Chapter 6 - ANBU
Naruto, Itachi and Shisui stood in front of the ANBU commander. "Lastly you will now get your ANBU codenames. This is how you will refer to each other at all times while on duty. And you are never to disclose your codenames and your real identities to anyone, ever. The only people that can connect the codenames to your real identities are me, the hokage and your captain and of course your teammates.." He looked at the youths "Is that clear?"
"Yes sir" all three answers.
"Okay then, let's start with you Naruto. Your codename will be Fox" He looked towards Naruto and he nodded in confirmation. The commander then gave him an ANBU mask that almost looked like a smiling fox. "While on duty, where this at all times".
Naruto just took the mask and nodded towards his new commander.
"Now for you Itachi, your codename will be Crow" And he then handed him a mask, just like Naruto's but it had small birds on it.
"And you Shisui, your codename will be Soku" And he handed Shisui a mask with a swirl pattern on it.
"It's the same for all of you, you will keep these mask's on at all times if not told otherwise by either me, your captain or the hokage." he looked through some papers. "Ah, here they are. These are your confidentiality forms. You will all have to sign these and then give them to your captain. You will find your captain waiting for you at training ground 522, specially made to test new recruits." He looked at the young trio in front of him. The commander was giddy with excitement, he could not wait to see how these youngsters would develop.'The untapped potential in these young men is astonishing.' he thought as he smiled in his head, could not show emotions in front of his underlings afterall.
"Dismissed," he ordered.
"Sir!" they all said and saluted and then they made their way towards their captain who was waiting to test them out. They walked through the damp and dark corridors of the underground base. "It's kinda creepy here, don't you think?" Shisui asked the others.
"Hn" was Itachi's reply. Naruto just looked at his friend and rolled his eyes.
"What?" Shisui asked
His friends just ignored him and kept walking.
Six weeks later.
The only word to describe the scene was carnage. There were body parts laying everywhere. The mutilated bodies of several samurai and rogue ninjas from earth country. This band of criminals had been harassing smaller villages in the firecountry for the last week. And leaving dead and traumatized villagers wherever they went.
In the middle of all this carnage you could see a small person standing there wiping his katana clean. He had a calm body language and did not seem to bother about the gore surrounding him or even his blood soaked clothes. 'That was way too easy' the person thought. He was just about to leave the area when he saw something on one of the corpses that caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up "this is…"
"Brutal but efficient" His captain said as he came into view. "The others are finished as well, let's head back to our camp Fox".
The now identified Naruto nodded without looking up at Kakashi. "Taichou, look at this".
"You found something?" Kakashi asked now curious and made his way towards Naruto.
"I don't understand how these people could get their hands on this" Naruto said as he handed the scroll he found to Kakashi.
"This is a summoning contract" Kakashi almost gasped in surprise but was able to hide his shock. When he saw what summoning clan it was he almost fainted. "This should not be possible, i thought these were just a myth". Kakashi said as he was stumbling on his words. After standing there just staring at it for a while, he stretched out his hand. "Here, it's yours Fox. You found it after all"
"You think Hokage-sama will let me have this? It's a legendary summon after all. I have only read about them in stories before" Naruto said as he took the scroll in his hand, studying it.
"I still can't understand how these lowly people got hold of this." Naruto said 'There was only one name signed to the scroll. Soen huh? It must be hundreds of years old´ he mused.
"We will keep this between ourselves Fox. When we get back we will inform the hokage. If anyone would find out Konoha is now in possession of the mythical Naga summoning contract, it could start a war. And do be careful when you sign that and decide to try it out. There is no telling what could happen." He told Naruto
"Of course taichou. I will be cautious" Naruto answers.'I can't believe my luck, I have to try this out as soon as possible' he thought as he was almost drooling at the aspect of summoning big ass serpents.
"Lets head back now, the others should be at camp" Kakashi said and the both disappeared with a shunshin.
They enter the camp and notice that Crow and Soku are already there. They are just sitting there looking through their equipment and cleaning their gear.
