The Anbu Commander was impressed, very impressed, Naruto Uzumaki had just learnt the multi shadow clone jutsu and then used it to defeat Mizuki, a traitorous academy instructor who tricked Naruto into sealing the forbidden scroll of sealing, the kid had a talent one that wasn't seen often and with few, one that would be perfect for Anbu Black Ops.
One could say that he was loud, that he was unfocused and had a very large cry for attention, but that didn't mean that Naruto wasn't good enough for the Black Ops, it in fact meant that he was neglected, he had been ostracized and rarely been given attention other than to be yelled at, Naruto had skills that were more important than jutsu.
He had stealth, a cunning mind and good battle intellect, but the problem is no-one knew how to focus these things, how to use his stealth properly or how pranks benefit him as a Shinobi.
He knew things that his classmates did not, how to mask one's chakra, how to learn patterns, one thing about the young Uzumaki, was the fact that to do his pranks he would often have to learn the shinobis in the village's patterns, that's why he could do such large scale pranks without being caught, without being detected, these types of skill were often forgone by children for flashy jutsu or a
The redefined Anbu basic training would be extremely useful for the boy, especially the remedial lessons but the biggest problem by far would be Lord Third Hokage who would not see the advantage for everyone in putting the boy in Black Ops but the man could be convinced, albeit, it would require a lot of hard work on the Commander's part.
"Lord Sarutobi, exactly what do you plan to do with him?" asked the masked leader, his voice was without emotion to everyone except the Lord Hokage, who could always recognize what his subordinate was thinking, this time it was curiosity.
"I plan to place him onto Team 7 with Kakashi as captain and Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, what do you think?" asked the old man.
"That sounds like a bad idea, Lord Third, Kakashi's test is the most difficult in Konoha, I have no doubt that the young team will fail just like any other," said the Commander.
"What do you suggest I do then?" asked Sarutobi, with a raised eyebrow.
"I would like to have Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki placed into Anbu Black Ops," said the Anbu Commander, shocking Sarutobi to the bone. The boy, he understood at least somewhat but what reason was there for the girl to join the Black Ops?
"Absolutely not, for either of them," said Hiruzen, to which the Anbu Commander sighed, he knew this would happen.
"Lord Hokage, I know what you're thinking but both would gain multiple things from this training, Uzumaki will learn chakra control, actual taijutsu, stop asking for attention and most likely would get serious, the girl would finally get serious about being a kunoichi, would break out of her fangirl stage, and what comes with that, like that atrocious diet and finally would gain focus," said the Anbu Commander. Sarutobi considered these things, they were good point and most likely true but he was not so sure about this.
"And what about the death rates?" asked Sarutobi, with a smoke of his pipe.
"Exaggerated, we have not had that level of casualty ever since I rose to power," said the Anbu Commander, to which Sarutobi agreed.
"What about the fact that this could warp them?" asked Sarutobi, the Commander thought about that, it was a kind of good point.
"Sir, being a shinobi will warp them or they might die, if they don't get warped fast in enough, the difference is in Anbu, they will be warp just enough to keep them alive," said the Anbu Commander. Sarutobi honestly realized that these points sounded good but wanted to still try Kakashi's team or else Kakashi would never forgive him.
"And what if they don't pass?" asked Sarutobi, with an eyebrow raised.
"Then they will go back to the Academy, or may just leave the Shinobi life, but I find it extremely unlikely that they would fail basic training, either of them," answered the Commander.
"And why won't Kakashi be a good choice?" asked Sarutobi.
"Simple Kakashi is inept at life and teaching at the moment, if we keep these two with him, Kakashi most likely will teach them the bare minimum, out of laziness and overconfidence in their ability," said the Commander, to which Sarutobi sighed, these were good points but he chose to believe in his chosen jonin.
"I would like to try Kakashi's team, first, I will of course not interfere to make this as fair as possible and will tell Kakashi to not show favoritism because of his debts and about taking Sasuke as an apprentice if they fail, and if they fail, than I will allow you to give them your offer but if they pass, I want you to leave them alone," said Sarutobi, to which the Anbu Commander nodded, it was a good enough deal. The Anbu guarding the Hokage were shocked, this was extremely rare both the fact that Genin could potentially be joining the Anbu Black Ops and the fact that the Commander himself wanted them to join, that was an even rarer scene, the Commander since he had come to power had not chosen anyone to join the Black Ops, it was always the recruiters.
