Hey peeps. I'm trying to keep up a steady pace. Though right now I'm kind of angry, because PTR was updateda few days ago, and only two people have reviewed! Plenty of story alerts, though... Hm... maybe I should start holding more chapters hostage. That tactic worked well for my Harry Potter story...

Disclaimer: I don't own, you don't own, we all don't own, yet most of us still manage to portray the characters better than the person who does own. I hope I am among those ranks!

Chapter 8

Recap

He gently touched a whiskered cheek. "It's almost as if the boy I met so long ago died." He whispered, and the blue eyes landed on him.

"He couldn't have died, Gaara, because he never really existed in the first place." Naruto responded, his voice equally soft.

Gaara nodded, and both withdrew into their silent contemplations.

And another similarity was born, because both minds hovered on the thought of whether or not someone who never existed could die.

OoOoOoO

The next day, as he made his way to the place where he and Team Seven usually met, Naruto could practically feel the gaze of unseen eyes boring into him. The road he was walking along was empty save for the blond, but surrounded by trees, as most streets in Konoha were. A great place to hide from unwanted attention, or, in this case, keep hidden from the person you were stalking.

Naruto recognized the faint, almost completely hidden chakra signiture imediatly. He spent too much time with the owner to be ignorant to the familiarity of it.

Ookami, it seemed, was trying to see through his carefully crafted mask.

Normally, the young man would have written it off as coincidence, or as his team's usual spying on the members of the rookie nine, after all, the four ANBU thought that if they watched the younger generation enough, they would finally be able to discern who their taicho was. Countless off duty hours were spent tailing the teenagers. But, this was too convenient to be a coincidence. It was only the day after he had given them their clues, and he suspected the Hag had given them one more that would narrow it down immensely.

Pretending not to notice the person perched in the trees, the blond strolled on leisurely.

So, it was only Ookami, even though the whole team was off that day... that either meant he was the only one who suspected, or that they were stalking- er- tailing him in shifts. Both were plausible.

As he joined his two chuunin teammates, and waited for their sensei, he kept his senses trained on the other ANBU.

Finally, when Kakashi appeared, Naruto looked him straight in the eye, and grinned when he found nothing different in the expression. Kakashi was the worst actor on their team, and even though he wouldn't say it out loud, his expression would scream any suspicion he had that Naruto wasn't exactly what he claimed to be.

Satisfied that Ookami seemed to be working alone, he discreetly made a shadow clone while he goaded the Uchiha.

Unlike the clones he made in front of his chuunin teammates, which appeared right next to him, and could only take one hit, this shadow clone formed itself in a clearing in the woods a mile away and was made to take more damage by layering chakra levels though it. Walking purposely over to one of the trees, which honestly looked no different from any other, the clone pulled a vial of blood from one of the cubbies hidden not only by the large root of the tree, but also by an almost completely undetectable genjutsu.

The clone poured the blood on the side of the tree, which allowed for a secret compartment twenty feet away to become unlocked. Retrieving the things stashed in the compartment, and quickly dressing in them, where a clone of Uzumaki Naruto once stood, the ANBU captain Kitsune took its place.

The first thing ANBU learned in the forces was to not only expect the unexpected, but to plan for it. It just so happened that Naruto had a bit more variables than most. He knew that he would need to draw Ibiki's suspicion away from himself, and the only way to do that was to be in two places at once.

Kitsune nodded in satisfaction, then shunshined to a tree that was a bit away from the one his team member was perched in, and quietly snuck up on the unsuspecting ANBU.

"Do you really think Inu wouldn't realize I was on his team immediately. Really, so little faith in your teammates, Ookami, you should be ashamed of yourself." Kitsune sat calmly on the branch as a kunai, clutched in the hand of the surprised older man, was held to his throat for a moment before being drawn away.

"Kitsune-taicho. You should know better than to sneak up on me. I could have really killed you!" Ookami exclaimed, even as he checked the chakra signature of his companion to make sure he really was who he claimed to be. Relaxing when the feeling he knew so well, the powerful aura of his captain's chakra, washed over him, the large man grinned.

