There sat in the Hokage's office, was Hiruzen Sarutobi, his Anbu Guards and finally an Anbu was dressed in black clothing and a grey flakjacket, arm guards and black gloves, a tanto on his back, three ninja pouches on his back waist, ninja sandals with spikes on them, the traditional uniform for an Anbu Black Ops. Over the uniform was a white cloak with the hood up covering the back of his head and his most of his hair. On his face was a porcelian mask with a crow motiff, with three thick stripes with two along either sides of his cheek and one on his forehead.
Many would mistake this man for an Anbu Captain but this was the current mysterious Anbu Black Ops Commander, a skillful and secretive shinobi whose identity was known only to one. As they watched Mizuki reveal the event of Naruto's burden, Sarutobi cringed and sighed defeated, he then watched Mizuki get defeated by hundreds of shadow clones, to the amazement of everyone in the room.
"Lord Hokage, exactly what do you plan to do with this boy?" asked the Anbu Commander, his voice, distorted, quiet and yet commanding, as Sarutobi turned towards him, confused.
"The plan is to place him along Kakashi Hatake, with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, why? Do you think there's something wrong?" asked the Commander's leader, he knew that the Commander's advice was always insightful.
"Is that wise, sir?" asked the Anbu as Sarutobi looked confused.
"Of course, it is, Kakashi has been wanting to train Naruto for years and I'm sure Kakashi will train him to utmost of his abilities, he is after all, a skilled Jounin who had years of missions," answered Sarutobi.
"Sir, Kakashi had no orders against approaching Naruto during his childhood, he did so of his own violation, one could say he was in Anbu but that doesn't excuse the last four years, the man is late to everything and has tried in the past to get out of things, I don't believe that he could accurately train someone like Naruto as he has too much belief in teamwork, he would most likely only focus on that," replied the Anbu Commander.
"So what do you suggest we do then?" asked Sarutobi.
"Simple, we place him into Anbu," answered the Commander as Sarutobi looked shocked, as were the other Anbu, and quickly attempted to squash the idea.
"Impossible, he doesn't have the skills for it," said Sarutobi, as he began smoking a pipe.
"Indeed, but most of Anbu's training focus on remedial lessons, making them as powerful as they can be before service, so he could quickly and efficiently get the training he needs, his stealth and infiltration skills are already some of the best in the village," replied the Anbu Commander, as the others thought about what the Anbu Commander was suggesting.
"He lacks the darkness for Anbu and the mindset," replied Sarutobi, beginning to see the positives of this idea.
"He has darkness, he just hides it well, after all, he has suffered emotional abuse for years, whispers behind his back, yelling and insulting, he hides it behind his foolish persona, the Anbu mindset is one which is taught, not just gotten, we teach them how to act," replied the Commander, once more, as Sarutobi sighed, the Commander did have good points, thanks to Sarutobi the boy never had to suffer any actual physical abuse.
"Anbu will change him..." said Sarutobi, sadly.
"Lord Hokage, it won't change him that much, it will help him understand his responsibilities, make him a bit more skilled and make him more mature, yes, but it won't change him that much, Shisui Uchiha and many others were fine even after becoming Anbu," replied the Commander.
"Minato would never forgive me for this," said Sarutobi.
"The Fourth is dead, his wishes were never respected, so we now do what is needed for the village and for the boy, proper training is needed, and it could allow the hatred to die down, if they don't see the boy, and save the village from pranks as the boy can now make hundreds of shadow clones, and imagine the boy's potential in actual shinobi clothes," answered the Commander as everyone shivered at the possibility.
"Explain how this will work," said Sarutobi, with a sigh, as he decided this might be the best way to fix the mistakes he made with the boy, starting with his training.
"He will go through the Anbu Training just like everyone else, if he is decided not fit based on his skills or mentality, before, during or after the final exam, than he will be made Genin or Chunin based on level and maturity and placed onto Team 7 as a Co-captain," answered the Anbu Commander, as Sarutobi thought on this, there was a good chance of Naruto failing the final test but the boy did love to do the impossible, so he didn't know.
"How exactly will we cover up his disappearance?" asked Sarutobi, as multiple interested parties will wonder where he disappeared to.
"Simple, he is serving as the Hokage's assistant as part of a punishment for stealing the Forbidden scroll," answered the Commander.
"Do you really believe that young Naruto would be ready in 2 months?" asked the Third, confused.
"I would bet a good portion of money on it," replied the Commander, as the others realized the advantages.
