AN: Thank you everyone for favouriting and bookmarking my story! It's been barely over a week and we're already nearly at 100 follows, that's insane.
Things are finally about to pick up, and so my upload schedule will become a bit more sporadic, I do hope you understand.
I don't own Naruto
Whoosh
The world rushed past him in a blur. He was making good time. Though it was to be expected, he knew this area like the back of his hand by now.
Jumping over a merchant's cart, the unknown figure used the top of the wooden structure to propel himself onto a nearby balcony, spring boarding off of it and launching himself onto the roof of the adjacent building.
Yes, he was so close now. He mentally counted down in his head. '10, 9, 8' He jumped from the building and landed heavily onto the road below, rolling to cushion his fall as he continued his mad sprint across the village.
'7, 6, 5' He ran like the devil was on his tail. Pushing more of the mystical blue energy into his legs, the figure picked up more speed as he neared his next checkpoint.
'4, 3, 2…Yes!' He mentally cheered as he passed his checkpoint with time to spare. He quickly rounded the corner of the street narrowly avoiding a bystander carrying groceries as his eyes landed on his finish line 'Almost there!'
"Hey, watch where you're going, asshole!"
"Sorry!" Shouted the blond blur over his shoulder. He couldn't afford to stop and apologize when he was doing so well! He jumped onto the side of another nearby building, travelling onto progressively higher constructs. And with one final push, he jumped as far as he could, tucking his shoulder forward for protection as his small frame slammed into the highest window of the Hokage tower.
Crash!
"YES!"
"What the-"
The Sandaime quietly observed the blond youth that had just barreled through his window and surprised his guest behind intertwined fingers. With a light groan, Naruto picked himself up and rubbed the back of his head.
"Naruto. What's the meaning of this?"
The Uzumaki grinned broadly and placed his hands on his hips. "The meaning of this, old man, is that I just beat my best time!" He finally turned around to face the Hokage. "And I beat my last score by an entire twenty..."
He trailed off as he noticed an extra person inside the office who was giving him a strange look. Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "I am in a meeting, you impetuous child."
Naruto faced the Hokage and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Heheh, My bad."
Hiruzen groaned and turned back towards his guest. "Urimono-san, a Chunin guard outside will escort you to the market district, you will be able to replenish your stocks there.
"A-Ah, right. Thank you Hokage-Sama." The merchant sent one last look towards Naruto's direction before taking his leave. The third Hokage gave a weary sigh as he turned his attention towards the nervous looking jinchūriki.
"Naruto. How many times have I told you to not barge in like that?"
"Sorry old man."
"I mean, really. What if I was in an important meeting? How would I look in front of the Daimyo or an allied leader if they saw that I can't even keep my own citizen in check?"
"I said I'm sorry."
"For goodness sake. It's like it's in your genes to give this poor man a hard time."
Naruto looked at the Hokage strangely. "But I'm not wearing any jeans…"
"…Hngh." The Hokage shook his head in exasperation. He really needed to curb his vocabulary when he talked to Naruto, sometimes he forgot he was only six.
"Hey old man, I-"
"Hold that thought," The monkey summoner reached for a package that was on his desk and gave it a quick glance over. Making sure that everything was in order, he nodded and gestured the blond child over. "I apologize for giving you your gift so late, but I had pressing matters to attend to. Happy birthday, Naruto."
The young jinchūriki looked at the package in surprise. "T-Thanks old man!" He still wasn't used to receiving presents. Nevertheless, he smiled bashfully and quickly opened it.
The old hokage smiled as Naruto freed the jacket from within its plastic confines. "Well my boy, what do you think? I remember you telling me that orange was your favourite colour."
Naruto stared at the orange monstrosity that was being held in his hands with mouth agape and poorly veiled shock. "Old man…This is…" Orange WAS his favourite colour, but this…Wasn't this a bit too much!?
Sarutobi smiled, oblivious to the boy's horror. "Well? Do you like it? Try it on!"
"Y-Yeah, I love it, thank you!" Smiling nervously, the young Uzumaki folded the jacket and tucked it under his arm. "I'll try it on a bit later if that's okay with you, I actually had something I wanted to ask."
The Hokage nodded and leaned back into his chair. "Ah, that's right. Well then, what can I help you with?"
"Well, um…" the whiskered boy fumbled nervously. "I was wondering if you knew a ninja called Kakashi?"
