Author notes:
Kakashi will not appear till later chapter.
PROLOGUE
The blonde kid looked at the lean man wearing a weasel mask with tears in his eyes. The man who was emotionless for normal people's eyes could be easily seen miserable to the blonde jinjuriki kid. The village jinjuriki, Naruto, knows the man is here to say goodbye.
"I guess you are leaving then. Where will you go?", the seven years old boy asked with concern lacing his voice.
"I got an invitation to join some organization. Don't cry. Remember what I told earlier. Not a word", the stoic man replied.
After wiping his eyes, Naruto replied, "Don't worry about me. I will keep an eye on him. Send me a raven now and then. I will update his condition".
The man looked grateful and surprised. After all the evil he has seen and he was sure he had become one as of today, he couldn't help but think there is some good in the world looking at the boy. He had interacted with the seven-year-old orphan on some occasions as part of his ANBU duties. He saved Naruto after a particular brutal attack and get to witness how cruel people can be and how kind the child can be.
He nodded at the child. He knows with him gone no one to protect, Naruto might need something to hold on to the village. He contemplated for a minute and asked a question that sure will intrigue the child.
"Naruto, do you know who your parents are?"
The said child looked up to the man with black hair and smiled in mirth. "It is him, isn't he? The Yondaime, Minato Namikaze, my father?".
Surprised for the second time, but giving nothing away in his eyes, which are the only things that could be seen on his face because of the Weasal mask, the former ANBU nodded.
"Your mother's name is Kushina Uzumaki, she was like an aunt to me", Weasal ANBU, Itach Uchiha told, and Naruto silently mouthed the word 'Kushina' to himself with a smile.
He handed Naruto a scroll and continued "It contains my notes on basic lessons on ninja skills".
Naruto took the scroll and thanked him. He nodded and turned to leave when Naruto asked for one final request.
"Itachi, I want something. Give me your weasel mask", Naruto asked with piercing blue eyes filled with determination.
Itachi, the former ANBU, codename 'weasel', looked stunned. ANBU were only allowed to take their mask in front of hokage except in rare cases. This is not a rare case, but the boy is a rare one.
Seeing his hesitation, Naruto continued. "One day, I will give this back to you, lawfully. That day, no one can question you wearing that anymore. That day is not today. Until then, I will hold on to that. From that day, I will make sure no lives and names are sacrificed in the name of Konoha. This mask will remind me not to give up on a fellow shinobi, whatever the circumstance. It may be sound naïve and improbable, but I will never give up. I will not wallow in grief and give way to hatred. I will rise above it. Hatred cannot be solved by hatred. It only makes us miserable" . It was said in a calm and sheer voice, combined with the look on his eyes, Itachi, trusted that this seven-year-old, could do that, one day. He removed the weasel mask and handed it over the boy. He gave it to the boy, who looked malnourished, homeless, living under a bridge, who held no earthly possessions but held a great Will of fire in his heart and housed a demon in his soul.
The boy received it and nodded at him with a smile. Suddenly, the alarms in the village started to ring and the former shinobi of Konoha, now a missing-nin started to leave. However, he turned to look at the boy at the last minute, and said, "Do it, Naruto, become the hokage".
The said boy, looked at the four faces in the hokage mountain and the weasel mask in his hands. It seems so many thoughts were running on his head. He stored the mask in his storage scroll, thanks to another former ANBU, 'Crow', teaching him that.
Now that Itachi Uchiha, second last Uchiha gone, he contemplated maybe the hokage will call his 'Inu' back, as he was one of the strongest shinobi of Konoha. He remembered once Weasel told him 'Inu' was his ANBU senpai and he was a great ninja.
