunoichi.
"I'm confident you would have kept Naruto safe, even if I hadn't been here." Kakashi then paused a moment then knowingly looked up towards where I was perched, able to find me even though I was hiding behind a tree trunk. "And besides, we weren't alone. There was help at hand even if you didn't realise." Kakashi then lifted his voice a little, speaking directly to me. "Why don't you come on down? Don't worry, it's alright." I appeared in an instant beside them, silent and rather severe looking with my mask on so I lifted my hands and pressed a flat palm against my fisted knuckles, bowing to both Iruka and Kakashi respectfully without ever saying a word.
"What?! You mean you were here this entire time? Why didn't you take Naruto to safety? Or better yet, deal with these three more quickly." I cocked my head, observing Iruka as he spluttered at me before answering honestly.
"It was not my directive." It was a simple answer and I thought it would explain everything, but Iruka did not seem to understand.
"What do you mean it wasn't your directive? Naruto could have been hurt, or they could have gotten away with whatever it was they were after, and you were just going to let them?" My sword flashed and I pointed its sharp tip directly at Iruka's already scarred nose, causing him to jolt and step back as I then maintained that pose, looking at him through the slits of my cat mask.
"Protect your students better. My directive is classified, but this child is your responsibility." My voice was clear and sharp like my sword, only just maintaining an emotionless and detached tone. "The kunai he carries, take it to Lord Hokage, it carries information the three Takigakure kunoichi were after." With that I sheathed my sword upon my back, glancing once more to Naruto. He looked alright, merely still unconscious from the knock on his head he had received. I shall continue to watch over him in secret and give a report of what happened today. Did I act correctly? I still was not certain, but hopefully Lord Third Hokage will be able to point out my mistakes and I can learn from this experience.
I vanished as quickly as I had appeared, the trees rustling overhead overshadowing even the smallest noise I might have made until the two Jonin stood alone with Naruto and the three enemy ninja, no longer able to sense my presence even though I had moved barely ten feet away from them. This was my place, in the shadows, and here I shall remain.