"I want to join Anbu," said Naruto. Many would think that life-changing decisions take multiple weeks or even months but it took Naruto only a week to make his choice, to make a decision that would result in massive changes in his lifestyle, and his life. Naruto knew he was going to be leaving Team 7, leaving any semblance of normalcy that he had grown used to but it was what was needed for him.
As Tsunade sat at her desk, looking at the boy she thought of as her surrogate grandson, she knew that she had given him a difficult choice but one that would have important ramifications. The decision wasn't easy for Tsunade by any means but the offer had been made to protect Naruto from the dangers that were coming.
Tsunade had heard about Jiraiya's plans to train the boy in the 9 tails' chakra but she couldn't abide by them as thanks to information gathered, they had learned that the Akatsuki were hunting Jinchuriki and most likely had ways to counter tailed beast chakra, heck, Kisame Hoshigaki had a sword that 'ate' chakra and though powerful the 9 tails power was still chakra.
She had also learned that Naruto had almost been captured by the Akatsuki while Jiraiya was peeving on women which if he had been any slower could have resulted in Naruto's capture.
Tsunade had realized that she couldn't keep him with Team 7, Naruto had been with Kakashi for months, and yet the boy had only minimal growth under the man, from the files, Kakashi had only trained Naruto in Tree climbing during what was supposed to be an A-rank mission but that doesn't even help the fact that they weren't ready for a C-rank.
The next problem with the team came in the form of Sasuke Uchiha who had not just betrayed the Village but had gone to the Leaf's worst enemy, Orochimaru, her former teammate, and even worse, if the reports were to be believed then the Uchiha attempted to murder Naruto at the Valley's End for the mangekyou and had gone willingly to her teammate.
She also knew that they needed a way to keep his location private, as the Akatsuki may attempt to capture him while he is on a mission.
So when the Anbu Commander came to her with the suggestion of placing the boy in Anbu, she was at first, skeptical but he had told her the advantages and had allowed him to make the offer.
So now came the consequences of her decision, she now had to consciously let the boy walk the path.
"Well, then, you're Anbu code name will be 'Ko'," said Tsunade, as she started to smirk evilly at what was about to happen next, it would be very comedic.
"So what happens now?" asked Naruto, as a bit of sweat dropped from Tsunade's smile.
"Well, we are going to go get you the spiral tattoo," answered Tsunade as she stood up and grabbed the boy who started to regret his decision "Don't be a baby, it will only ache a bit." Tsunade was right, it was hilarious, the boy had cursed her out, had cursed out the Anbu doing the tattoo, had even cursed out the Village while Tsunade desperately tried to hold in her laughter at his plight.
Tsunade was a liar, it didn't just ache a bit, it hurt a lot, both during the tattoo process and for some time after. He would get his revenge
As he entered his apartment, he wondered how much things would change from his old life.
Naruto was waiting as patiently as he could, Naruto wasn't known for his patience but was trying his hardest not to cause a scene, leaning on the wall across from a window with bars.
An Anbu Black Ops wearing a porcelain mask with a Boar motiff, placed items on the counter of the window, clearly for the young Uzumaki who picked them up and walked into the closest room, a dark room with a mirror.
He changed into his new outfit: black clothing, a grey flak jacket, metal arm guards and black gloves, ninja sandals with spikes for traveling into mountainous regions, three ninja pouches on his back waist, and a sword holstered on his back. He then walked over to the mirror and put on the last part of his uniform, the porcelain mask.
His porcelain mask resembled a cat with a thick red marking on the forehead and 2 intricate red markings on each cheek. Naruto felt the most like a proper shinobi in that moment, he had the looks and soon he would have the proper skills of a shinobi.
Naruto walked into the room where he found a classroom much like his days in the Academy except for a few notable differences, there were no windows or natural light, and it was completely dark except for 5 other people all dressed in Anbu uniform, from their area, Naruto could guess that they were Anbu trainees or recruits just like him.
They all turned to stare at him, confusing the young Uzumaki who let some sweat go beneath his mask.
But before anything else could happen, another member of the Anbu Black Ops appeared, dressed in a porcelain mask with an owl motif
"Ah excellent, Ko, just on time for the beginning of class," said the Anbu as Naruto nodded to him and took a seat as did the other shinobi, "well then, since you no doubt have heard of Anbu Black Ops, let us go more into detail about them, such as their functions, what jobs you would be required to do, what is the system of Anbu and more."
"Let us begin, first of all, there are only 3 ranks in Anbu," said the Owl, "Anbu Black Ops, Anbu Squad leaders also known as Buntaicho or Anbu Captains, and finally Anbu Commander."
"How does somebody get promoted in Anbu?" asked Naruto.
"Anbu are promoted to Captains based on Merit, experience, and a need for them, if we do not need a captain, there is no need to promote someone to captain unlike in the regular ranks where promotions are just handed out based on skill and mindset even if you are captain or Jounin level, do not always expect a promotion," answered Owl to which Naruto nodded, it made sense, "In Anbu, there is always one Anbu Commander but everyone in Anbu obey the Hokage."
