Chapter 12 – The Babysitter

Gazing at the village is one of the Third Hokage's favorite past times. Tobacco in a pipe. Nice comfy chair. A quick way to unwind after a day's work. A time to reflect and think of ideas to future problems. Let the mundane problems of the day disappear like the smoke from an exhale. A couple more minutes of mindfulness is easy to spare. Just to concentrate on your breathing and admire the lovely view.

Taking another puff, Hiruzen closes his eyes. His thoughts dwell on an oncoming conundrum.

'What to do with Naruto.'

The celebration for the Lunar New Year Festival is almost here. With Naruto being more well received, he has expressed a great interest in partaking in the festivities. In previous years, he was more shy around big crowds and mostly kept to himself, thus his guard to make sure nothing nefarious would happen to him would be small. Sure, he could keep another small contingent of his ANBU in regular clothes to tail him, but with the added Land of Fire dignitaries and nobles, forces would be stretched thin.

'Not to mention the activity of my wayward student.'

The Third Hokage's students, the Legendary Sannin, have gone their separate ways. Tsunade, granddaughter of the First Hokage, has been in a spiral of grief for the past decade it seems. Not content with life but not wanting to live it either. A leaf blowing wherever the wind takes her. Or more likely wherever there are loan sharks to swindle. Jiraiya was never one to settle down either. Content with his role of a wandering sage, going headlong into whatever he felt necessary to do. Whether that meant taking an abrupt leave in a war or his aspirations on becoming a novelist.

Both of those pale in comparison to his third student, Orochimaru. His newfound source of shame. His recent actions have put the ANBU forces on high alert. Keeping them away from the village center while the Konoha Police Force manages to step up on internal affairs. All of this means that the ANBU usually responsible for keeping Naruto safe are out on assignment.

As the Third Hokage ponders more on the situation, he leans forward slightly. On the cusp of an idea. He starts thinking through it more. His lips turn a bit upward as he nods to himself.

'Two birds with one stone.'


"Chuunin Anko Mitarashi reporting as ordered." The now identified ninja states in a confident voice. She stands straight up. She's been getting antsy being in the village and the stares from the populace has been getting to her. All she wants is to get right back at doing what she is trained to do and was relieved when she received her summons to the Hokage's office.

"Yes. Please, be at ease." Hiruzen replies and Anko slightly relaxes. "The mission I have selected for you is a mission with a dual component. The first part is a basic reconnaissance. In this file is the person you are selected to gather information on. This file contains the target's general personal information, habits, and places you can find the target when not in his dwelling. This is a C rank designation and you will be compensated for it. The mission length is a week."

He moves the folder to the front of his desk for Anko to walk up and grab. Once she opens the folder her shoulders slump as the face of Naruto Uzumaki. 'Great. I'm a babysitter.' Her internal monologue is cut short when the Hokage continues.

"The second part of the mission is an escort mission. You will stay with Naruto for the entirety of the Lunar New Year Festival celebrations. He will know that he has an escort. After Naruto is finished, you will take him back to his apartment and watch it until twenty-three hundred hours when Weasel relieves you. This part of the mission will be designated as a B rank."

He gives Anko some time to look at the folder once more. Her eyes read through the documents. It has a usual daily schedule collectively written by three of his ANBU guards. It has Naruto's usual playing spots as well as an abundance of information about a stuffed fox. Taking a deep breath, Anko thinks, 'Great. Just great. It's just as bad as all those D-ranks I used to get. At least the pay is decent.'

"Naruto is currently at the library." Hiruzen interjects. "The observation starts now."

Taking the hint, Anko leaves the building and pockets the folder in her jacket. As she enters the library, she easily spots her target at the table with a large dictionary. She finds a tea ceremony book and sits a table nearby.

"You got that note?" Naruto says in a quiet voice.

'So he really does talk like it's alive.' Anko side glances and sees a note with something written on it. She can't really make it out from the angle she is at. Naruto is seated with his fox next to him. She just concentrates on her hearing.

"Good. So, let's see the first one. This was the first one he said the loudest and then this one. The rest were after he realized we were nearby. Right?"

Another pause.

"Okay then. F. F, F, F, F…. Ah, here's F. Okay, next letter is U. Fe….Fi…..Fu. There we go, and next letter is C."

Anko looks up for a bit then immediately looks down again. She isn't really focusing too much on acting like she's reading. 'He really is. Oh, that little brat.'

"Okay. Verb. Slang. To have se- huh? seshu, sexual intercose- intercourse with." Naruto tilts his head. "Ehh? What does that mean?" He says in a slightly raised voice to get immediately shushed by the librarian. "Sorry." He says in a whisper again.

Another pause.

"Oh yeah, the third definition. Interjection. Slang. Used to express anger, disgust, blaaah blah, don't know those words."

Naruto looks back to the note. "So this next one is a phrase, so lets get back to that one and look up this one that he said that begins with a D."

Naruto turns the dictionary and continues for another thirty minutes before saying he is hungry. Naruto picks up his stuffed animal, drops the book off at the counter, and heads out to his favorite ramen stand. Anko following shortly afterwards.


Snow has once again fallen in Konoha. Anko is appropriately dressed for the weather as she continues her mission. It's a bit harder as the snow will leave tracks. Going through the trees is also difficult because she can't disturb the snow in case it falls.

