Tobirama's hand closed slowly around the leaf. Ever since he had shared that moment with Naruto his soul's strength had skyrocketed. No longer did he feel like he was a mere shadow between life and death. His grip on this world had solidified. He did no longer feel the strange instinctual and ever-present longing for the beyond.
He was not entirely sure what had caused it, but he strongly suspected that it was connected to his growing bond with the child.
Tobirama's fingers stroked over the leaf in his hands, relishing in the feeling of being able to interact with his surroundings again.
Gingerly he turned his hand.
The leaf did not fall down.
Tobirama smiled and almost fell over when he got tackled by an overly excited young boy. "You did it! Your chakra is back."
Naruto grinned brightly. "That's so cool, jiji!"
The ghost felt himself soften at the child's address. "Yes," he agreed quietly. "I believe it is."
"So what can you do now?" the child inquired enthusiastically. "Teleport? Multiply? Make a big water wall?!"
The man chuckled slightly and brought his hand down to ruffle Naruto's head. "I do not think I am strong enough for that yet," he replied, sounding slightly amused. "But there is something else I might be able to do."
"What?" Naruto asked, jumping back, and looking demandingly at the man.
Tobirama smirked. "This."
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the tiny water hare taking form in the palm of the man's hand.
"Cool!" Curiously he bent forward and tentatively reached out to touch it.
The small water animal immediately jumped into his face.
Naruto yelped in surprise and landed ungracefully on his behind.
The Second actually laughed at the dumbstruck expression on the child's dripping wet face.
Naruto's disgruntlement immediately evaporated, replaced with his joy at seeing the man laugh.
"Naruto seems to be coming along quite well," the Third remarked as he looked over the report Lion had just handed him.
"He does," Lion agreed. "In the two months he has been with us, his speed and agility has improved quite well. We have focused mainly on improving his taijutsu and developing his perception abilities."
"Perception abilities?" the Third inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Naruto has a tendency to lose focus and he gets easily distracted if something does not interest him. To rectify that we came up with exercises that forced him to be fully aware of his surroundings," Lion informed him. "So far we have succeeded in getting him to spot more obvious camouflage attempts and making him wake up once people approach him."
"That sounds like an ANBU skill to have," the Third remarked in an illusory casual tone.
Lion was not deterred by the unvoiced displeasure. "It is. But it is also a very useful defensive skill to have. If he learns to correctly evaluate and use his surroundings, he will have an easier time trying to escape dangerous situations."
The Third nodded slowly. "You are correct."
"And because of this I want to take him on patrol with us."
"Take him on patrol?" the Hokage repeated sharply, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Did I not make it clear that he is not an ANBU member?"
"I am aware of that," Lion answered calmly. "But Naruto is ready for his first mission. He needs to gain experience and what would be more secure for him than to join us in patrolling the village? It is an excellent opportunity to try his skills out in the field and we are there to guide him every step of the way."
The Third sighed. "Very well. He can accompany you. But you cannot let anyone find out his identity."
"I have already prepared this," Lion replied and placed a wrapped object on the Hokage's desk.
The man meticulously unwrapped it and looked at a white half-mask with two red stripes next to the eyes.
"It will cover the upper part of his face," Lion explained as the Third carefully examined it. "This way he won't be confused with an ANBU but still be associated with us."
The Hokage nodded slowly. "Approved. Get it registered under his name and mark his occupation and his identity as an S-class secret."
Lion bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Make sure to implore to Naruto that nobody is to know about this."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Anything else to report?"
Lion paused for a moment. "Well…it is more of a request than a report."
"Speak," the Hokage ordered, leaning forward to listen.
"I would like to request permission for Naruto to know our identities."
There was a moment of silence as the Hokage contemplated the ANBU's request. "Are you sure he can keep quiet?"
"He will," Lion answered immediately, absolute certainty in his voice "ANBU or not, he is part of our team now – and we would like to be able to interact with him outside of training."
The Hokage tapped his finger against his pipe, his eyes clouded in thought.
"I cannot allow you to tell him," he finally answered after another very long silence. "But… there will not be any consequences if he were to happen to find out by accident."
Lion understood the underlying message immediately. The Hokage was giving his tacit approval. "Understood, Hokage-sama," he bowed again, silently feeling extremely happy. Accidents could be arranged, after all.
