I know I said the next chapter I put up would be for The Wildcard. Don't worry, it is almost finished. I felt so bad leaving you guys there last chapter, so I just had to upload this.

Ninja Doorman

Chapter 6

The next time I woke up I found myself being blinded by a surrounding whiteness that hurt my eyes. I felt warm and wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn't with all the white.

My eyes and hands stung a little, making it even harder to go back to sleep.

"This is the second time I have had to visit you in this kind of situation." A familiar voice said to my right, making me lazily turn my head and squinting eyes to where it came from.

"Hokage-sama…?" I mumbled tiredly.

"It is me, Hajime-san." The old man confirmed.

"Why… am I in the hospital?" I lifted my hand to rub my eyes only to find out it was wrapped in gauze.

"Aside from your minor injuries…" he started as I examined my wrapped up hand. "… You were experiencing some chakra fatigue. We talked about this."

I looked down from my hand, embarrassed.

He visited me a year ago and I wanted to show him what I could do with my chakra. I used up most of my chakra to speed up my running and ended up losing control and smashing into a wall, giving me a broken nose and almost cracked my skull open.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." I admitted.

I tried to lift my other hand but realized it was being held down by something. My head turned and what I saw made my eyes widen in shock.

There was a person sitting in the chair next to my bed with her head under one of her arms while the other held my hand.

"She stayed with you the whole time." Hiruzen explained Anko's presence. "I didn't know she became this attached."

"What?" I blurted out in confusion as I looked at him.

"You two have already met." He began. "I dug up the files shortly after I met you. But before we begin, I believe Anko-san should be awake for this."

He got out of his chair and walked around my bed so he can place a hand on Anko's shoulder. The response was instant. Anko turned her head to him as she squeezed my hand protectively. It loosened a little when she relaxed.

"Hokage-sama?" she asked groggily before turning to me.

When her eyes landed on me they widened as she got up and bent over the bed, this was followed by me getting pulled into an embrace. Through the contact I could tell she was relieved by her chakra.

"I know you." I said aloud once my earlier discovery was remembered. "You sang to me."

Anko stiffened while I saw the Hokage raise an eyebrow over the woman's shoulder.

"That was last night." Hiruzen tried to clarify.

"No." I said as Anko slowly pulled away and looked into my eyes with surprise. "She did it a long time ago… when I was little."

"What is he talking about, Anko-san?" Hiruzen asked the shocked woman.

"Before… before I was found…" she stammered when he called her name again. "On the beach… he started crying, and… I couldn't think of anything to do." Tears started to form in her eyes. It hurt me to see her like this. "So I started to sing the first thing that popped in my head." She then turned away from me to look at the old man. "It was how the Anbu found me."

I tried to remember more. I knew I saw the episode she was talking about, and could barely recall some details. Although there was never a baby involved with her background.

"Hajime-san." This time it was the Hokage. "How did you know it was Anko?"

"I remember her chakra." Hiruzen's other brow shot up as Anko blinked. "I know who she is."

I was scrambling for what to say next.

"How much do you know?" the old man asked, intrigued.

"Snake Man hurt her." I stated, making Anko flinch and take a sudden step back. Hiruzen just stood there in shock. Deep down I felt anger for what Orochimaru did and will eventually do. Understandable considering Anko was, and still is, one of my favorite characters. "Sometimes when I touch someone… I see things." At least that was a half lie. I did get faint feelings or emotions from some people I touch. But it was rare. I had to really concentrate. "He hurt her neck." I pointed with my wrapped up hand where the mark was on Anko, and saw her place her hand on her mark.

"Did you see anything from me?" Hiruzen asked, making me look his way. Anko was still in shock.

"Umm… maybe." I rubbed the back of my head as I brainstormed for something unique to him. "Trees. You were with some people and you volunteered for something. One of the men from the mountain was there." This time the old man stiffened. "He was wearing… blue."

I was talking about a scene in Shippuden where you go into Danzo's back-story. Can't remember specifics, but the Second Hokage was there.

"Hajime…" the old man rubbed his eyes. "When I first visited you… I had an infant with me…"

"Naruto." I finished for him with a smile, the child part of me showing itself. "Can I play with him now?"

He just let out a sigh before looking at me.

"Please stay focused, Hajime." He said in a gentle tone. "Did you see anything when you touched Naruto?"

"A fox." I grinned. This one was easy. "But it was mean."

"I… see." The man looked like he was going to have a headache. He then crouched down to my eye-level and forced a warm smile on his face. "It is important you never tell anyone about the fox."