Sarutobi sighed, hoping he hadn't made a big mistake but these things always seemed to bite him in the ass.
-A week later-
Sakura Haruno was disappointed in herself, she and Naruto were walking together home as they had failed their Sensei's Genin Exams and were being sent back to the Academy, she should have honestly helped Naruto when he was tied to the stump but Sasuke hadn't and she believed that Sasuke was honestly always right, the Exam had made her lose a lot of things but had given her a lot of insight about the life of a shinobi.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan, this is my fault," said Naruto, with melancholy.
"Not your fault, this time, Naruto, it was honestly all of ours even Sasuke-kun's," said Sakura but both were soon interrupted by an Anbu Black ops dressed in a white Cloak with the hood up, signifying his rank as Anbu Captain and a bird mask, appearing in some smoke.
"Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, you are both being summoned by the Lord Hokage," said the Anbu Captain, to which both looked at each other confused, shrugging their shoulders before looking at the Anbu and nodding, as he grabbed the two, and started the teleportation jutsu to send both of them to the Hokage's office. As they arrived, both honestly felt sick, for a second before Sakura bowed while Naruto crossed his arms and smirked, and looked at his oldest friend.
"Hey old man, what do ya need?" asked Naruto, to which Sakura looked at Naruto, shocked. Sarutobi however smiled, he had failed this boy so much but the boy still kept smiling even after all he learnt, Sarutobi was honestly disappointed in himself, at how the boy was treated, yet he never figured out, who revealed the secrets of Konoha.
"Good morning Naruto, one of my... subordinates would like to make you, two an offer, one that most likely would interest you," said Sarutobi, to which Sakura was confused, they seemed to know each other quite well. Next to Sarutobi, appeared an Anbu dressed in the traditional white cloak and crow mask, Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of him, he recognized the man.
"You, you-re the Anbu Commander," said Naruto with wide eyes. This widened Sakura's eyes as she realized that Naruto knew who the Anbu Commander was and that the Anbu Commander wanted to offer them a job.
"Indeed, now do you know why I called both of you here?" asked the Anbu Commander.
"No sir," said Sakura, with a confused look.
"I have made note of both of your skills, Haruno, you have amazing chakra control and good book smarts, Uzumaki, you have good stealth skills and a cunning mind, I have decided to offer both of you a position, a position in the Anbu Black Ops," said the Anbu Commander, this shocked both Sakura and Naruto, Anbu were elite assassins, as far as she knew, she was not even a kuniochi, and Naruto was the dead last.
"Sir, why us?" asked Sakura.
"I believe that both of you could prove to be useful assets to the Black Ops unit, basic training should give both of you focus and proper Shinobi skills, for example, Haruno, your reserves are tiny and need to be improved as do your physical skills, Uzumaki, your basics need work and so does your loud mouth personality," said the Commander.
"So what do you think, Sakura and Naruto? want to join the Anbu Black Ops?" asked Sarutobi, with a smoke of his pipe and unrecognizable expression on his face, both Sakura and Naruto thought about it, it was a good offer, training and becoming proper shinobi.
"You know, you won't have to D-rank missions," said the Commander, to which the two almost Genin looked confused.
"D-rank missions are missions such as catching a cat, babysitting, painting fences," said Sarutobi. Both Sakura and Naruto realized the truth about these missions, they were just glorified chores.
"I accept!" shouted Naruto and Sakura, to which the Anbu Commander nodded.
"good, but first, you must both do these two exercises before you can join," said the Commander as he handed them a scroll, with the tree climbing exercise and the water walking exercise.
"Wow," said Sakura, as she read through the scroll.
"Also, Uzumaki, a quick tip, your shadow clones get the memories of the original when dispelled," said the Commander, to which Naruto looked confused, the commander sighed, "If I get the memories of my shadow clone, anything I and the clone do will be done in half the time, or a third of the time and so forth, anything the shadow clones learn, I learn when they dispel."
Naruto finally understood what the Commander was talking about, he could use these shadow clones for training. He started to grin, at the idea of training.
"Get these exercises done and report tomorrow for introduction training," ordered the Commander.