It was hard not to notice the immediate tension that settled in the room once those words had left his mouth. All of a sudden, it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. A slight frown marred the Hokage's face.
Hiruzen carefully observed the face of the Uzumaki in front of him. "I do know the man that you are talking about. What is your issue with him?"
"Ah, no issue! I'd just like to find him, that's all! I read he was the student of the fourth, so I kinda wanna see what he's like, ya know?"
"So, you would like to know about his whereabouts then?"
The blond nodded vigorously. "Yeah, that's right!"
The Hokage narrowed his eyes slightly. "You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
Naruto gulped nervously and quickly shook his head. "No sir!"
Sarutobi stayed silent for a few more minutes. Technically, Kakashi wasn't prohibited to interact with the boy outside of his ANBU hours. But still, part of him couldn't help but feel apprehensive about it.
"Kakashi is a very busy person Naruto, one of our best. He is on a mission right now at the fire temple and shall return tomorrow. When he has not been assigned a mission however, he can usually be found either at the memorial stone or resting at his home, which is opposite to Kinta-san's literature shop." The third hummed thoughtfully. "Although," he began. "I have a feeling that if you're looking for him, then he probably already knows it."
Naruto nodded gratefully and tried his best to ignore that last part. Man, that sounded creepy. "Alright, thanks old man! I'll try this jacket on at home alright? See ya!" He quickly placed his foot on the windowsill and launched himself out.
Sarutobi sighed, his gaze remaining on the outside world. 'What are you going to reveal to him, Kakashi?' There were no actual laws prohibiting people to tell Naruto about his heritage, but it was still a consensus among those who knew that he was just not ready for that kind of knowledge yet.
The Hokage's thoughtful stare morphed into one of slight annoyance as he looked over at a seemingly random corner of his office. "I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that my ANBU don't even react to Naruto's sudden entrances anymore."
He received no answer, but the light noise of fabric shuffling nervously told him more than enough.
Naruto stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his black shorts in annoyance as he walked along the streets of Konoha. 'Man, this Kakashi guy isn't even here right now, this sucks…'
He groaned and casually placed his hands behind his head as he stared at the sky in boredom. "What to do, what to do…" His half-lidded gaze turned towards the sound of a shop's rolling metal gate being lifted up. Huh, he recognised that place. The man owning the shop had overcharged him for a pack of lollies once.
A grin slowly crept onto his face. Oh, he knew what he would do.
"You damned hoodlum, you're gonna pay for this!"
The running form of Naruto grinned and looked over his shoulder, using his index finger to mockingly pull down onto his bottom eyelid. "Catch me if you can, loser!"
The shopkeeper growled and looked at the street his shop resided in. He, along with several of his neighbours have had faces and insults drawn on their walls in bright red paint, courtesy of their resident Jinchūriki.
"Was it him again?" a villager complained in annoyance.
"Yeah, the boy whose name is taboo."
"He's made a big mess." Sighed the owner of an artisanal shop. The villager standing next to him nodded and glared at the boy in the distance.
"Even if we want to file a complaint, he doesn't have any parents that we can complain to."
The Uzumaki's grin slowly faded into a half-hearted smile. He couldn't let these people see how hurtful those words were. Their opinion on him wouldn't change anyway.
"What a nuisance."
"He's so unpleasant."
"I'll say."
"He's such a pain."
Yet despite that, he couldn't help the sad frown that managed to worm its way onto his face.
"Shikamaru! Quit lazing around!"
"Troublesome."
He didn't know why, but he somehow found himself near the playground next door to the shinobi academy.
He knew that he shouldn't come here, it was bad for his mental health. Every time he did, he'd leave feeling sad and dejected. And he had a feeling today would be no different.
"Leave Shika alone, Ino." Chided a plump boy with red swirls on his cheeks. 'Ino' merely hmph'd and crossed her arms.
Naruto watched as children his age and over played within the playground. There was a boy with a spiky ponytail lazily lying down and staring up at the evening sun. Next to him was a small bossy looking girl with platinum hair and aquamarine eyes.
Looking further into the playground, he could see a kid with wild brown hair and red upside-down triangles on his cheeks chasing after a tiny white puppy. Two other girls were playing on a see-saw. A kid yelled in excitement as he chased after his friends in their game of tag.
Maybe…Maybe today would be different? Maybe he could walk in and ask to play, and they would smile and invite him into their games?
I'm sorry, mommy says I shouldn't play with you.
