A few explanations:
Akutenshi Evil angels. Ryouken hunting dog. Kuroneko Black cat. Jijii Old man, Grandpa
.x.x.x.x. I mostly use this to indicate a change in point of views or basically just so the story won't be all squished together.. I hate how I can't make more space between lines.
.x.x.x.x. Used to indicate a time skip, big or small. I also just use it instead of these lines that FFnet provides.. I don't like them.
SPOILER WARNING: contains the name and identity of Naruto's dad
Chapter 2.
The Dog, The Cat and the Little Mousy
As you normally see in the animal kingdom, the dog chases the cat, the cat chases the mouse and the mouse... eats cheese??
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Someone was moving in the evening shadows of the village hidden in the leaves. No one would be able to see him, sense him and even, in a few cases, smell him. Even when he jumped over their heads as they celebrated below him. He wasn't there. He didn't exist.
Except that he was and he did, but only to three people. To everyone else he was a legend. A ghost story. Something parents used to scare their children to behave with. That always annoyed him. He and his partner were there to protect the village, not to terrorize little kids because they didn't brush their teeth at night.
To three people he was simply known as Ryouken. A member of Anbu that no one in Anbu knew about. Unlike the regular Anbu uniform his was all black. His mask, armor and clothes. Even the metal on his gloves and his Katana were black. The only other color in his uniform were the blood red patterns on his black dog mask.
Something was about to happen though that would change Ryouken's life, all his lives actually, he was living 3 at the moment. Ryouken was making his way to the Hokage tower to get a mission briefing from the third, along with his partner, when he heard a ruckus. He almost ignored it, thought it was probably some drunk people from the festival brawling in the alley. But then he heard a distinctive sound. A little child crying out in pain. He immediately changed course and headed towards it.
What he saw when he got there made him almost shake with anger. It took a lot to make someone who had gone through extensive training to suppress his emotions angry but this sight certainly had. In the alley below him a crowd of people, civilian and shinobi, were beating a little kid. He couldn't see the child clearly but he knew what he looked like. He was small for his age, frail even, had tan skin, blond hair and the bluest eyes you would ever see in all of Fire country.
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The little boy was done running. His lungs hurt when they struggled to gasp in air, his feet burned and shook like little twigs in a storm and he felt light headed and dizzy because he hadn't eaten much that day. Jijii had been too busy to make sure he got his meals. That wasn't the reason he had stopped running though.
No the reason for that was the huge barricade of crates and rubbish that was blocking the alley. They knew he would run down this way, it was the shortest route to the Hokage tower. His only safety. He looked around franticly for a way over the barricade or a place to hide but knew it was in vain, the monsters chasing him were already coming up behind him. The first kick connected with him before he could even turn around, sending him crashing into the barricade. He cried out in pain when a few more kicks and punches connected with his small body.
The monsters were crueler than usual. For the first time he was really frightened of them, even Kyuu was nervous. The monsters cries were different this time. They didn't call him mean names or curse him. They were shouting for his death. One big monster separated himself from the group and came towards him, he didn't know why but the monster looked happy. It raised a big katana over its head smiling as he did so. The little boy closed his eyes and waited for the pain. Except the pain never came, he wondered for a brief moment if he had died but concluded otherwise. He could still sense his surroundings but something had changed. In front of him was a new chakra signature. A huge one, full of power and anger. But not anger directed at him. When he opened his eyes he was looking at the back of an Anbu, except his uniform wasn't like the regular once. His savior didn't have to say anything. The monsters just started running away in fear, he could smell it pouring out of them.
When the monsters were gone his savior turned around and bent down until they were face to face. He liked his dog mask, it reminded him of Kyuu.
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"Are you alright, Naruto?" He tried to reach for him to check his injuries but the kid backed away.
"It's alright, I won't hurt you."
"I know, but Jijii told me never to trust strangers so you have to introduce yourself first. I don't want to break my promise."