For the next few hours, the Anbu explained many important parts of Anbu such as Anbu teams, Anbu missions, how one is selected for Anbu missions, and more.
Finally, after multiple hours of talking about Anbu, they moved outside to a training area, filled with dummies and lots of space.
"I will not be teaching you Kenjutsu, a skill that you are expected to pick up quickly," said the instructor as he went through a basic kata that they followed, then he taught another kata and another, before having the Anbu trainees practice on the dummies while he would walk around, correcting the mistakes.
Naruto swung his sword forward and then left and then right, practicing his katas as the Anbu instructor watched before nodding, scribbling something in his notepad, and then walking away, he didn't need correction.
After another 2 hours of practicing the Katas, they were put together to spar only using kenjutsu.
He was put next to a man in the Anbu uniform dressed in a Panther mask with thick red markings on each cheek and the forehead. He attempted to strike Naruto from above which Naruto blocked by sidestepping to the right before returning it.
Naruto attempted to hit Panther with a strike from the right, which he was barely able to dodge, Naruto and the Panther sent blows after each other though Naruto noticed that Panther was slower than him.
After Naruto sidestepped another of Panther's attacks, The Uzumaki began attacking relentlessly from all sides forcing Panther to sidestep and block. Naruto then used the butt of his sword to hit the man in the head knocking him off balance before striking at his sword, knocking it away before Anbu fell on his butt and Naruto aimed his sword at the man.
Owl just noted down something in his notepad before walking away again as Panther got up and they began to repeat the procedure.
Naruto sucked at taijutsu, he noticed as Owl beat him every time they sparred, Naruto knew that he would have to improve that as it was clear that the guy was barely trying.
"Ko, you have to practice your taijutsu as part of your training," said Panther as Naruto nodded.
After another hour, they moved to genjutsu as Naruto looked around, he noticed that he was back in the Academy but no one was there, he realized that this must be a genjutsu.
"Kai!" shouted Naruto but nothing happened as Naruto repeated the procedure but still nothing happened. Naruto tried again and again before the genjutsu stopped and Naruto saw the Anbu shaking his head.
"Genjutsu detection and genjutsu escape will be practiced," said Owl.
"Now then, do you know the body flicker jutsu?" asked Owl, as Naruto shook his head, "Learn it, the Jutsu would be useful in getting in and out of the village and its many locations without having to talk to people."
"The transparency jutsu?" asked the Anbu as Naruto nodded, it was a jutsu he had learned when he heard he could use it in pranks. To prove it, Naruto disappeared in front of the Anbu who nodded as Naruto reappeared.
"Good, do you know how to mask your chakra?" asked the Anbu to which Naruto nodded.
In front of the Uzumaki was a 3d representation of a room filled with guards and targets, there were guard rotations, target movements, etc, etc.
"How would you assassinate this target without detection?" asked the Anbu. Naruto noticed that this kinda reminded him of his pranks, learning how people acted, and what people did, then using that to do a prank so they were either busy or walked right into the prank without detection, so Naruto treated it like a prank and how he did one.
"I would find a guard, watch them, learn how they act, then when they are alone, I would use knock-out gas or whatever thing I can to knock him out and take his place when the guy is going around, I'd follow him but put a shadow clone in his room and when he came back, the shadow clone would kill him and then when my shift is over, I would meet with the shadow clone to learn if it was successful," answered Naruto, he was feeling sick in the stomach, to talk about killing someone so bluntly, it was wrong to the Uzumaki.
"Why would you meet with the shadow clone?" asked the Anbu confusing Naruto.
"Because I need to know if the mission is successful," answered Naruto but the Anbu shook his head, clearly realizing that the boy doesn't know everything about shadow clones.
"Shadow clones once dispelled, return memories and experiences to the user, this jutsu was mostly used for surveillance, by having it go into enemy territory, learn what it can, and then dispel, the user would be safe and could learn information without risk, this could be used to figure battle plans, assassinate someone, if one has enough chakra, it could be used in battle to learn how an enemy fights, fight multiple opponents, overwhelm opponents, etc, etc, etc," explained the Anbu as Naruto thought if there was another use.
"Can I use it for learning stuff?" asked Naruto as he remembered learning that he lacked a lot of basic Academy knowledge.
"In theory but the person would have to have large reserves, they could multi-task by having the clones focus on multiple topics," answered the Anbu as Naruto felt excited, "though I should warn you that too much information from dispelled shadow clones could lead to headaches, fatigue, fainting or even brain damage."
Okay, Naruto was not going to be abusing this, he doesn't want brain damage, how would he become an awesome shinobi and Hokage, then?
AN: Naruto will not be using this in training, he will mostly be using it to make up for his lack of knowledge in the areas that need it such as geography, ninja villages, basic knowledge, etc, etc.