"Great work everyone, mission complete" Kakashi called out. Itachi and Shisui were sent to another camp together to take out the leader. He had been surrounded by a force of twenty missing nins, most of them chunin in rank. Itachi and Shisui made quick work of the enemy with their flawless teamwork and powerful genjutsus. Making it impossible for the enemy to even get the chance to protect themself. The uchiha's used more subtle tactics then Naruto. They made it so the enemy did not even know they were there before they were dead. Naruto liked to get up close and personal. He was quick and efficient, but the brutality of Naruto's tactics far outshined the uchihas approach.
"Let's pack up and head back. It's almost a week's journey to Konoha from here. So let's not sit around" Kakashi told them.
It took them less than ten minutes to pack everything up and disable all the traps surrounding the camp they set up before.
Kakashi gave his command in ANBUs coded sign language and then he disappeared with his team following him in formation.
While they were traveling, Naruto could not help to wonder how it was possible a summon like the Naga actually existed. They were supposed to be the snake's ancestors.'I have to talk to Hokage-sama before signing this, he may know more about this.' He then thought about a summoning scroll that the pervy sage had. I know dad and Jiraiya would want me to sign the toad contract. But if this really is the legendary Naga contract, it's too powerful to pass up. 'My sisters will carry the tradition of summoning toads in the future.' He looked towards his teammates 'I will tell them when and if I sign this contract' he mused.
One week later
"Mission complete," Kakashi told the new commander.
"So, what can you tell me about their first mission?" The commander asked.
"I sent Crow and Soku to eliminate the leader and his bodyguards. They worked in perfect harmony with each other. They are extremely efficient in their teamwork and how they utilize genjutsu. The enemy did not even know they were under attack before they died. A few more years and they will rival the sannin." he said, sounding proud.
"Fox is a different story. His tactics were…brutal but very efficient." The commander raised a curious brow. Kakashi continued "He used kenjutsu and his speed only, the enemy stood no chance. He took down twenty chunins, three jounins and also ten samurai in the span of just five minutes." Then Kakashi got into more detail, especially about Naruto's handiwork.
"Hmm, that sounds promising" The commander said as he was tapping his fingers as he was in deep thought. "For the time being, try to get Fox to be less…brutal. I understand his want to try out different tactics. Push the point of the value of stealth and discreteness, this is the ANBU after all. We are not supposed to pull too much attention towards us." he told Kakashi
"I will talk to my team. And i'll make sure Naruto's tactics are more subtle in the future" he answers his commander.
Kakashi walked towards his team. He saw them doing some light training. "Yo" he said to get their attention. "Good work on the mission, everything went flawless". The three young ANUBs just looked at him and nodded. "You get two days of to spend with your families. Then after that we are going with Jiraiya-sama for some training. Tsunade-sama will be there for some time as well. This will be a long trip, so spend this time with family and friends. You will be away from the village for the next four years. And before you ask, we will do some missions when we are away as well." He finished to see their reactions. Nothing, they just nodded. 'Great, no whining' he thought with a relieved smile.
"You are dismissed. Except for you Fox" he told his team. Both uchihas saluted their captain and then they were gone.
"We need to talk to Hokage-sama about your find Fox" Kakashi said. Naruto just nodded in response and they both used shunshin, and they were off to speak with the Hokage.
Hiruzen sat in his office and he was bored. He looked towards the damn paperstack in front of him with all kinds of annoying stuff in need of his attention. 'How is it possible that it just gets bigger! This is some sort of curse or a really powerful genjutsu. Either way it should not be possible!' he started grumbling to himself. Suddenly there stood two people in front of him. This did not startle the old hokage as he was used to his ANBU just popping in whenever they had something to tell him.
"Ah Hound and Fox, what a pleasant surprise" He said and smiled towards both. Glad being pulled away from his awful work with all those papers.
Hiruzen did a hand sign to dismiss his protection detail lingering in the shadows out of sight. When they were gone he asked "What brings you two here? And you can remove your masks".
Both took off their masks to reveal Kakashi and Naruto. And Naruto had a smirk on his face, which made Hiruzen curious.
"Naruto-kun here found something very interesting on our latest mission," Kakashi said.
Now Hiruzen was even more curious as Naruto had not dropped his very uncharacteristic smirk. "Do tell" was everything the old hokage said.
Kakashi looked towards Naruto. Naruto understood it was his find to explain. So he pulled out a scroll and gave it to Hiruzen. "I found this on one of the bodies"
"A summoning scroll?" Hiruzen said as he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Open it, and look at what clan it belongs to" Naruto told the old man, never dropping his smirk.