ANBU were masters at it.
Tobirama stared grimly at the half-mask that had been placed in front of his charge. He was not happy with this development. He did not want Naruto to get involved too deeply with ANBU – and he especially did not want him to don any masks while he was still so young.
It might not have been an ANBU mask, but it was close enough to one. Too close. Secret identities and subterfuge should be left to the more experienced ninja.
He sighed silently as the child gingerly put the white cover over his face, attentively watched by his very giddy ANBU team -and wasn't it strange enough to actually call ANBU giddy? But then Team Ke seemed to take quite the pleasure in falling out of the norm.
"Looks good," Parrot finally decided, breaking the anticipatory silence.
"Yeah, really cool," Badger agreed. "You look like a scary little bunny now."
Owl snorted. "A scary bunny? Have you watched too many horror shows again?"
"Nah. Parrot dragged me to a haunted house, and it had that weird fluffy animal thing with red eyes. Scary, I tell you," Badger shuddered.
"That was not an animal," Parrot corrected him drily. "That was the conductor who had tripped over a wire. The fluffy thing was his fur coat and the red eyes you saw were the buttons reflecting the ceiling light."
"In other words, Hare is as scary as a fur coat," Lion concluded, sounding distinctly unimpressed.
The room dissolved into laughter.
"Why did he trip?" Owl finally asked curiously.
Badger exchanged a look with Parrot. "We don't talk about that. Ever." They answered in unison and steadfastly refused to answer more questions about the Haunted House Incident.
"Right…", Lion finally continued when it became obvious that they really would not talk about it. "I have spoken with the Hokage. You are allowed to accompany us on village patrol."
"I am?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Yes," Lion confirmed. "It is time you gained some experience." He tapped on the mask covering the child's face. "You will be required to wear that while we are out together. Do not take it off unless we tell you," he paused and waited for Naruto to acknowledge his instruction, before continuing. "The mask you a wearing now has been registered under the codename Hare. From now on this will be your name every time you put it on. While you are wearing it, you are not Naruto."
"Okay," the child confirmed, nodding seriously.
"People seen wearing officially registered masks are always addressed by their codenames, even if you happen to know their real identities," Lion carried on. "Naming a mask-wearing person is a very serious crime and will be punished most harshly. The same goes for wearing an official mask without authorization."
The ANBU pulled a sealed scroll out of his pocket and handed it to Naruto.
"Official masks have an identification number that allows to verify their authenticity. This scroll contains yours. Memorize the number and burn the scroll. If you are asked to identify yourself, you will report this number. You will receive a new one as soon as the identification check is done."
Naruto blinked. That sounded…complicated.
Owl laughed and patted his head. "They are pretty strict about security and they don't want to risk anyone's identity being compromised. There is even an entire department in ANBU dedicated to managing the identification process," he leaned and whispered conspiratorially. "But it's all very hush hush."
"Are you going around spilling secrets again, Owl?" Lion asked mildly.
"Who me?" Owl waved his hands. "Never."
Lion snorted.
Naruto was thrilled. This was the first time he actually got an assignment and he even could go out with his team!
He really felt like celebrating loudly.
The Second stopped the child's excited pacing and gave him a stern look. "Naruto. Sit down."
Naruto smiled sheepishly and flopped onto the chair the man had stirred him towards, meeting the Nidaime's serious gaze with his own. "Close your eyes," the man ordered.
Naruto obeyed.
"Center yourself and calm your emotions."
Tobirama waited until the child had stopped fidgeting, before he placed both of his hands on the boy's shoulders and started to speak, his voice carrying with the full weight of his power.
"Always remember, you are a shinobi of Konohagakure now, Uzumaki Naruto. The moment you received your headband you became a soldier first and a child second," Tobirama almost flinched at the harsh truth in his own words and silently apologized to his brother's sadly smiling memory.
"If you let your emotions rule you, you will not only put yourself in grave danger, but also your team and your village as well. If you wish to keep the oath you have given my brother, you need to learn when to be serious and when to play."
Naruto stilled and lowered his head at the severity of the man's words. "I am sorry, jiji," he muttered quietly. "I'll be serious now. I promise."
"I am not angry with you," Tobirama assured him and put his hand on the child's head. "But you need to learn. Now don your mask and get ready," he instructed him gently. "Your team will be here soon."