'Heh.' Naruto closed his eyes and made his way out of the play area. 'As if that would ever happen.'
By the time he got to his apartment, it was already night-time. Stuffing his hand in his pocket, he fished around in it and pulled out the key to his door. Sighing, he inserted the key in and turned the lock, opening the door, and stepping inside.
"I'm home." He muttered to himself. His words seemed to echo in the empty apartment, the silence bringing his mood down even more.
The Jinchūriki got started on his dinner as hot tears trailed down his face.
"…What am I doing back here?"
Naruto stared at the giant metal bars of the nine tails in confusion. Why was he here? He hadn't been looking for the warm feeling earlier.
Today had sucked. Not only were his plans to get his long-desired answers rescheduled, his overall mood had been even worse than usual. He didn't know why, but the sting of loneliness had hit him extra hard that time, and the bad thoughts were starting to make their way in once again.
After coming home and heating himself some ramen, the blond boy had immediately gone to bed, hoping to sleep through the rest of the evening. He'd only been in bed for a few minutes before he felt himself getting pulled within his consciousness.
The nine tails observed him with contempt. The cage itself seemed to not be as dark as it was before, so the fox was easily distinguishable from within. His massive head rested on his folded paws -or were those hands?-, his nine long tails twitching here and there in idle annoyance.
"Why have you returned here, human?" The fox snarled out irritably. Naruto looked up at him in slight apprehension and shrugged helplessly. There was none of that suffocating pressure this time, he wondered why that was?
"I'm as confused as you are." Kyuubi growled out in annoyance. As if being stuck in this human's body wasn't enough, he now had to endure him coming in and out of the seal all the damn time. The fox decided to just close his eyes and ignore the blond boy for now.
'…Now what?' The Uzumaki thought in slight consternation. Every time he'd been here in the past, the fox had ended up forcibly kicking him out. He sure as hell didn't know how to get out on his own. So, after a few moments of hesitation, the young boy slowly sat down onto the wet floor of his mind and watched the nine tails closely.
He'd never actually looked at the fox before. Sure, he'd seen him in the past and in drawings, but those times, he was either too terrified or didn't care enough to pay close attention. Looking at him now, he didn't seem all that bad…If you ignored the fact that he was the size of a small mountain, or the fact that he had 9 giant tails, or the fact that his hands looked freakishly human-like.
But looking at him now, almost looking like he was sleeping, his eyes closed and head resting on his paws in such an animal-like fashion, his giant ear flicking every now and then, his tails moving about randomly. Why was he so afraid of that giant ball of fur again?
"So, um…" Began Naruto as he swallowed thickly. "Mister nine-tails-"
A sudden, familiar wave of pressure made him stop mid-sentence. Ah. That was why. Kyuubi snapped a single eye open and glared at the much smaller human. "Do not call me that." He rumbled angrily.
Naruto nodded his head quickly and brought his hands up in a placating manner. "Okay okay!" The fox glared at him for a few more seconds before he closed his eyes once more, the pressure disappearing along with the action.
The blond jinchūriki took in some much-needed air as he wiped his now sweaty forehead with the back of his sleeve. Looking up at the kyuubi once more, he continued. "Kyuubi," Said bijuu cracked a single eye open. "Can I ask you a question?"
Kyuubi remained silent as he continued to glare at the boy. Well, that wasn't a no…
"I was wondering…Why did you attack Konoha?"
The mighty demon fox lifted his head as a smirk pulled its way onto his lips. "You think I need a reason to attack your pathetic little village?"
Naruto quickly shook his head. "No, it's just…" The whiskered boy frowned in thought. "I'm just trying to understand…The last time I was here, you called us humans 'ants'," the fox looked at the boy from the corner of his eye. "and I don't know if it's the same with bijuus," he continued "but when we humans run into ants, or a colony of ants, we usually just ignore them, y'know? Because they're so small and weak, there's no point in killing them. But it's when the ants act aggressive and sting us that we start fighting back. So…"
The nine tails narrowed his eye. "What is your point, human?"
The blond frowned slightly at the fox. "I don't know, it just feels like there's more to this whole thing. It's hard to think that you'd go out of your way to attack our village for no reason." His expression soured slightly. "Plus, it feels like nothing I've been told so far is the truth anymore, everything is just lies after lies."
"…" Kyuubi regarded his warden with a critical eye. None of his previous containers had ever asked him anything like that before. Tch, humans and their emotions.