Hiruzen opened the scroll and saw it instantly. He was beyond choked, he reached for his pipe with shaky hands. "This is..I can't believe it. You found it on a dead body you say?" He looked towards Naruto who just nodded "yes, that's what i said".
"This is unbelievable" Hiruzen said, as he just sat there staring at the scroll. "The legendary Naga summon" he mumbled
"This is dangerous. It can not become common knowledge that Konoha is in possession of the Naga contract. This would start the fourth shinobi war. If the legends are even half true, this summon is an immensely powerful asset" Hiruzen said and looked towards Naruto. "You want to sign it, don't you?"
"If you allow it, Hokage-sama," Naruto answers.
He studied Naruto for a while. "This is very dangerous Naruto-kun. We don't know much about the Naga summons, and what we know is only what we thought to be a myth. It can't be known that we have this contract here in Konoha, the other villages wouldn't think twice to attack us." he paused for a second. "I will let you sign this, you found it after all. But there will be conditions Naruto, and this is very serious so I need you to listen carefully." He looked towards Naruto and saw that he became deathly serious in an instant.
"First off, you are not allowed to tell anyone except for your teammates and your mother. Secondly , you must be very discreet with summoning them. And thirdly, you have to wait until you are older to summon any Naga. We are not sure how these legendary creatures will react to a summoner, and if it's true about their strength. You need to be very strong to get their respect." He signed "Don't get me wrong Naruto-kun, you are strong. But I would implore you to wait a few years still. You have so much untapped potential, it would not do anyone good if you go and get yourself eaten by a Naga."
Naruto was glad he got to sign it, he also understood Hiruzen's concerns. He did not think about it like that, but he understood and respected the Hokage's wishes. "Thank you Saru for having so much confidence in me. I will respect your wishes and wait a few years before summoning any" Naruto was just glad he got to keep the contract.
Then a thought occurred to Hiruzen. "What about the toads? I know your father would want you to be their next summoner"
"I know that was my fathers wish. But that's before I found this contract. My sisters will be summoners of toads. I don't think he minds me being the summoner of Naga's"
"I agree with Naruto. I don't think his father would mind. This is also a chance for Konoha to rise in power" Kakashi interjected.
Hiruzen leaned back and took some puffs on his pipe. "Yes i think you are both right" he signed 'hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later' he thought as blew out his smoke.
"Naruto-kun, I presume Kakashi already told you about the training trip. Take these two days now and relax, no training. And I will see you before you leave. Now Dismissed. And say hi to your mother from me." Hiruzen told him. "Kakashi-san you can stay, i need to have a few words with you".
"Later" Naruto said and disappeared with a shunshin.
"So Kakashi, tell me about your latest mission. How did they do?" Hiruzen watched Kakashi
Kakashi took a gulp 'why is he so intense all of a sudden?' Kakashi thought with sweat rolling down his back
Hiruzen was a veteran of several wars. He was not squeamish about the brutality of a shinobi's profession. But he did not like unnecessary brutality and carelessness about the value of a life. He knew Naruto thought about the value of someone's life a little differently and how the world worked. Naruto is efficient, he always gets the job done. But the way he goes about it showed Hiruzen he lacked a certain care about the value of a human life. He never showed mercy and he never let up. That could be a strength in itself, but that's not how Hiruzen wanted him to see the world. He hoped this training trip would limit Naruto's darker sides to take shape in the future. No matter how you look at it, Naruto would become someone that would be very important in the future. He just hoped he could steer him in the right direction.
"So?" Hiruzen said.
"Well..you see.." Kakashi started.
Naruto got home and he heard his mom in the kitchen and he could smell she was cooking something. "Hi mom, im back" he shouted as he stepped through the front door.
"Hey Naruto, i'm in the kitchen!" He heard her shouting back.
He walked towards the kitchen. On his way he saw his siblings in the living room playing with some toys. He stopped "Hi there Mito and Naori" and sat himself down beside the twins. They both stopped what they were doing and turned towards their big brother and stretched their arms out towards him and made some weird baby noises. Naruto could obviously not understand what they were saying, but he figured they wanted him to pick them up, so that's what he did.
"You are speaking nonsense, i can't understand you" He said to them as he held them in his arms.