Now that was a surprise. The kid was barely standing due to his injuries and yet he acted like everything was alright. Ryouken looked into the child's eyes and felt a strong bond form over what he saw there. In a little child no older than 5 were eyes more suited for an old man. Wise way beyond the few years he had lived. Eyes that not only knew about the harshness of the world but had accepted them. Ryouken knew those eyes, he'd had the same once when he was Naruto's age.
"Well I'm very sorry but I promised the Hokage not to give anyone my name. I suppose you could just call me Doggie for now, would that be alright?"
"I guess that would be Ok, you are a doggie after all. Are you on your way to see Jijii? Can you take me with you?"
Ryouken nearly laughed. A minute ago the child was serious as hell and now he acted like the little kid he was. Giddy and excited.
"Yes I will, as soon as I've finished looking at your wounds." That was another surprise, his wounds would have had any other 5 year old lying screaming on the ground for it's mommy. Some adults might have been doing the same, but Naruto was just standing there calmly while he did his examination.
He was startled out of his thoughts by Naruto's calm voice.
"It's my birthday today" Blue eyes looked up at him with a hint of sadness. "The monsters are always worse on my birthday."
Ryouken didn't know what to say to that. Happy birthday didn't seem quite appropriate and explaining why was forbidden by law. Instead Ryouken picket Naruto up piggyback style and headed for the Hokage tower, The third had an awful lot of explaining to do. Feeling the need to say something to the kid he settled for the only thing that came to his mind.
"It's going to be alright, I'll take care of it. No one will ever hurt you again if I can help it."
A promise not only to the child but a promise he made to himself, he would make sure the boy was well taken car of.
'If only you knew how your son was being treated. I wonder if you would have given your life as willingly then'
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Ryouken slipped into the hokage's office through one of the windows, carefully making sure not to jostle the little kid on his back too much. His injuries didn't look as severe as he first thought but he found no reason to cause the boy any more pain, Kami knew he must have had enough of that.
He knew without looking that his partner was already there, the guy was so punctual that you could set your watch after him down to the second. Plus he could sense him when he was 2 blocks away. His chakra signature was strong, laced with power, annoyance and a tiny hint of worry if you looked underneath the calmness. And sure enough his Anbu partner was standing in front of the Hokage's desk, clad in an all black Anbu uniform identical to his own. A black cat mask with red paint turned to face him when he got closer.
"You're later than usual." Kuroneko stated.
Like Ryouken he wore a bandanna to cover up his hair, making it impossible for anyone to recognize him by his hair color or length. Most Anbu didn't bother with things like that, but then again they weren't most Anbu. It is true that one of them was a well known Anbu captain and the other one was an Anbu trap and seal specialist but both of them also had another position, a position that for all intents and purposes didn't exist, nowhere on paper at least. A secret division hidden inside a secret division. Underneath the underneath.
They were the Akutenshi. Only the two of them, assassins hand picked by the Hokage himself for special missions not even Anbu were trusted with. As such they had to go to more lengths than regular anbu to conceal their identity. They wore bandannas to hide their hair, had special sprays that destroyed any smells that could identify them and were masters in manipulating their chakra so others wouldn't recognize it. Despite all the secrecy they, along with the Hokage, knew all of each others identities. They had to if anything ever happened.
"Ah, you see I found this little fishcake being eaten by some monsters and I just had to save it."
"Oi, who are you calling a fishcake you big meanie."
Ryouken walked over and stood next to his partner before he shifted Naruto so that he was now holding him out for the Hokage to see.
"Would you care to explain this" He asked in a calm yet angry voice.
The hokage looked up at Naruto and sighed, it were moments like these when he really felt old. The kid's clothes were torn and slightly bloody in places and you could clearly see bruises on his tiny frame. He took Naruto from the Anbu's hands and placed him on his desk to examine his injuries.
"I see it happened again"
Again" The words were all but growled out, the Sandaime always thought it was funny how the mans personality fitted his name and mask.. but then again that was how most Anbu got them in the first place. "You're telling me this happens a lot."
The hokage finished going over Naruto's wounds and then set him down. His wounds would heal quickly, probably before the night was over.
"Naruto why don't you go over to the book case and read a little bit ok?"