"So, who are you stalking today, Ookami. It isn't the usual time of month for my team to be following members of the rookie nine." Laughing when Ookami's eyes cut over to the real Naruto, he pretended to just realize the target, "Uzumaki's turn again, is it. Really, I would hate to be that kid. Too much on his shoulders for a regular chuunin to bear. Good thing the container is so resilient, right?" This was a tactic he employed to throw off anyone who got too close to the truth. Anybody who knew the ANBU captain well, knew he was anything but vain. Vanity is almost impossible to acomplish behind a mask. If they thought that Naruto and Kitsune were one and the same, Kitsune would appear, and start complimenting the blond. Anybody who was convinced the demon container was the ANBU captain immediately began doubting themselves. If they were correct, then Kitsune was, in a sense, complimenting himself, and that was too vain to be true.

But this time, Ibiki wasn't fooled. There was just too much evidence that pointed towards the boisterous blond, the least of which being Kitsune meant demon fox, and who would proudly bear the mark of a monster other than the one who bore the monster itself?

But, why was Kitsune protecting his secret so fiercely? If Konoha ninja knew that the most respected ANBU captain was the Kyuubi's vessel, well, they would probably finally realize the kid wasn't the fox. Kitsune had saved as many lives as Kyuubi had ended.

No, there was something more going on here, and Ibiki was determined to find out what it was.

Instead of revealing his thoughts, Ookami casually said, "Well, you're right. I'd really hate to be that kid. Haven't seen him since the Chuunin Exams a few years back, but he seemed okay, if a bit of an idiot. You're right, there's no way he could be you."

The older man could practically see the smirk on his captains face when the younger man replied, "What is it that proved my point, the fact that he's an idiot, or the fact that he seems okay?"

The scarred ANBU was about to respond, when they were suddenly joined by another member of their team. Apparently Kakashi had unwiitingly taken a leaf out of his leaders book, and sent a clone dressed in uniform to go investigate the conversation in the tree while the real man stood just outside the clearing, reading his new porn as Sasuke and Naruto sparred, and Sakura practiced earth jutsu.

"Well, hello, Inu. You're just in time to play you guys' favorite game, 'Who's behind the Kitsune mask?' Care to place your bet?" Kitsune announced when the clone landed on the tree branch.

Inu snorted. "I wouldn't place a bet, because you wouldn't tell us who you really are, and then you'd just get to keep the money."

Ibiki agreed, though now he would bet everything he owned that the man behind the mask was really the blond teen, but he didn't want to reveal that officially to his team until he found out why it was such a well kept secret.

"Uh oh, would you look at the time?" Ookami stated, looking at the suns position. It was nearly one thirty. "I have an interrogation to oversee in about ten minutes. See you guys at the next meeting." With that, the man teleported away. He had to talk to the Hokage.

Kitsune blinked at the empty space where his comrade was only moments before, blinked a few times, then shrugged and did the same, reappearing in the clearing, putting the outfit away, and cancelling himself.

Naruto didn't even pause in his battle against his friend when the knowledge hit him. Really, his team suspected someone new every week, Naruto just happened to be the one who got the most attention.