"If I tell you, will you cease your pathetic attempts to 'understand me'?"
"Yes." Pfft, no. He wanted to learn more about this! He had a feeling that this was his only chance to learn about something that very few knew of.
The great beast heaved another annoyed sigh, his breath ruffling the clothes and hair of the small boy and nearly making him fall over. Stupid fox.
"I was taken out of my previous container" the bijuu said gruffly. "Some man used that accursed uchiha eye to place me under a spell and forced me to attack your village for him."
"Wait wait wait, I'm not your first container!?" The boy interrupted. The giant fox glared down at him, making Naruto scratch the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry..."
Kyuubi huffed aggressively. "To answer your question, no, you are not my first container." A look of anger appeared on the fox's face, his lips pulling into another snarl. "I've had three containers in total. And I've been passed down, from one container to another like some type of family heirloom." The great beast looked absolutely offended as he glared towards the boy again. "Do you know what that's like, warden? I've been imprisoned for nearly 60 years, used as a glorified power source from my containers without so much as a kind word. I am tired, human."
No wonder this big guy was so angry. 60 years was a long time…
"…Is that why you killed my parents?" Naruto asked softly. "Because you wanted your freedom?"
The nine tails closed his eyes and placed his head on his paws once more. "Leave me be now, human. I've answered your questions."
Naruto looked around hesitantly. "Sure…"
…
"I don't know how to leave…" He finished lamely.
That earned him another glare.
"Okay, so…The old man said that Kakashi should be either at the memorial stone or at his house. God, I hope he's at his house." The memorial stone was on the other damn side of Konoha!
So here he was, making his way to where he remembered seeing Kinta's book shop at 8am. And after 10 more minutes of walking, he'd finally arrived. 'Man, I should've asked old man Hokage what he looks like…' He mentally berated himself.
'Opposite to Kinta's shop.' He looked over at the little shop with the faded green painting and turned his head around to the house directly in front of it. 'Is this it?' The house itself looked barely big enough to fit one person, the guy clearly didn't care about living luxuriously.
Leaning against the house was a man with familiar lopsided silver hair -though he couldn't quite remember where he'd seen it before- and the laziest eye he'd ever seen on anyone. In his hand was a book with a green cover and an illustration of what looked like a guy chasing a girl. The shinobi had a dark blue facemask hiding half of his features and a headband that slanted down and covered his left eye, giving him an even more mysterious feel.
Slowly making his way towards the man, the Uzumaki stopped a few paces besides him and stared at his face, or what he could see of it at least.
"…" The masked man looked away from his book to glance at the blond boy with a lazy eye. "Need something, kid?"
Naruto blinked. "Are you…Kakashi?" He asked hesitantly.
Kakashi turned his attention back towards his book. "The one and only."
"…Why are you leaning against your own house?"
The masked man shrugged. "I just felt like leaning here."
The whiskered boy looked at him strangely. "That's kinda weird."
Kakashi stayed silent and kept reading his book. Seeing he wouldn't get an answer, he pressed on.
"Is it true you were trained by the fourth?"
The ANBU commander looked over at the blond from the corner of his eye. "That is true."
At that, Naruto began to fidget nervously. "Do you, ah…Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
Kakashi flipped a page of his book. "Depends on the questions." He looked over to the smaller boy and saw the angry pout forming on his lips. The grey-haired teenager chuckled and snapped his book closed, pocketing it in his pouch. "I'm only kidding. What did you want to ask me?"
The young boy looked up at the ANBU commander as the taller of the two crouched down to be at his eye level. He tried his best to come up with a believable question that wouldn't make him get caught, he had to be discreet about this! "Well um…I wanted to know if you knew why he would do…Certain things?"
The Jōnin quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'certain things'?"
"Well…Let's say you're at a birthday party," The blond began. "And someone had to cut the cake. Would the fourth choose a random person to cut it? Or would he pick the person that would cut the best?"
"Hmm." Kakashi held his chin thoughtfully. "Lord fourth was a pretty smart and analytic person. I believe he would know the individual skills of everyone at the party and pick the person best suited for the job."
Naruto frowned at that. "I see…" So, the fourth knew about everyone beforehand and would pick the best person for the task? That just raised even more questions. What was his connection to the Yondaime? Why would HE be chosen of all people?
Kakashi observed the small blond. He had to resist the urge of ruffling his hair at the sight of his little brother figure with his head cocked to the side in deep thought. He really was a cute kid.