"I'm going to paste Sasuke's face with a slushball." He chuckles to himself as he finds Sasuke a short distance away.

As Naruto gets ready to throw, Kurama interrupts "Some philosophers say that true happiness comes from a life of virtue."

Naruto continues to hold his throw as Kurama starts walking away. Naruto looks down at the slushball and back to Sasuke. A few more seconds of contemplation and Naruto drops the snow and runs back to his apartment with his friend in tow. Anko in the trees behind them. She hadn't the faintest idea why Naruto suddenly stopped his wind up to throw the snowball at the kid Uchiha. His mad dash back to his apartment threw her for a loop. She is doubly confused when she jumps into the tree and looks inside the apartment.

He is cleaning his apartment. His Naruto-ball supplies are moved back into the closet. His laundry that is now dry is put in his drawers. He starts another load of laundry in his washing machine. He puts on some gloves to start washing the dishes from today's breakfast. He gets out his dustpan and small broom to sweep the kitchen floor. He does his homework due the tomorrow. He takes out the trash. While he is out there, he gets his outdoor broom and starts to sweep the snow off the stairs. Once that finishes his laundry is ready to be hung. Once complete, he cleans off his hands and exhales.

Suddenly becoming frustrated again, he puts back on his snow gear and goes back through the forest. He throws the slushball and it hits Sasuke right in the back of the head. Naruto leans back and laughs while pointing. He spends the next five minutes dodging return fire from Sasuke. After a couple of hits from Sasuke, Naruto finally loses him through the forest. When he gets back to his apartment, "Someday I'll write my own philosophy book." He says to Kurama as he takes off his jacket.

"Virtue needs some cheaper thrills I guess."


Naruto walks over to his bed. He received the news early today from the Hokage. Kurama is sitting on the bed as Naruto paces back and forth. Hands clasped behind him.

"We've got a babysitter tonight." Naruto states. Clearly unimpressed wit the development. He walks over to the closet of Naruto ball supplies and takes out two, white hachimakis. He gives one to Kurama and they both tie them around their foreheads. Naruto's kanji, Hissho, means "determined to win" and Kurama's kanji reads Tokon or "fighting spirit. They found the two headbands in the discount section of a discount store. They were out of fashion relics of a bygone era.

With a look of determination, they are ready for battle. They hear a knock on the door.

"Ready?" Naruto asks.

"Ready." Kurama confirms.

The Hokage opens the door with Anko following behind. He says, "Naruto, your care taker for the night is here. Please behave yourself. If you do, I will treat you to once ramen once the festivities are finished." He walks forward and places a note on the small desk near the wall mounted telephone.

The Hokage leaves through the apartment door and Anko is left with her ward for the night. Deciding to be a bit amicable, she puts her hands on her knees and leans down a bit. "Hi there. You must be Naruto."

Naruto, feeling determined from his hachimaki, crosses his arms and grunts. He gets into a high and mighty pose and raises an arm towards Anko. "You're not the Hokage. You're also not my teacher so I don't have to do anything you say. I'm going to do whatever I feel like, so just stay out of the way."

Anko smirks a bit at his bravado. She gets down to one knee and rests her elbow on it. "Naruto. Take a look by the telephone and tell me what you see."

Naruto scratches his head as he turns and walks towards the telephone. He sees a small piece of paper with some names and numbers on them. "A note the Hokage left with emergency numbers."

Anko grabs his shirt and tries to act a bit threatening. "Right. Now you wouldn't want me to have to call any of those numbers, would you?"

Naruto has a bit of a blank stare. Anko walks up to the note, memorizes the numbers, "C'mon brat. Let's get a move on. You wanna go to this festival right?"

Like a light switch, Naruto is happy once again. Zooming back to his bed to grab Kurama, he flies right out the window.

"Well, the kid has some spunk in him." Anko chases after.


Naruto is walking down the brightly lit street. Red lanterns line the buildings and the smell of food is everywhere. Naruto is awestruck by everything. By habit, he makes his way to the front of Ichiraku ramen.

"Ah Naruto!" Naruto turns his head towards the restaurant and sees Teuchi wave at him. Anko nudges Naruto towards the man, still dressed in his ramen chef attire.

"Happy New Year, Naruto." He hands the boy a red envelope.

Naruto, slightly puzzled, looks up from the envelope and sees Teuchi nod his head up and down. Taking the hint, Naruto opens the envelope. Inside is a custom frequent customer card. Anko looks over his shoulder and explains. "Every five bowls of ramen gets another one on the house. Congrats kiddo."

Mouth agape. Naruto hugs the old man. Teuchi pats him on the back, "That's not the only thing in the envelope."

Sure enough, Naruto looks back into the envelope and spots a few large bills of currency.

"Go and enjoy the night Naruto." Teuchi smiles softly at him. "Eat all the food you can and play as many games as you can. And don't forget the fireworks!"

Naruto can barely contain his excitement any longer, he gives Teuchi another hug and then bounds away.

It is in the middle of the fireworks show that Anko feels a tap on her shoulder. Turning around quickly, he sees the ANBU mask of her relief. "Don't do that." She says, startled.

Weasel just tilts his head to the side why not?

"Anyways, brat's all yours now. Toodles" She starts walking away, barely noticing that she stayed out all night with the kid.