"Why?" I asked, faking curiosity.

"Not a lot of people like the fox." He explained. "They will hurt Naruto if they find out." I already knew this, but I could still feel anger at the idea of people hurting Naruto. "Don't even tell Naruto. Understand?"

"Yes… Hokage-sama."

"Now, Anko. I believe now is the time to explain a few things to the boy." He turned to her. She looked like she calmed down a little. "Are you alright with this?"

I could see Anko bite her lip as she rubbed one of her arms. When she gave a hesitant nod Hiruzen turned back to me.

"Hajime-kun… Anko found you long ago." He started. "And she is the one who named you."

Now it was my turn to be shocked.

"We were not safe… and I had to take you away from… the Snake Man." Explained Anko as she used the nickname I came up with.

"But…" I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to ask. "Where is my mom?"

Anko had a pained look on her face as she walked up to the bed and sat on the edge.

"She… she is gone. And I don't know who your father is." Anko confessed as her arms pulled me into a hug. My eyes started to water… I didn't fully understand why. Yeah… this is my mother we are talking about, but I never got to know her. It didn't matter if she was the best or worst mother in the world. I will never know. I guess I am crying about never finding out. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. When I ran into you yesterday… I didn't recognize you. You grew up so much. And I promise…" I could feel her tightening the embrace. "… the Snake Man will never take you away."

I started crying even harder as my arms wrapped around her as well. What she said just… clicked with me. It was hard to explain.

For as long as I can remember in this life I have always been ignored. To finally have someone treat me like this was… hard to deal with. First it was the isolation when being in an environment where no one understood you. When I finally was able to talk the adults who came to adopt children already could see I was different. I didn't act like a kid my age was supposed to.

So I was alone.

"Are…" I started to say. Part of me just had to ask. And I wish it was right. There was just something about Anko. Something both parts of me, adult and child, wanted to know. "Are you my new mommy?"

Anko tightened her hold on me even more as Hiruzen's jaw fell open before collecting himself.

"Yes…" she whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. Her shoulders started to shake and I could hear her taking deep breaths. "I'll… be your mommy."

"Are… you sure, Anko-san?" Hiruzen asked, still shocked from what the woman just agreed to. "You are only fifteen. Would you be able to take care of a child?"

"I… Yes, I can." Anko confirmed while hesitantly pulling away from me to look at him with puffy red eyes. "He is… my responsibility."

"Very well then." The man let out a breath before looking at me. "Looks like you have a surname now. Mitarashi Hajime-kun."

No words can convey how happy I was to hear that.

We all sat in that hospital room for what felt like hours, Anko and Hiruzen going over the specifics. Anko had eventually crawled into the bed with me and held me close the whole time, making me instinctively snuggle up to her. In case you wanted to know, yes I was embarrassed. But not for the reasons you might think. I have the body and half the mind of a four year old. Almost any physical contact like hugging would make me feel embarrassed.

I must have dozed off a few times. I could tell because one moment the Hokage was there, and then the next he was gone. He must have left to go deal with the paperwork.

We started talking again. You know. Basic stuff you would ask someone if you wanted to know each other. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food?

She asked most of the questions. I already knew almost everything about her.

When Hiruzen returned my new mother was trying to get me to eat the horrible excuse for food they had in the hospital.

He chuckled at what he saw as he walked in with some scrolls under his arm.

"It is nice to see you are getting along." He smiled warmly as he walked up to Anko. He then opened a scroll and handed it to Anko who started squinting at it to read the small hand. "That is everything in his medical records the hospital has. In it is a list of allergies, minor medical concerns for the future. Nothing big, I assure you." The man then opened a larger scroll and handed it over. When I looked over I saw it was blank. "Seeing as you are to be his new guardian, it is important that you become aware of a secret concerning Hajime."

"What secret?" Anko almost growled. I guess she knew something I didn't.

"You already know of his ability to identify chakra. Other than that there is only one other thing." He waved a hand to the scroll. "This is a copy of an S-ranked document. I highly urge neither of you speak about the scrolls contents in public. Hajime-kun. You already know all this, but I hope you can keep this a secret between the three of us and a select few."

Anko preformed a few seals and rested her hand on the scroll. Almost instantly ink started to appear, filling the whole scroll.

It looked like a bunch of gibberish to me, but Anko looked at the scroll with a bewildered expression

"Six…" she looked up at Hiruzen in disbelief. "He has six chakra cores?"

