Something in Naruto had changed. Something fundamental. The truth had shattered and healed him at the same time. On one hand he was incredibly relieved to know why people shunned him. On the other hand, he was extremely disappointed in his jiji. He had known. The entire time - and he had decided to keep it a secret.

Even worse, the entire village seemed to know about that and only he, the most affected person had been kept in the dark.

It was a harsh truth and Naruto felt himself disenchanted with his grandfather figure. It felt like a crack had appeared in their relationship and it left Naruto to wonder if there were more secrets being kept from him.

But there was at least one thing Naruto was completely sure of now. He could absolutely trust his sensei. The man had told him the truth and no matter how much it had hurt, Naruto had appreciated his bluntness.

He glanced at the translucent figure inspecting his latest calligraphy attempt and smiled. 'Thank you, Tobirama-jiji.', he thought quietly.

"I heard the jinchuuriki is slated for graduation."

The Third sighed soundlessly as Danzo entered his office. "Naruto has been performing exceedingly well," he answered vaguely and put his pen down in favor of fixing his old friend with a serious look. He knew this conversation was going to come up, but he still had hoped Danzo would have waited just a bit longer.

"It seems like he inherited some of his parents' talents, after all," Danzo stated calmly. To everyone else those words might have sounded like a praise but the Sandaime knew the man well enough to understand the real meaning behind it. 'How did he improve so quickly?'

"He did." the Third agreed easily and rose from his seat. His steps carried him to the window and his gaze wandered through the glass and to the village below. "And he is constantly trying to improve himself. His tenacity is truly admirable." 'He was training non-stop.'

"I see." 'Interesting.'

Danzo stepped around the desk to join the Hokage in his passive guard. "He will succeed?"

"He will," The Third answered, eyes trailing over the bustling street.

"He needs a strong teacher." 'Give him to me.' There it was. The silent hint the entire conversation had been leading up to.

"Hound..."

"...is essential to his team," Danzo interrupted him. "You know we cannot take him out. Not yet."

The Third frowned. As much as he hated to admit it, Danzo was right. They could not afford to let him resign. Not when they were just starting to recover from their tremendous losses six years ago. They still needed every available shinobi and Hound was too vital to settle with a freshly graduated genin - even if it was the village's jinchuuriki.

"I will find someone." 'You will not get him.' The Sandaime stated firmly. He would. Hopefully.

"Very well," Danzo replied calmly. 'I will leave him alone - for now.'

Autumn made way for winter and with the first day of the new season, a long-awaited time came.

Naruto stared at the big plush toy sitting on top of his pillow. How did it get there? He had only stepped out for groceries and now his apartment had suddenly gotten a plushy addition.

Curiously, Naruto picked it up. It was a dog. A very soft and fluffy dog, brown, with long ears and a dark snout and - Naruto had to grin at that - it was wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector.

Idly playing with the soft paws, Naruto sat down on his bed. There was a slight rustling noise below him. He shifted slightly to see what had produced that sound and found a small paper note. Bringing it up, his eyes scanned over the accurate brush strokes.

Good luck on your exams

The note was unsigned, and Naruto looked thoughtfully at the plush dog in his lap, a soft smile on his lips. This was the fifth time he had received a dog-themed gift. First it had been a blanket with paw prints sometime around the age of two, then a sleeping cap when he was three, fluffy slippers at the age of four, a hoodie with dog ears at five and now he had gotten a plush toy.

He had no idea who that mysterious gifter was, but it was nice to know that there was someone out there who thought about him.

Naruto pressed the dog tightly against his chest, whispering a soft, heartfelt "Thank you. "

Outside the window a branch shook as a masked man vanished into the night.

Tobirama followed his movement with a thoughtful gaze.

Naruto was excited and nervous at the same time. He spent the entire morning checking and rechecking his gear.

He was about to do the fifth recheck, when Tobirama finally had enough. "Naruto!" the ghost demanded sharply. "Get over here."

Naruto stopped in the middle of approaching his bag and walked towards his teacher, who gave him a very stern look. "What did I teach you about a shinobi's conduct?"

"A shinobi is never ruled by his emotions," Naruto answered immediately. He knew this rule by heart now.

"And what are you doing right now?" his teacher inquired with an impassive look.

"Being ruled by my emotions," Naruto answered sheepishly and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Sorry, sensei. I am calm now."

"Good," the Nidaime answered simply and rose from his seat. "Now I believe it is time go."

Naruto nodded. "Yes sensei."

They left the flat and Naruto locked the door behind them, careful not to dislodge the plush toy hanging over his shoulder.

The classroom was already quite full. Children were sitting in the rows, nervously talking among each other. No one seemed to be younger than ten.

Heads turned when he entered the room and several conversations stopped as the assembled children stared at him in disbelief before they broke out in loud whispers.

"A baby?"