The child nodded mutely.
"ANBU guards are usually moving in teams of two," Lion told the masked child. "Hare, you will stay with Owl and me tonight."
Lion looked at the youngest in their midst. "The first thing we need to do is tell Team No that their relief has arrived. Just follow us and observe, Hare."
Naruto glanced at his teacher who nodded at him and agreed. "Okay."
"What do you see?" Lion asked the child. Naruto tilted his head and concentrated on the street below.
"There are nine people on the street," the child answered. "five men and four women. Three men and a woman are passing through. Two men are smoking behind a dumpster, and the three women are talking with each other."
"Correct," Lion answered. "What else do you see?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought. "The two men are in a good mood. They are laughing."
"Hm," Lion agreed. "What else?"
The child paused. "I don't think that the brown-haired woman likes the one with the blue jacket very much."
"What makes you think that?" Lion inquired neutrally.
"She keeps leaning away from her and her hand twitches when the one with the jacket is talking."
"Very good," Lion praised. "Being capable to read body language is a very valuable skill to have. If you learn how to read people, you will know which mannerisms can be interpreted as a sign for danger. We will work on that. But there is more that you can see. Owl, tell him what he has missed."
"On the second floor of the building across the street a man is preparing a late-night snack. On the first floor, third window to the right, a teenager is losing badly at a video game, you can see it by the way his body moves and his face keeps twitching in frustration. One window to the left and two stories up two best friends are watching a comedy film. The restaurant owner two buildings down is about to close shop, while his chef is secretly feeding a stray cat today's left-overs at the back door, apparently worried about being discovered," Owl rattled off immediately, before offhandedly adding. "Oh…and the smoking men are actually committing a minor crime because the cigarettes they are smoking are medical drugs."
Naruto stared slack-jawed at Owl, trying to process the entire well of information he had just been handed. "Wait..," he finally managed to get out. "Are you saying drugs?!"
He whirled around to stare at Lion. "Why aren't you doing anything?!", he demanded to know.
"Because it's not our responsibility," Lion answered calmly. "We are ANBU, not the Uchiha Police Force. Petty crimes are of no interest to us. Our job is to protect the village from external and internal threats, everything else falls under the jurisdiction of the Uchiha. Look – they are already there."
Naruto turned his head into the direction Lion had pointed. Two men bearing the Uchiha clan symbol were closing in on the two smokers.
Cigarettes were dropped as the men attempted to flee, but the officers were faster. Naruto watched as the two men were led away.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up to Lion. "Let's continue or we will fall behind schedule."
Naruto nodded.
A/N
Lots of Team Ke in this chapter. Well, it was about time Naruto got some more screentime with them. Thanks for your comments!
Seifer Boy Interesting idea. Not sure, if it fits with the story though. Thanks anyway =)
Frwt Ah, actually they are the same person. Kakashi was just holding his anger in while being in his ANBU personality and went to yell at the Hokage later as a "normal" jonin. And yes, you will eventually know who is behind those masks. You got Owl right.
Valkipher Thanks, pal ;D
Inky You are free to write one. *xD*
Azla Hashi Ah, sounds stressing^^". Glad that I could help you :D Well, Itachi's expression was probably totally straight. After all it was excellent advice, right? *xD*
Thanks for your input on that! That's about what I thought, too. Well, I won't force it and just see what fits best. =)
alharethabdelmonum 'Oh I am a majesty now?' *sends someone off to find a comfortable crown* | Well, perhaps it seems strange when you simply look at it from the power scale. But humans are not simply about power, they are about emotions, too. And Senju Hashirama, in my eyes, was someone who would have died for anyone under his protection. So it makes complete sense to me that he would jump in to take a deadly blow on a child's behalf - and I deliberately did not mention who those invading enemies were. Honestly, I don't see any BS here.
Asia1990 Thanks for the idea, but I don't really think Mokuton!Naruto fits into the storyline, although I rather like fics where he has the ability.
xeroxlaser I am glad you like it. =) I am currently still a bit undecided, but currently I am leaning strongly into this direction.
Guest Haha. That would be an interesting lecture to visit. *xD*
Yamajiji Thank you! Glad you liked it. I can really see Kakashi being nervous about that =)