Kakashi's clone disappeared itself, and the man blinked lazily, processing the information. Apparently their new hints on the captain's identity had Ibiki suspecting someone on his team, but really, Kakashi thought he would have noticed if Kitsune was secretly one of his genin. He wasn't an idiot, after all.

~~~~ With Ibiki and Tsunade~~~~

Ookami slipped easily into the window of the Hokage's office, not even turning to look at the astonishing view of the city he vowed to protect now visible through the small portal.

He bowed to Tsunade respectfully, though she couldn't see him, as she was rooting under her desk, he knew she had felt him coming.

"Hold on a minute, Ibiki-chan, I'm trying to figure out where I hid my sake." Ookami flinched at the nick name. The current Hokage had been friends with his parents, and had watched him grow up, and had never dropped the stupid, childish -chan. He was glad she only called him that when they were alone. He would never live it down with his team.

Finally, the busty blond woman sat up straight, clutching a stone ware jug and grinning evilly.

Pouring the amber liquid, she looked up at the scarred man. "So, Ibiki-chan, you don't normally visit me, and there's no prisoner in your custody at the moment, so you can't be here to report on that. The only other option is you've found out who Kitsune-chan is, or, at least, think you have."

Ibiki nodded, sitting in the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Really, Tsunade-sama, after looking at all of the facts, there's only one person it couldbe. Any other would make no sense." He replied, looking into her honey brown eyes to see if there was any reaction. Like any good shinobi, her expression was a carefully crafted mask.

"And who, Ibiki-chan, have you finally decided it was?" The woman querried.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Instead of bursting out laughing, or confirming his beliefs like he'd hoped, the sannin just back comfortably in her chair.

"And what made you come to that conclusion? It obviously isn't the way he acts." She snorted, and both got a brief vision of Naruo as a younger child, running from ANBU, laughing merrily as paint dripped from the buchket in his hand and streamed from the running ninja, who had just been on the end of one of his childish pranks. The orange didn't wash out for a week.

"Actually, it kind of was. The boy is the container of the Kyuubi, who, at the very least, would refuse to be housed in an idiot. He trains for almost twelve hours a day, long after the rest of his team are gone, and yet shows no improvement. I know for a fact that Kitsune-taicho chose his mask, and who would be bold nough to do that other than the Uzumaki. His eyes, when you see them, are red. That color only applies to Uchiha and Kurenai, and those two were ruled out long ago. Besides, Kurenai-chan already has an ANBU identity. Uzumaki could use a bit of the demon's chakra to do that. Finally, there is the order you gave after you gave us that hint, to not treat him any differently if we figured it out. " The man revealed his reasoning.

Tsunade frowned slightly as she thought of something. She could confirm the ANBU's suspicions, and risk him telling the wrong person, or keep him in the dark, and have mistrust fester in that team.

Finally, she activated the secrecy jutsus around the office. To anybody outside, the conversation in the office became inaudible, any bugs already placed in the room were rendered useless for a few minutes, and the window became one way, so anybody on the wall outside couldn't read her lips.

"Ibiki, I've known you since you were still in your mothers stomach, I delivered you, and I watched you grow up. What I want to know now is, can I trust you? If I fianlly tell you who Kitsune is, I want you to swear to me that you won't reveal it to anyone else, not even your teammates, under the penalty of death." Brown eyes were serious, and the man frowned, leaned forward slightly, and nodded.

"You have my word. Unless Kitsune-taicho gives leave, no one else will ever know."

Suddenly the legendary ninja burst out laughing. "You always were a bright kid, Ibiki-chan! But, really, it took you so long to figure it out, when there was nothing but clue upon clue!"

The ANBU sat back, eyes wide. "So... I was right?" He knew it was the kid, was utterly sure of it. But it was still a bit of a shock to have it confirmed.

"Oh, yeah, Naruto has been Kitsune since he was about four. In fact, in a twisted way, his induction into the ANBU Corps was his birhtday present, after he had accidently set off a wave of toxic chakra against a crowd of civilians and ninja, who were chasing him, intent on killing him."

"B-but, we would have noticed a midjet running misions! Kitsune wasn't officailly on a team until about six years back, which was five years after you say he became a member!"

"Oh, he had to train for about three years, and then, by that time, he had so much power, he was taken on as Sarutobi's personal bodyguard. So, for about two years, that kid lived in shadows. Kind of gives you a new perspective on why his choice of persona is so sunny, eh?" The woman laughed again, though it was verging on bitter.

"Wow, a four year old ANBU Trainee. He skipped three other levels, shot straight to the top, then decided to go back down to the bottom. Why?"

"Well, the way I hear it, it was an accident, really. He wasn't even planning on making Genin. It just sort of... happened. He was given a special limitation by the council that said if he didn;t make genin by the third try, he wouldn't be able to join the ranks of nin, which suited Naruto and Sarutobi just fine. Naruto would fail, and then, just disappear, living just as Kitsune for the rest of his life." Tsunade shrugged, pouing another glass of the strong alchohol.

"How... Mizuki." Ibiki answered his own question, remembering how he was the one to question the traitorous chuunin after the whole Forbidden Scroll fiasco. "But, why did he do it? why did he take the scroll, and go to meet the bastard?"

Thin shoulders shrugged. "The way he tells it, catching Mizuki for the triator he was was part of the plan. Iruka's involvement, and the subsequent advancement of Naruto officailly in the ninja ranks was all an accident. Kind of funny how it works that way."

Both adults sat silently for a while, contemplating how living the life of an ANBU would effect a child. Finally, Tsunade stood up.

"Well, if we're done here, Ibiki-chan, it's my nap time." She announced, dropping the secrecy jutsus and walking out the door without waiting for an answer. The man laughed, and left as well.

And heavy secrets echoed in an empty office.

Haha! It sucks, I know, but, well, had to get someone on Naru-chan's side, and I like Ibiki, he's weird, just like me! Well, you know what. I've decided to hold the next chapter hostage! Y'all won't hear a peep from this story until I get the full ransom of five reviews... and a batch of chocolate chip cookies! So there!