"What is he doing here?"

"Did he enter the wrong room?"

"He does not really want to take the exam, right?"

"What does he think this place is? The playground?"

"Is he carrying a plush toy?!"

Naruto hesitated slightly and a cool hand touched his shoulder. The Nidaime caught his gaze and nodded at him. Naruto felt a sudden surge of confidence. He could do this. He would do this.

There was no way that he would fail.

He raised his head and sat down on an empty chair.

Sheets were passed out and the room quieted.

Naruto picked up his pen.

For about an hour nothing was heard but the monotone tic-toc of the wall clock and the sound of pens scratching over paper.

Tobirama floated between the rows and glanced at the test-papers. A displeased frown marred his face. The questions were easy, too easy in his opinion - and yet a great majority of the children was struggling with it.

There were no questions about the current political climate, or any history beyond the last shinobi world war.

Did these children even know who their allies were? Their enemies? Briefly he wondered what his brother would have had to say about this. Would he be disappointed again? Or happy that they actually got some illusion of a childhood? Even if it possibly meant their deaths the first time, they confused their opponents with allies?

Tobirama shook his head. He was losing himself in dark thoughts again. There was nothing he could do about that now.

At least his charge was doing well enough. He turned around and looked at the only person who could see him. Uzumaki Naruto. The child was his hope now.

Naruto glanced at Tobirama. The man's face was unreadable, but his posture was relaxed. That meant, he probably had not messed the written part up too badly.

But then again, he was rather confident in his answers.

Now he only needed to do the practical part, and everything would be over.

"Uzumaki, Naruto. Please follow me."

"Aww, it's finally his turn," a voice commented, sounding slightly excited.

"Yeah. Why did it have to take so long?" a second voice demanded.

"Because his surname starts with U," a third voice responded in a matter of fact-way.

"Hey...that plush toy, don't you think that looks like..," the second voice trailed off, sounding distinctly amused.

Several people snickered.

"Shh," the first voice complained. "I want to concentrate."

The Third threw a mildly exasperated look at the ANBU crowding around his crystal ball.

Somehow Team Ke had managed to wrangle themselves into being the Hokage's guards today, despite the fact that it was not even part of their usual duties.

Coincidentally this day also happened to be the day Uzumaki Naruto was taking an early graduation test. A child Team Ke had secretly guarded from birth to age five. A boy the Third took personal interest in. So it was practically a given that the Sandaime wanted to check the child's progress by watching Naruto's test via his crystal ball. That the ANBU guarding him also got to watch was a completely unrelated coincidence and had absolutely nothing to do with the sudden change in guard schedule.

At least that was what Team Ke would have told anyone who had bothered to ask. Which the Hokage didn't.

"I am not too late, right?" The Third suppressed a groan as yet another ANBU jumped through the window and squeezed himself into the rather tight circle.

Shaking his head at Hound, the Hokage turned back to the crystal ball and resumed watching Naruto who had just entered the examination room.

"Good," the examiner ticked something on his clipboard. "Now I want you to make at least three clones."

Naruto nodded and a second later the room was filled with ten Narutos smiling cheerfully at the examiner. The man stared in disbelief and nearly dropped his clipboard. "Are this...shadow clones?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes. That counts, right?"

A snort answered him, and the man ticked the last box, shaking his head in disbelief. "Of course."

He glanced over the paper. "Congratulations, Uzumaki," he said finally. "You passed. Please pick your headband."

Naruto grinned brightly.

Across the room Tobirama nodded at him, a rare smile on his lips. "Well done."

"He did it!" the first voice exclaimed. "Did you see that?"

"I did, but I still can't believe it," the second voice answered. "Ten shadow clones! At six! That kid's a damn genius!"

"Yeah," the second ANBU stated, mulling over the fact "What's gonna happen to that kid now?"

The rest of the unit stilled in anticipation of the Hokage's words.

"He needs a teacher and a team," the Third answered calmly. "I just need to find someone suitable to place him with."

"Why can't we have him?" Parrot asked suddenly. "We could take good care of him."

"Naruto is not an ANBU member," the Hokage interrupted sharply, quick to stop them before they got ideas. "He's a six-year-old child and definitively not a part of your cell."

"But he could train with us," Owl chimed in. "There's a lot we could teach him."

The Hokage rubbed the bridge of his nose. Sometimes he forgot how tightly knit his ANBU cells were. It was one of the side effects caused by constantly been thrown into highly dangerous missions together. That they had secretly guarded Naruto since the day he had been born was really not helping either. They probably saw him already as one of their own. He knew they still secretly checked in with him sometimes.

But was that idea really that bad? He had not yet found a teacher for the boy and the requirements for that particular job were rather high. His teacher needed to be strong and trustworthy. Strong enough to keep the Kyuubi at bay, if needed, and protect Naruto if the secret of his heritage were to be leaked out.

