The morning after his party, Naruto jumps up feeling full of life and ready for the day. Iruka is still sleeping. "Iruka nii-san!" Naruto shakes Iruka. "Iruka nii-san it's morning!"
Iruka rolls over and mutters, "Don't feel good." Iruka starts coughing and pulls the fuuton over his head.
"What's wrong, Iruka nii-san?" asks Naruto, confused. "Are you sick?"
"I think I caught a cold in the rain yesterday."
"Oh," says Naruto. "Can I go and get my clothes from the Hokage's house?" he asks.
"Have breakfast first," mumbles Iruka.
"Okay!" agrees Naruto and runs to get himself some breakfast. Once he is finished, Naruto runs his fingers through his hair, pulls on a clean pair of shorts and a clean t shirt and runs to the Hokage's house. When Naruto arrives at the Hokage's house, he walks right in and yells for the old man.
The Hokage appears a few seconds later looking very frazzled. "Naruto," he says, surprised. "Where's Iruka?"
"He's at home," says Naruto. "He has a cold."
"Oh, not another one!" groans the Hokage.
"Huh?" Naruto cocks his head to one side. "Who else has a cold?"
"Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji," replies the Hokage. "Shisui caught the flu. You are the only one who went out in the rain yesterday and didn't get sick."
"Oh," Naruto droops. That means he won't be able to play with his friends today. "So, can I have my clothes back?"
"Oh, yes," the Hokage, turns and leads Naruto into the living room where the box of the Fourth's old clothes is still sitting in the middle of the floor. Naruto's washed clothes are sitting folded neatly on top. "Your clothes are right here," the Hokage says, gesturing for Naruto to take them.
Naruto scoops them up and looks curiously at the box. "Do you have all my parents' old stuff?" he asks.
"Yes, I do," the Hokage tells him. "But you don't have room for it at your apartment, so I will keep it all until you are older."
"Do you have any pictures of them?" Naruto asks.
"Hm?" the Hokage considers this. "Pictures? I think I have some, but Naruto, it is far too dangerous for you to have any pictures of them."
"Why?" demands Naruto, scowling.
"I didn't tell you this yesterday because you were too tired to hear any more, but your parents both had a lot of enemies. If anyone finds out that you are Minato and Kushina's child they would kill you. That is why I was against telling you who your parents are: the less people who know who they were, the safer you will be." The Hokage sighs. "But Iruka insisted I tell you. He wants to tell you about your mother's people and knows that he cannot teach you all he needs to unless you know who your parents were. You cannot tell anyone who your parents are, do you understand?"
Naruto sticks his bottom lip out. "Fine," he pouts. "I won't tell anybody. But can I see a picture of them? Please?"
"Alright," sighs the Hokage. "Come with me." the Hokage picks up the box of the Fourth's old clothes and leads Naruto upstairs to a room filled with boxes of stuff.
Naruto gazes around the room in fascination. "What's all this stuff?" he asks.
"I've been keeping a lot of stuff for people," says the Hokage. He puts down the box of clothes and rummages in another box and pulls out a folder filled with photographs.
Naruto stands on the tips of his toes, trying to see the photos. The Hokage holds the album just out of his reach. After a few seconds, Naruto gets fed up and grabs the photo album, knocking it out of the Hokage's hands.
"Naruto!" scold the Hokage.
Naruto scoops up the album and looks at the photograph on the page it is open to. In the picture, a woman with long, red hair is sitting on the lap of a man with blonde hair. They are reading a book called 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja' and laughing. "Are they my parents?" asks Naruto, staring at the photo in awe.
"Yes," confirms the Hokage. "They are your parents. Now hand me that album, Naruto."
Naruto scowls at the Hokage. "I want to see all the pictures in here!" he says stubbornly.
The Hokage sighs. "Fine you can look at the pictures, but please hurry up. I need to take Shisui home before he infects Konohamaru."
Eyes as wide as dinner plates, Naruto flicks back to the start of the photo album and looks at all the photos. Then he turns back the pages and looks through again. And again. And again. Then Lord Third takes the album out of Naruto's hands and packs it away. Naruto tries to grab it back, but the Hokage easily keeps it out of his reach. Naruto pays close attention to where the Hokage puts the photo album. He plans to steal it at the first opportunity.