"Fine, but pray, he doesn't change too much as you will suffer for it," answered the Third, as the Commander, nodded, "He will go to Inoichi every day, to check his mental health."
-30 minutes later-
Naruto was talking away, excited about becoming a Genin and his new career as a shinobi, about how he defeated Mizuki, albeit the tale was a bit exaggerated to make Naruto look better.
"I am glad that you are taking to your burden so well," said Sarutobi, with a sad smile, as Naruto suddenly started to look down clearly, saddened.
"Why didn't you tell me, old man?" asked Naruto as Sarutobi let out a sigh.
"To give you a normal life I had hoped you would get a good childhood but clearly I was wrong," replied Sarutobi.
"Why did the Fourth choose me, why not someone else?" asked Naruto, as the Anbu Commander decided to anwer that specific question.
"To answer that question, one must go back to the days of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, you see at the final battle between the two, Madara had somehow gotten the 9 tails under his control and was using it to attack the First, after the Lord first had defeated and killed Madara, the 9 tails needed to be sealed as it was too powerful and dangerous to be given such freedom, as such the wife of the First, one Mito Uzumaki, a representative of the old Uzumaki clan, sealed it into herself."
"So wait the 9 tails has been in Konoha all along, how come no-one knew?" asked Naruto.
"It was hidden to the population and those who did know were more understanding and if anything did happen, the first was there, you see the Uzumaki were the only ones with a special type of chakra that allowed them to hold the 9 tails, when Mito-sama got old, she requested for someone from the hidden eddy village the village of the Uzumakis to come here, Kushina Uzumaki was chosen and then she became the new 9 tails host."
"What happened to the hidden Eddy village?"
"It was destroyed in the second great Ninja war, it's inhabitants scattered to the winds, now 12 years ago, a pregnant Kushina Uzumaki gave birth to you, somehow the 9 tails got loose, the Fourth made a choice based on how many Uzumaki there were in Konoha,, since you were the only one who could actually hold it," explained the Commander, simply.
"Thank you, Crow, for that reminder of our illustrious history," replied Sarutobi, as the boy now understood many things.
"Wait, why wasn't it a secret for me?" asked Naruto.
"When you were four years old, someone revealed the secret," answered the Commander.
"Then I released a statement calling you a hero and forbade anyone from speaking of it, so you could have a good life," finsihed Sarutobi.
"That didn't work, now did it," said Naruto, bitterly.
"Indeed and I ask you to forgive me for that, my boy, now then Commander, say your piece," said Sarutobi.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you could become a genin or as we are offering right now, you could undertake the training of an Anbu Black Ops, and if you pass, you could become an Anbu in service to the leaf," said the Commander.
"As much as I'd like to say yes, everyone knows the types of stuff Anbu do, I don't think I could do that type of stuff and I don't think I'm that great as a shinobi," replies Naruto confused.
"Indeed, but either way you will be forced to kill and torture, the difference is it is much darker in Anbu, you will kill more often than in the regular forces," said the Anbu Commander.
"What do you think, old man?" asked Naruto.
"I failed you in many ways, Naruto-kun, Anbu training will turn you into a skilled shinobi and will correct many of your glaring flaws," answered Sarutobi with a small smile.
"Even, If I become a regular shinobi, I'll have to kill, the difference is I will know why I am killing them but either way they'll die, also in Anbu I'll have to kill people but I don't know why, so either way, I'll be a killer," said Naruto, perplexed.
"In Anbu, the simple fact is that no-one would really hold the 9 tails against you as you would just be another shinobi in service, another assassin just like the rest of Anbu," added the Commander.
"So what is it like being a regular genin?"
"Simple, you will forced to D-ranks, simple things such as painting, cleaning and catching a cat and the occasional C-rank such as bandit elimination, simple messages, and will be trained whenever your sensei decides it," answers the Commander.
"Who's my sensei?"
"Kakashi hatake, a former Anbu Captain, a powerful A-rank Jounin, who knows over a thousand techniques but is known to be lazy and attempts to get out of any task," answers the Anbu Commander.
"I think I'll try the Anbu training," said Naruto, with a shrug.
"Good," replied the Commander.
AN: An actual Anbu Naruto story, but this time, it won't be any of those ridiculous themes of many of the stories like this and try to make an actually decent story, I'll try to keep to Canon such as what is known about the Uzumaki, kekkai genkai and things like that, skills will be decided by me, I will be covering the training in the next few chapters.