"Of course you can't understand them silly" He heard his mothers voice and he turned around. "They are speaking baby talk, no one can understand that '' she added and giggled at her son's weird expression. "It took you around six month before you could say anything coherent."
"Really?" Naruto asked, he never really thought about that.
"Yes really, now come and eat before the food gets cold" She told her oldest child and smiled.
They walked into the kitchen and sat down by the table. Naruto put his siblings in small baby chairs.
"So how was your mission?" Kushina asked as she started to dig in.
"You know i can't talk about that mom, it's classified" he told her matter of factly, like she should know about this.
"I hate that part about you being in ANBU, now you cant talk about anything. It's boring for me you know, it's a long time since i got to kick some ass" she said
"Im sorry mom, i wish i could tell you" he said
"It's okay Naruto-kun, I'm just teasing you. I know you can't tell me. I have to try though" and she winked at him. He just rolled his eyes and smiled back at her.
"Jiraiya and Tsunade came by a few days ago. They told me they wanted you and your team to go on a four year long training trip with them." She looked a bit sad at that. "I know it's for the best, so you have my blessing Naruto-kun. It will be lonely without you here though" she looked at him with a sad smile.
"I will miss you and the twins as well" He smiled at his mother. "But I may have a solution, so it does not have to be that long before I can visit. I'm not really sure i will get it down before i get back in four years, it may even take longer as sealing is not my greatest strength. But I thought with the help of Jiraiya, I'm going to try and learn dad's signature technique, the hiraishin" He said to his mother.
"Really? You know it took your dad several years to get that technique down" She looked at her son a bit skeptical.'But then again, Naruto-kun always seems to do the impossible' she thought.
"I know. But i will try, i can't promise anything as i said. And i don't even know the distance I would be able to teleport. But it's worth trying at least." He said as he took a bit from his food.
"By the way, about my mission. I could tell you something at least" he said and looked at his mom, she had an excited look on her face. 'She must be really bored, I know my mom loves being a shinobi. She said she will go back to active duty when my sisters graduates the academy'
"I used just my speed and kenjutsu as you taught me, and let me tell you..it was really efficient" He told his mom. 'And fun' he thought to himself.
"Have I not told you how badass your mom is? Kenjutsu is the best ever!" she exclaimed as she pumped a fist in the air, way too excited. Naruto just chuckled at his mothers antics. 'I really hope my sisters does not inherit her craziness. Its a wonder really dad survived her for so long' he shrudded at the thought of two mini Kushinas chewing him out for something stupid he had done.'did i inherit her crazyness? Nahh' he thought and pushed that thought away.
"Why do you look so pale all of a sudden Naruto-kun?" Kushina asked her son, worried.
"It's nothing mom, I think I ate some bad shrimp before. That's all" he quickly came up with a lie
His mother just eyed him. "If you say so" and continued to eat.
Later that same day Naruto met up with Itachi and Shisui. "So what do you think we will be learning on this trip?" Shisui asked his friends.
"Hard to say, it's not long until the trip. So we should just wait and see" Itachi answers.
"Bah, you are boring Itachi-san. Just take a guess at least" Shisui staring at the young uchiha.
Before Itachi could answer Naruto said "I think we are going to hone our existing skill set and maybe learn some new jutsu. With Tsunade there we may train in some medical ninjutsu. We can't forget Kakashi-san will be there for the whole time as well, he got alot to teach" he told his friends.
"That's a good guess. Jiraiya is a sage, maybe if we qualify we could all start learning senjutsu. I know there are certain conditions though to learn senjutsu" He mused.'First uchiha sage? Wouldn't that be something' he thought to himself. Itachi had just got a little brother named Sasuke. This fact pushed his ambition to become as strong as he possibly could to protect his family and friends.
"Senjutsu eh?" Naruto asked. "Usually you need a summoning contract of a specific animal to learn senjutsu and sage mode. Maybe we could ask Jiraiya about it." Naruto put his hand towards his shin and was in deep thought. 'They both have quite low reserves to learn senjutsu. Maybe Itachi could do it in a few years, but Shisui is not a chakra powerhouse like me and Itachi. I should ask Jiraiya about teaching Itachi senjutsu. Shisui is more of a genjutsu specialist and speed freak. Itachi is more like me even if he won't admit it, he is a ninjutsu specialist'.
