Reaping the Consequences
Chapter 2- A Step Forwards
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Kakashi hadn't wanted to.
He really, really hadn't wanted to.
But Naruto did, and since it was, after all, him being inducted into the anonymity of ANBU at six years of age, Kakashi also didn't have much of a choice.
Naruto was going to see the Hokage about the topic Kakashi had been dreading.
ANBU.
"Hey, Jackal-san." He muttered, clutching to Kakashi's back as they traversed the corridors. "How much longer?"
Kakashi had only been carrying him for all of thirty seconds. He'd counted. "Not long."
Naruto snorted. "You are traveling the base at thirty miles an hour. When a minute passes, half a mile while have passed. It will take…" He paused to calculate in his head. "approximately three and a half more minutes to exit, judging by past excursions. That's two miles." He paused. "Jackal-san, ANBU HQ-" he sighed, "is really damn big."
The older nin radiated amusement. "Ma, well." A beat. "Language."
Naruto scoffed. "It's a little late for that."
In fact, the jinchuriki was right. The place could be considered an underground small town just by itself. When inspecting food from a new trading source, it went through here. New medication? Tested here also. Kinjutsu? Guess. ANBU did the dirty work of Konoha, true, but there were many more mundane duties that required the secrecy of the black ops headquarters. A select group of jounin and special jounin worked in the classified sections, while extremely trustworthy chunin could work in the bureaucratic areas without ever knowing they'd been to the base. Not that Naruto had ever really seen any of this. However, the brat was too smart for his own good, and had likely inferred most of this already.
Kakashi wondered if this was how people felt when they spoke to him when he was younger.
They exited the underground base via Shunshin into a dingy munitions warehouse, one of the many covert exits for ANBU leaving the base. Just as Naruto hopped off Kakashi's back and made to escape to the rooftops, a single gloved arm stopped him.
"Hold it." Kakashi pulled a blank white mask out from his robes. It looked much like a regular ANBU mask, save for the fact it had no animal face molded into it. He slipped it onto Naruto's head, a simple genjutsu locking in and preventing anyone from remembering the details of the wearer's appearance.
"Aw, come on." Naruto complained.
"You know it's necessary." Kakashi said. The mask was extremely useful for concealing the identities of the people the ANBU dealt with. Of course, the genjutsu had its shortcomings, but Kakashi could be sure that civilians and ninja of chunin level and lower would not recognize anyone hidden behind the mask based solely on hair color, clothing, and body characteristics. However, physical tics and body language could easily be matched to a face, so Naruto would need a crash course in that as soon as possible. Even more so if he really was to be inducted into ANBU.
The boy grumbled, but stopped fidgeting with the mask.
They left the warehouse, startling a civilian woman out to buy her groceries by leaping fifteen feet onto the rooftop of a residential home. Neither of them made any noise on the terra cotta tiles.
"Jackal-san," Naruto said, "do you think the old man will really let me be ANBU?"
Kakashi tilted his head just so to catch the tap-tap-tap of Naruto's sandals. The jinchuriki had sped up to keep step with his guard. Naruto, noticing the motion, immediately attempted to quiet his movement. After a few minutes of this, the ANBU finally spoke. "Hokage-sama has no choice. In fact, he is probably more aware of Danzo-san's machinations than we are."
"Really?"
"He is the Hokage."
"He's not the one getting nice, personal visits from creepy emotionless ROOT ninja."
Kakashi rolled his eyes behind his mask. Naruto was regaining his usual attitude already. "When we meet with Hokage-sama, you may tell him that to his face."
"You," Naruto proclaimed with all the seriousness of a judge and jury, "are no fun."
"So I'm told."
Out of the corner of his eye, the ANBU spotted Naruto displaying lighthearted irritation in every line of his body.
He acted just like a new ANBU recruit, which Kakashi supposed he was. They were always so loud, broadcasting their intentions too freely.
The silver-haired ANBU, reaching the courtyard surrounding the Hokage tower, jumped to the ground and easily leapt to the wall, walking up twenty feet and clinging on with chakra.
Naruto, stuck on the ground, growled. "No. Fair."
Kakashi smirked in amusement. "Climb. I know you can."
He patiently waited for Naruto to take a few tottering steps up the wall. Naruto often paused to readjust the chakra collected at the soles of his feet, grumbling under his breath.
The jinchuriki eventually came level with Kakashi and paused, moving shakily because of his tenuous grip on the wall. "Happy now?"
"Yes." His one open eye curved into a u. Had Naruto seen it, he would have been struck by the immediate urge to punch his guardian in the face.
Said guardian picked up Naruto and piggybacked him the rest of the way up.
Kakashi peered through the window, just in time to see the retreating back of one Danzo Shimura and the exhausted look on the old Hokage's face. Levering the window, open, he let himself in.
"Hokage-sama."
Sarutobi Hiruzen was old, old and tired. It never showed more than it did now. "Jackal."