He needed the Sharingan but leaving Naruto with a sole Uchiha instructor would upset the villagers even more. There were quite a lot of people who believed that the Uchiha were somehow connected to the Kyuubi attack and tempers were still running high. People were sensitive to everything regarding the Kyuubi and while it would certainly show his trust into the Uchiha clan, he could not afford pouring oil into the simmering fire that was Konoha.

Team Ke was one of his most trusted ANBU cells and they had taken a liking to Naruto, which was sadly a rather rare occurrence - and on top of that they did have an Uchiha in their team. He could have a Sharingan user and yet Naruto would not be left solely alone with him.

The Third was starting to like the idea and he hated it. He wanted the child to have a normal childhood. But now he had graduated. At six.

He looked at Hound, silently asking for his opinion.

"It would appease certain people," the man commented. "You know that Danzo is keeping an eye on him, Hokage-sama, even more so now that he has shown his talent. He might try to get his hands on him."

His voice held absolutely no infliction and the Hokage was completely sure that he was faking it. Hound was never neutral to anything concerning Naruto. Had he not been in his ANBU personality, the Third most certainly would have had a very angry elite shinobi to deal with. He probably still had. He was not looking forward to that outburst.

The Third sighed. Hound was correct. Danzo might have backed off for now but, knowing him, he would probably try to place a plant somewhere close to Naruto and try to lure him into ROOT. He did not want the child to be used that way. But if he left Naruto with Team Ke...

It was an uncommon solution, but then again Naruto was not a normal child. He was the last legacy of the Fourth. The jailor of the Kyuubi and therefore vital to the village's security. But he was young and inexperienced. Team Ke could guard him while he was still vulnerable.

Danzo would probably be rather pleased with this solution as well. As for Naruto...he could still take low-risk missions with other teams while Team Ke was out - once he had learned to better protect himself, of course. As for Naruto's official placement...Perhaps an apprenticeship? He would have to sent a message to Jiraiya.

Coming to a decision, the Hokage fixed the ANBU in front of him with a stern look.

"Fine. But he is only going to join your training and you will not be taking him on any missions without my approval. "

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Team Ke answered in unison, sounding way too happy for a supposedly emotionless ANBU unit.

Eyeing them with one last distrustful look because there were countless loopholes in his instructions, he ordered them back to their posts and reluctantly returned to his paperwork. He spent the next several hours poured over reports, studiously pretending not to see the rapid handsigns of his ANBU as they silently discussed code names.

Although some of the names they came up with were rather amusing.

Ostrich, really.

A/N

Mah ~ And there you have my unusual solution. Honestly, I did it because I was getting tired of reading about genin teams. There is only so much you can do with that - and it has been done to death. So I wanted something different.

Just keep in mind that Naruto is not really an official part of their cell, but has been assigned to them for training and protection. That is a very important fact, because it does not make him an ANBU member.

So I challenge all of you who are about to scream *insert specific clichée(s) in here* and run off now, to keep on reading, even if you just do it because you want to prove that you are right. ;-)

Thank you for your comments. :D You can close the browser now or read my long answers.

MoKhan97 Hehe, you would like to know, wouldn't you? I ate them. :P

Sho Rei Thank you! I am happy you like it so far. :D There is a fic like that? Hmm.. Now I am curious. I'll have to see if I can find it. :)

Blu3b3rryT3a Haha, he really has no idea what he's doing - and yes, he is trying to comfort him. *g* Itachi is really rather confused - and I am planning to write another interaction with Tobirama present. I actually had written this scene with him in it, but then I wrote him out because he was needed elsewhere. *xD* So we will get to see his reaction at some point. And Mito is really cool! She just had to be in.

PawgLover No thanks needed. *g* I always try my best to answer questions. I like interacting with readers that way. It's just a shame that I can't click a reply button on your comments. And Tobirama's reaction...well...we'll have to wait and see. *xD*

Polyamory, Dardoom II Ah! Thank you very much for pointing that out! I completely missed it. My inner perfectionist is crying right now. I guess I was so used to writing "nin" that I accidentally tried to sneak an n in. I have corrected it. I am happy you like it so far and feel free to point out anything else I might have missed. :-)

tamaraniantuesday Glad to heat that! Thanks :D

yatinsharma250600 I am happy you like it! As to your questions, I'll answer in reverse: Tobirama will find out at some point and he will not be pleased. About the massacre: I have not yet decided on how detailed it will be, but it will be featured in some way. But I already know how I will have Tobirama react to it.

dbtiger63 That's exactly what I thought, too. Naruto needs someone serious to guide him. Someone who is not all smiles and jokes, because for all intents and purposes, they are being trained to be killers. So this Naruto will be more mature. He has someone to tell him to sit still, to teach him patience and discipline and who pays attention to him. There is just no other outcome for him than getting more serious. :-)