"I think you could possibly learn it in a few years Itachi, your reserves are still too low for now. And for you Shisui, I don't think senjutsu would work well with you. I'm sorry" he told them as he looked at Shisui. "Don't be sorry Naruto, I know I'm not a chakra powerhouse like you and Itachi, it's just.." he didn't finish and looked a bit sad about not being able to learn senjutsu.
"I didn't say you could not learn it, Shisui. It's just my opinion. We will talk to Jiraiya about this" Naruto said so his friend did not feel down. He added "I actually have an idea, why don't we ask Tsunade-sama to teach you medical ninjutsu?. It would be perfect really, with your precise chakra control and your personality. Being a heavy hitting combat nin is something that would benefit our team greatly in the future" he said and was proud of himself as he just came up with it and thought it was a great idea.
"An uchiha medic? That's unheard off! Shisui said. Then he just sat there in silence thinking. Finally he just shouted out "I LOVE IT! LETS ASK HER NOW!".
"Wow wow, chill out Shisui" Naruto said to his overexcited friend. "I Promise to do my very best to convince her to teach you everything she can," Naruto said and smiled at his friend.
"Medic nin eh? That could be really useful as Naruto said. There are not many combat heavy medics in konoha. And one with the sharingan as well. You would become a very dangerous opponent for any enemy Shisui." Itachi said.
"Right?..I'm going to become the best medic nin in the world!" Shisui exclaimed to the whole world.
Both his friends just smiled at his excitement while covering their poor ears.
Two days later the trio of friends stood in the Hokage's office with Kakashi.
"I wish you all good fortune on your trip. And make use of this time now and come back stronger and wiser. I know you will all make me proud" He smiled at the young shinobis." Kakashi will be sent missions for you to do from time to time. They will mostly be by request to fit into your training. Now off you go, and dont do anything stupid!" he said as he smiled at them.
They all respectfully thanked the hokage for his words and then saluted their leader. Then they all left to the front gates with Kakashi following just behind them.
'This new generation will be strong. When my time is up i know i will leave it in good hands' he smiled at the thought as he puffed on his pipe.
At the gates a small group had gathered. Both Uchihas families were there and so was Narutos. Jiraiya was there as well, but Tsunade is nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Tsunade?" Naruto asked.
"She will meet up with us in about a week, don't worry gaki" Jiraiya answers Naruto.
"Now you take care of yourself, and do anything reckless. And you too Itachi and Shisui, you take care and watch over each other" Kushina said and gave them all hugs. Shisui got a bit flustered as he thinks Naruto's mother is hot, not like he would ever admit that.
They all said goodbye to their respective families. Fugaku decided to pull Itachi to the side. "Remember what I told you son, anything you can learn about him would be of value. You know what we have talked about" He looked at his son with a serious expression, Itachi answered with a nod "Yes father". And he walked away from his father to join his friend. During Fugaku's and Itachi's little talk, two sets of eyes were watching them. Mikoto was glaring at her husband 'Dont think i don't know what you are asking of our son. This is a dangerous game you are playing, husband'. Kushina was also watching Fugaku and Itachi intently 'you are a fool Fugaku.'
Itachi now joined his friends. "Are you all set?" He asked and got nods from Naruto and Shisui. "Kakashi taichou, Jiraiya-sama. We are all ready"
"Yosh! Onwards to new adventures!" Jiraiya proclaimed as he stood on top of a Toad that just seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Everyone just signed and started to head out.
'This game you are playing father, it's a dangerous one.I won't be able to stand by your side if you decide to go down this path.' Itachi thought as he signed. His never saw his father as a stupid man, but he was pushing his luck.
The small company was now out of sight of the village. 'This will be four long boring years' Kushina thought as she headed back home with the twins. 'At Least i have you guys' she said and smiled down at her babies.
End of chapter.
*Author's notes*
As always, thanks everyone for reading.
Just to explain something, now in the beginning chapters. There will be some timeskips.
Next chapter will start with a four year timeskip.
As for why there will be some timeskips, it's because I don't want to drag out the story about Naruto being young. The bulk of the story and plot is when Naruto is an adult. Now i'm just trying to give you guys some sense of what the characters is about.
Until next time!