Naruto's tongue tripped over the unfamiliar and, to him, overly-formal address. "H-Hokage-sama."
Immediately, the Hokage's eyes narrowed.
Kakashi could feel the thrum of the newly-activated privacy seals, designed to distort the sound and vision of the area in the room.
The process completed, the Hokage turned to face them. "That," Sarutobi pronounced with a weary finality, "had better not be who I think he is."
Naruto scowled.
The Hokage, sensing the displeasure, groaned and tapped out his pipe in a small ashtray. "Very well. What can I do for you?"
"For starters," Naruto said, "what about explaining things?"
Kakashi quashed the urge to facepalm. A ninja did not go up to the Hokage and demand things. The Hokage demanded things of the ninja, and it would never be the other way around. "What he means to say," Kakashi sighed, "is, "Hokage-sama, what do you plan to do about Danzo and the ROOT ninja are threatening me? Are you going to put me into ANBU?"
He silently dared Naruto to contradict him.
Displaying more life-preservation instinct than since he'd arrived in the Hokage's office, Naruto wisely kept his mouth shut.
"There is no other choice." Sarutobi finally said, putting his pipe back in his mouth.
He looked drained any vitality he might have had left.
Naruto folded his arms. He muttered, "Looks like I'm joining up after all."
"Yes." Sarutobi didn't sound surprised that they knew.
Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "Surely that is not all, Hokage-sama?"
"No." Sarutobi snorted. "No, it is not. You need protection and training," he addressed Naruto, "and I have very few ideas how to give both."
The solution to that was pathetically simple. So simple, in fact, that Kakashi was sure that the Hokage was manipulating him into pointing it out. "Then find an ANBU whom you would trust not to harm Naruto, and sufficiently skilled enough to teach and protect him."
"It is not that easy. I hope to be assured of his mental welfare as well, Jackal-san."
Oh. Right. Well, that just complicated things.
"I'm right here, you know." Naruto informed the two adults grumpily.
"Of course." Kakashi said smoothly.
The jinchuriki flailed. "Why can't I just tell you who I want to teach me?"
"You don't know all of the ANBU in the base, if any, you don't know their strengths, weaknesses, or how they really feel about you, and the most of the people you know," Kakashi paused, "are paper-pushers."
"Hey! Iruka-sensei is really nice!"
"Yes." Kakashi sighed. "After you told him- quite rudely, I might add- to stay away from you when he just said hello, it's amazing he stuck around. Besides, your Iruka-sensei isn't cleared to know the identities of any ANBU. That would probably hinder your training, to say the least."
"It doesn't matter." Naruto scoffed. "I already know who I would prefer to teach me, and it's not Iruka-sensei."
The Hokage interrupted Naruto's rant, a suspicious gleam in his eye. "Oh? And who might that be?"
A sudden chill ran up Kakashi's spine.
"Jackal-san." Naruto declared. "What do you think?" He asked brightly, turning to the suddenly very nervous, twitchy ANBU.
The old man had predicted this. The conniving old fart of a Hokage had predicted this. Kakashi knew it, just as that mischievous glint of I-pulled-a-fast-one-on-you in the Hokage's eye existed. He felt like hitting himself on the head for not noticing earlier.
Who interacted with Naruto on a near-daily basis?
Him.
Who had already taught Naruto how to understand the scrolls he read, and how to manage his chakra?
Him.
Who gained Naruto's trust?
Him.
In fact, it was patently idiotic that Kakashi hadn't seen this coming from miles away. He was perfect for the job.
He sighed.
Sarutobi, however, looked positively cheerful. "That is a great idea!" He turned to face Kakashi. "Jackal-san, would you be willing to take Naruto on as a student?"
Kakashi took one look at the Naruto's determined face, and shook his head in exasperation. "Of course, Hokage-sama."
"Very good."
Naruto looked positively gleeful. "Great! When does training start?"
"Not so fast, Naruto." The Sandaime chuckled. The problem was solved, but he looked no more happy than he did at the beginning of the meeting. He looked worse. "We have to register you first. And your training is not something to be taken lightly."
Kakashi knew. Oh, he knew how painful ANBU could be.
When he next spoke, he sounded dead. "Be aware of what you are getting into, Naruto. Some leeway will be given, but on certain missions, ANBU cannot afford leeway. You will be treated like an extraordinarily powerful recruit. They will expect more from you, never mind your age."
Naruto's eyes turned chilly. "I know."
He stared at the jinchuriki for a very long moment, willing the emotional bias away. He saw pain. He saw loneliness. But above all, there was an overwhelming drive that crushed all in its path. "Maybe you do."
Kakashi whispered more quietly, back in the silent of ANBU headquarters where Naruto slept peacefully under a blanket, tired from the excitement of the day. "Maybe you do."
Naruto had never reminded him of Minato, and himself, more than now.
AN:
…Sorry?
Inspiration is running… low, to say the least. It's picking up, so hopefully a new chapter for this or other stories will come out soon.
-Port