"Alright Jijii" Sarutobi watched the little boy run happily to the corner of his office where a big bookcase stood. It always amazed him how quickly the boy lightened up. 'Kyuubi's doing no doubt.' At first he hadn't liked it one bit when Naruto told him the demon talked to him but he soon realized that it was doing the boy good. For some unexplainable reason the demon cared for the boy like a parent would for their child.
"Hokage sama?"
Sarutobi sighed again before he focused back on the dog masked Anbu in front of his desk.
"Naruto spends most of his days here with me in my office. There are very few people in this village, shinobi or otherwise, who will look after him. Unfortunately I can't keep an eye on him all the time because of work so I have to assign other ninjas to do it while I'm gone. More often than not they treat him badly, don't do anything when he's attacked or even initiate the attacks themselves."
"And you just let them? If I hadn't happened upon him when I did his head would have been cut off!" The Anbu was nearly shouting now, a clear sign that he was beyond angry since his emotions training was slipping.
"He's the demon what do you expect" The man in the dark cat mask intervened.
"That kid may have the nine tails sealed in his stomach but he is no more of a demon than you or me" Ryouken snapped.
"In his stomach or where ever it's the same thing"
Before the hokage or Kuroneko could so much as blink Ryouken had slipped out a kunai and plunged it into the other Anbu's stomach.
"Now tell me" He growled out. "You've got a kunai in your stomach, does that make you the kunai or does that just make you a man who got a kunai thrust into him against his will? If it wasn't for that little demon, as you like to call him, the Kyuubi wouldn't have been stopped and I would have thought that for that people would treat him like the fourth, his father, requested"
"Enough!" The Hokage bellowed. " Kuroneko, you will never call Naruto that again in my presence. Ryouken, you've just assaulted a fellow shinobi. Your partner. You will both be punished for your acts and I will let you know what those punishments are when you come back with your mission report. As for your earlier question Ryouken I can't exactly suspend more than half the ninja population, as much as I would love to do so, and the council is breathing down my neck enough as it is concerning him. I do the best I can but my hands are severely tied in this case."
"Hey doggie" All eyes turned to the little boy who was tugging on one of Ryouken's pants leg and looking up at him with his big blue eyes. "Your book is boring."
It was then that the three men in the room noticed the bright orange book in the child's hand. Ryouken quickly flipped his weapons pouch open and sure enough his Itcha Itcha paradise was gone.
"How did you... when did you.. Give me that." He snatched the book from the kid, thankful for his dog mask because he swore that even with the mask he had on under it the other two would have been able to see how red his face was becoming.
"Che Ryouken, you sure must be losing your touch if that little brat can get your precious book from you without you noticing."
The cat masked Anbu promptly found himself sitting on his ass after having his feet kicked out from under him. He turned around quickly to snap at his partner for it but realized he hadn't moved. He looked to his other side and came face to face with golden hair and blue eyes underneath which was a big scowl.
"I'm not a brat you big meanie! Stop calling me names"
Both Anbu looked up at the hokage stunned. Sarutobi just laughed at them and shook his head.
"Naruto, give the book back and find something more suitable to read." To the Anbu he said. "Like I told you, Naruto spends most of his time here in my office. I didn't exactly have a lot of children's books around so I would read to him from what ever I had, most of it books about all sorts of shinobi techniques and training. He's a very gifted child and about a year ago he started reading on his own. Soon that wasn't enough for him and he begged me for days on end to start training him so I've been teaching him for about 9 months now."
"What level is he on"
"Oh I couldn't really say. I think if we were to test his abilities he would easily be at chuunin level, if he keeps improving at the rate he's going now I'd say he'd be at jounin level in a year or so. Normally that wouldn't even be possible chakra wise even for prodigies." Sarutobi looked at the dog masked Anbu as he said those words. "But then again Naruto, unfortunately, isn't exactly normal. I think the Kyuubi has something to do with his big chakra reserve. At the moment he's a genin, I was able to override the council on that one and oversaw his exams myself, but unfortunately he'll have to participate in the chuunin exams to get that title. The council is against it and it'll be hard finding a team that will work with him."