"So…" The grey-haired man began slowly. "How long have you known about the nine-tails?"
The Uzumaki's head snapped towards Kakashi so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash. So much for discretion…
"How-"
"-Did I know?" Kakashi finished for him. "It was a clever disguise, but given your status, it's pretty easy to make the connection." Seeing the panic quickly growing on the little boy's face, he added; "Don't worry, I won't tell lord Third if that's what you're worried about."
Naruto looked startled at that. "You're not?"
The Jōnin's eye curved up into a smile. "Nope."
He didn't believe that for one second. His life up until now had only been a series of lies."…4 months." He muttered after a few seconds of hesitation.
"Hm?"
"I've known about it for 4 months." He admitted.
Kakashi hummed. "I see."
"So then, why did the fourth choose me? It's hard to believe that there wouldn't be better options, y'know?"
The masked man considered that question. He had to be careful with what he revealed. He did want to tell the boy everything one day, but he wasn't ready just yet. "Minato-sensei saw something in you that night. He believed that you would be able to handle the Kyuubi's power better than anyone."
But WHY!? Naruto still didn't know why, and no one would give him a straight answer. But he had a feeling that he wouldn't get one today.
"What about my parents then?" The blond asked softly as he looked down in sadness. "Did they just let him seal it into me? What kind of parent does that? Did they even care about me at all?"
He was startled though when he felt a hand land on top of his head and ruffle his golden locks.
"Your parents loved you more than anything else in this world."
And there it was. Just as he'd feared, he had said too much. But he'd be damned if he let the boy think that his parents hadn't cared for him. In all his years as a shinobi, Kakashi had never seen Minato and Kushina more excited about anything else than taking care of this child.
Naruto looked up at him in surprise. His parents loved him? Like, really really loved him? That thought was surreal, but it made him really happy. He didn't think that anyone would care about him this much. A tight unfamiliar feeling bloomed in his chest as he tried his best to fight away the tears that threatened to pool in the corner of his eyes. "You…You knew my parents?" At the ANBU's nod, the Uzumaki quickly added. "Can you tell me who they were!?"
"Nope."
"What? Why not!?"
"You're not ready." The copy ninja said simply. "I'll tell you when you're a bit older, but not now."
Naruto looked dejected at that, but quickly lightened up at the prospect of learning about them later on. At least that was better than nothing. "You promise?"
Kakashi gave him another eye-smile. "I promise."
The jinchūriki of the nine tails gave the masked man a weak smile as he began to nervously play with his fingers. "Can you…Tell me a bit about them at least?"
Kakashi chuckled lightly and sat down next to the blond. "Sure, I can do that."
Turns out he'd inherited his brash and loud personality from his mom as well as his ramen addiction. Kakashi had said that when he had met her for the first time, she had been eating bowl after bowl of the noodly-goodness at a ramen stand. He didn't know why, but that had made him really happy. Somehow with that knowledge, he now felt more connected to his late mother.
Apparently, he looked a LOT like his father, almost scarily so. He was told that he'd be a carbon copy of him had he longer hair and no whiskers. Maybe that was why he would sometimes catch the old man Hokage staring at him as if he was seeing a ghost?
"Hey, Kakashi?"
"Hmm?"
"You're strong, right?"
The ANBU commander hummed. "I get by."
Naruto nodded his head slowly. "Do you think you could train me?"
Kakashi looked up at the sky in thought. "You're a prankster, right?" He looked back over to said prankster who was now giving him a curious look. "Prank someone for me and I might consider it."
"Alright." The blond said after a moment's pause. "Who do you want me to prank?"
"Maito Gai." Replied Kakashi. The Uzumaki looked down in contemplation as he mulled the name over in his mind.
"How do you want me to prank him?" After a few seconds with no replies, Naruto looked up at where the ANBU commander was. "Kakashi?" Only…He wasn't there anymore. When had he even left!?
"Oh, come on!"
Maito Gai, A-rank Jōnin of Konohagakure, also known as the Green Beast of Konoha. Born on the 1st of January, master of hand-to-hand combat, weighs 76 kg and stands at a height of 184cm. Completed over 700 missions, recently took a protégé under his wing. Preferred food; extra spicy curry. His pass times included training and…Nothing else.
It was crazy the amount of information one could learn in the Konoha archives.