"Naruto," says the Hokage seriously. "You need to go home so I can look after Shisui. Once you get home, take Iruka to see a doctor. I do not know how bad the others are, but if Iruka is anywhere near as bad a Shisui, he will need a doctor. Do you understand, Naruto?"
"Yes," says Naruto. "But Iruka-niisan said he has a cold, not the flu."
Naruto goes home to find Iruka-nii sitting dejectedly in the middle of his fuuton with a cup of what smells like hot lemonade. "Hey, Iruka-niisan," grins Naruto. "I went to see Grandpa Hokage and he thinks you should go see a doctor."
"I don't need to see a doctor," grumbles Iruka niisan. "I just need to rest."
"Okay!" Naruto grins and runs over to the window, throwing it open and leaning out. "Hey, Mr ANBU! Stop hiding and come say hi!" Iruka-niisan haules Naruto back inside by his shorts. Outside, a flash of white signals that the Naruto's ANBU is gone. "Aw, I wanted to say hi to the ANBU." Naruto droops. "All my friends are sick and I thought he might play with me."
"Naruto, how did you even know the ANBU was there?" asks Iruka-niisan. He sounds surprised for some reason.
"I could smell him," says Naruto cheerfully. "I guess you couldn't since your nose is all blocked up, huh?"
Iruka-niisan stares at Naruto, an expression on his face that no one has ever directed at Naruto before. Naruto doesn't even know what the expression means.
"Is something wrong?" Naruto asks.
"No," Iruka-niisan shakes his head and smiles. "Let's work on your fuuinjutsu."
Kakashi Hatake stands at the top of a tree, far out of sight. He is shaking. "He saw me," Kakashi mutters, leaning against the tree's trunk. "How? He's never seen me before… or has he?"
Kakashi looks up at the sky, trying to calm down. How did Naruto know?
"Senpai?"
Kakashi turns to see Tenzou standing on the branch just below him. "Oh, hello, Tenzou."
"Is something wrong senpai?" Tenzou asks, a puzzled expression on her usually unemotional face. "You're shaking like a leaf."
"It's nothing you need to worry about," says Kakashi, trying to shake off his onset of paranoia.
"We have a mission, remember?" says Tenzou. "You can't be distracted."
Kakashi nods and jumps down from the tree.
Hiruzen signs off another mission report and sighs. Paperwork might be boring, but it is necessary. It is what one could call a necessary evil. If only one could go to war against paperwork. The only downside to that plan is that a war requires paperwork to run smoothly. So the paperwork would win because it would know all his plans from the start.
I need some air, Hiruzen decides. All this paperwork is bad for my mental health. He stands up and, picking up his pipe and hat, Hiruzen heads outside to survey the village.
The Hidden Leaf is busy as usual, with civilians, ninjas and police going about their business. Hiruzen sees Fugaku and stops to ask him how Shisui is doing.
"Shisui is almost recovered," Fugaku tells him. "His parents are not overly happy about having a sick teenager on their hands."
"Remind me never to give Shisui sugar again," says Hiruzen, smiling around his pipe. "Or leave him alone with a room full of stir-crazy five and six year olds."
Fugaku just laughs. A second later he is almost knocked over when Naruto rockets by in a whirl of yellow and orange.
"Hi Hokage! Hi Mr. Police Chief!" Naruto yells, waving to them as he runs away through the crowd.
Twitching in surprise, Fugaku says, "He's wearing orange."
Iruka appears beside them and says, "He wanted an orange t shirt. I hope he doesn't take to wearing orange all the time."
"Actually, it suits him," smiles Hiruzen, thinking how appropriate the colour is on Naruto.
"Lord Hokage, can I talk to you?" Iruka asks, he seems out of breath, probably because he is still recovering from his cold.
"What is it?" Hiruzen asks.
"Um," Iruka looks down uncomfortably. "The morning after the party, Naruto...well...um...he noticed that there was an ANBU outside our apartment. He said that he could smell the ANBU."
"He could…" Fugaku stares at Iruka, his mouth open in shock.
"Can you find out which ANBU it was?" says Iruka. "I want to know if he let himself be discovered."
"Of course," agrees Hiruzen. He already knows which ANBU to asks first.