Both Anbu gaped, although you couldn't really see that since they both had their masks on.
Ryouken looked at the little boy. He felt a closer connection with him now, he understood all to well what it was like to be a child prodigy, he'd been a genin at five and chuunin at six. If Naruto had had the same chances he had when he was younger there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the kid would or could have done the same. A part of him wished that Naruto could have just been a regular kid or that despite his skills he could get a normal upbringing, the life of prodigies was never an easy one, but his more practical side told him that it would never happen. Prodigies in the ninja world were trained and pushed to their limit for the good of the village, and the kid would never get a normal upbringing, genius or not, thanks to Kyuubi. If only he had someone close who could not only give him the training but the care that he needed.
"Hokage sama, I would like to become Naruto's guardian" The words were out of his mouth before he even realized he had been thinking those thoughts, had in fact been thinking them since he rescued him in that alley. He didn't regret them, they just took him by surprise.
"Are you sure that is what you want?"
"Yes I'm sure. If not for me then at least do it for him. I think I owe it to his father to make sure his son gets all that he needs."
Sarutobi smiled. 'I guess we don't have to worry about either one of your boys Minato. Something tells me they're going to be just fine.'
"Your request is granted. I will give you all the information and paperwork you will need after your mission tonight. I can't promise you will be able to take him home right away, we'll have to work that out somehow. First and foremost none of your covers can be blown. You won't have to worry about Naruto telling anyone anything, I swear that kid could go through Anbu torture and he wouldn't tell you anything unless he wanted to. Now would both of you get going already! 20 missing nins aren't just going to up and kill themselves for us you know! Just make sure to stop by your medic nin before you head out, I'm not sending someone on a mission with a kunai in their stomach."
The Akutenshi had a special medic nin who took care of them. It wasn't exactly that no-one knew they existed, there were rumors flying about them everywhere. They called them the ghosts of Konoha. Almost everyone knew someone who knew someone who had seen them. But the fewer people who actually knew for sure that they did exist the better and that meant no running around hospitals in their uniforms. Before this night the only people who truly knew they existed was the Hokage, their medic nin and the Akutenshi themselves. After this night was over there would be one more. Every other person in that alley would just turn into another one of those someones who claimed to have seen the ghosts of Konoha.
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When they were gone Sarutobi turned to the little boy who was now reading quietly next to his chair.
"I guess you're birthday wasn't so great huh Naruto?"
"It was alright Jijii. Kyuu says it's his birthday too today." Naruto looked up and gave Sarutobi one of his rare smiles. One that reached his sky blue eyes and melted your insides.
"He says no ones ever given him a present in his whole life and he's more than a thousand years old, isn't that sad? I told him we could share the book you gave me. He wanted me to tell you he says thank you"
'A demon thanking me for a book, now that's something that doesn't happen everyday'
The Sandaime turned away from the little kid he cared for like his own grandson and opened a secret compartment in his desk, reached in and took out a scroll. Both compartment and scroll were protected with seals that only the hokage or one of the Akutenshi could open. It contained all their names, identities, skills and responsibilities along with mission reports and information they had gathered on missions that could not be registered in official documents. There was no mention of the word Akutenshi anywhere on it though, only the names they went by, that organization did not exist outside of the minds of 3 people. 4 after that night.
When the Hokage was done updating the files they stated.
Name:
Hatake Kakashi. Rank: Jounin
Inu. Rank: Anbu captain, Tracker.
Ryouken. Rank: Master tracker
Name:
Umino Iruka. Rank: Chuunin, Academy Sensei.
Neko. Rank: Anbu, seal and trap specialist
Kuroneko. Rank: Seal Master, Trap Master. Strategy Master.
The third Hokage of the village hidden in the leaf smiled at the changes he'd made. By both names under their responsibilities was now a new line. Guardian of Uzumaki Naruto. One of them would be happy with it. The other one would learn, he just needed a little push.
'Hopefully a better one than a kunai in the stomach.'
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