"Hajime is exceptionally unique. These cores produce merely twenty-five percent of the amounts of chakra a normal core would produce for a boy his age." Hiruzen explained. "If you added that up he would have one core and a half. But I believe they can create even more chakra if he applied himself over the years. And we believe this kekkei genkai was inherited naturally." He cleared his throat to gain Anko's attention away from the scroll. "I have kept this a secret for years. If the council or elders found out…"

"They would use him." She finished. I could sense the killing intent running off of her in waves. I felt nervous, and they suddenly stopped when she perked up. "What about the Hyuga?" she blurted out, a small fearful tone in her voice. I wanted to know this myself.

"I have already discussed this with their clan head." The Third reassured with a raised hand. "They won't speak a word of this. There is no need to worry." I relaxed in the bed. "But this leads to something we must discuss." We both looked up at him. "In the case Hajime's kekkei genkai ever becomes public knowledge; we will have to take steps to ensure no one tries to use him for power. This can be done a small handful of ways. One being we claim the Mitarashi has always had a kekkei genkai, and only few in the clan inherit it. And Hajime-kun here is actually the child of one of your distant relatives."

"Would they fall for that?" Anko asked thoughtfully. Anko may be a female version of Naruto, but she knew when things required restraint and careful thought.

"Fall for what? The Hokages have always been aware of the Mitarashi clan's kekkei genkai." He voiced with a sly and smug look on his face. "I am sure if I look around I could dig up some records."

"But what if they find out we are not related." They both turned to me with the surprise clear on their faces. Hiruzen recovered from me asking the question faster than Anko did.

"It is nice to see you are still as smart as ever." Hiruzen smiled. "I have prepared for this as well." He reached into his robe and pulled out a ten inch long white box. And when he opened it he showed us what looked like a syringe. It looked a little odd though. There was a needle on both sides and what looked like three chambers inside. The middle chamber had a green liquid. Two sliders were on the side to, I assume, work as separate plungers. "Long ago I had this made. The liquid within is a special chemical that copies the appearance of any liquid it comes in contact with down to the smallest detail. Normally it is mixed with poisons and sedatives so that you could do things such as turning a barrel of wine into wine flavored poison. But this concoction is special." He pointed to one side of the syringe. "If Anko-san were to extract some of her blood it would mix with the chemical. There it will use her blood as a blueprint. I had some additions added to the formula that extends the duration and guides it to the bone marrow. It will spread throughout all the bones in the body and effectively makes the marrow produce almost exact replicas of the blood sample. They won't be perfect copies, but they will trick the body into thinking this blood is its own. The blood will be a little different, but it will be enough to convince anyone into thinking you two are related by blood. How closely you are related depends on how well your body takes the chemical." He smiled again. "I'm to assume you understood all of that?"

"Yes… Hokage-sama." I replied and bowed my head.

"Good." He turned to Anko and handed the box to her who looked down at the syringe. "It takes twenty-four hours for it to take effect, and lasts one year. Each year Hajime will have to take the shot again. I ask that you two think carefully over this before…"

Hiruzen paused in mid-sentence with wide eyes. I wanted to see what was wrong, so I followed his line of sight.

"If it will protect Hajime… I will do anything." Anko stated with the syringe in her arm, blood already filling the first chamber. "I will never let anyone take him away from me. I will kill all who try." I could see the expression on her face that was aimed not at me or the Hokage. I had a feeling the person she was proclaiming this to was not in the room. I could guess who she was thinking of. It could be the elders, but I had a strong feeling it was Orochimaru and everyone like him. I was shocked. I didn't know anyone would go to such extreme lengths for me. The feelings this dug up were hard to describe. Her dark eyes at the moment made my other half shudder, but other than that I was touched. I guess deep down I felt a wave of admiration. When she noticed I was looking at her she made sure to change to a warmer expression. "Do you want to be my son?"

I looked down at the forgotten tray of food in front of me.

Feeling alone could be one of the worst things someone can feel. You never see it in the anime, but it is implied that Anko received a lot of criticism when she returned from Orochimaru's side. One can only assume it took her a long time to clear her name. So that meant not a lot of people trusted her, but she was well respected for her skills.

People may not look at me the same way, but that did not mean I always had someone to talk to. And I hated it.

This would all change.

"Yes… Okaasan." I said with a shy smile while holding out my arm.

I was not alone anymore, and I never will be ever again.

Be honest, who here guessed that girl a few chapters back when Hajimi was a baby was Anko?