'Hmm…What would be the best way to prank this guy?' Pranking was a form of art. You couldn't just find a random person and just use any old run-of-the-mill prank. You had to hit them where it hurt, find out information about them, know what makes them tick and use that against them to add insult to injury. Like a whoopee cushion on old man Hokage's chair. No one would expect someone so important to sit down and let out a loud one.
As things stood, there wasn't much he could use against this guy. He didn't really dislike anything and all he did was train and train and train. There wasn't much he could work with in his love for Taijutsu, he himself was about as scary as a wet kitten, so that only left out his love for spicy food.
'I could make him something SUPER spicy…No no, that's too much. I don't want to actually harm him. Hmm, what about…'
An idea began to form in his head. Yeah, that would work.
So here he was, 15 minutes later near the gates of Konoha waiting for the "Sublime Green beast of Konoha". In his hands was a plate of what appeared to be freshly made spicy rice curry.
'I read that he starts his laps near the front gates, so maybe I can find him there.'
And true to his words, there he was. Doing some sort of over-the-top stretching and screaming something about "youth" was a person wearing green spandex, a bowl cut and the thickest goddamn eyebrows he'd ever seen. Were those things alive!?
Grinning to himself, he quickly made his way over to the man with the thick eyebrows. "Gai-san!"
Stopping his stretching, Gai turned towards the voice that called out to him and flashed a blindingly bright smile. "What can I help you with, my youthful friend!?"
'Man, this guy is loud…' "I was told that you liked super spicy curry, so a friend of yours wanted me to give you this!" He held out his hands and presented the plate he was holding.
"What!? A kind soul made spicy curry just for me!?" The green man bellowed. Tears began to form in his eyes as he took the plate of curry in his hands. "Thank you, my young friend! Such a youthful act cannot go unrewarded! I must find this person and thank them properly!"
"Actually," Naruto interrupted quickly "They said they preferred to remain anonymous.
Gai flashed another boisterous grin that seemed to reflect the light of a thousand suns. "Ah, so a mystery fan then!? Well no matter! I will eventually find them, and if I cannot do that, then I shall run a hundred laps around Konoha on my hands! And if I cannot do that, then I will-"
"Please Gai-san, the curry is getting cold." Interrupted the blond through gritted teeth as he held out a spoon to the man. Seriously, what was up with this guy!?
A look of horror appeared on the loud man's face. "Oh no, I must not let such youthful behaviour go to waste! I shall devour this entire plate as if it was the last meal I'd ever receive!" Gai took the spoon, scooped up a heaping serving and brought it to his mouth. "Thank you for the meal!"
…
Naruto waited with baited breath.
…
Gai's hand began to tremble.
…
'Did it work?'
…
"W-What is this!?" The Jōnin specialist dropped the plate, making it shatter onto the ground. He backed away a few steps, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth in horror as he pointed an accusatory finger at the food on the ground. "This isn't extra spicy rice curry; t-this is just MILDLY spicy curry!"
'Yes!'
Gai turned around in horror and pulled onto his hair. "How could I have fallen for such an un-youthful trick!? It seems that my flames of youth have been diminishing during these peaceful times! I must work extra hard to fan those flames back to life once again! And if I cannot do that, then I shall run all the way to Suna on my hands with a boulder attached to my legs!"
And with that, the Jōnin was gone within the blink of an eye, leaving only a trail of dust in his wake. The blond pumped his fist victoriously. That had totally worked! He had a feeling that a guy like that would have had an over-the-top reaction. And if the two laughing Chūnin over at the booth near the entrance were any indication, then it was a pretty successful prank.
"Looks like you got him good."
"Wha!" Naruto spun around in surprise and came face to face(?) with the torso of a green vest. Jumping back a few metres, he gave the ANBU commander an irritated stare. "How do you keep doing that!?"
Kakashi tilted his head innocently. "Keep doing what?"
Naruto shook his head. "Never-mind, did you see that!? I got him, I got him!"
"That you did."
"So, does this mean that you'll train me now?" Asked the blond in excitement.
"Hmm…" Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Nope."
The excited grin immediately fell off the boy's face as an indignant look replaced it. "What? Why not!?"
"I told you I'd think about it, and I thought about it. The answer is no." Seeing the dejected look on the jinchūriki's face, the Jōnin elaborated. "I'm an ANBU commander. Commander of the primary squadron, to be precise." Kakashi explained. "I wouldn't have the time to train you."
Naruto's gaze fell. "Oh." Well, he supposed it was too good to be true. Still, it wasn't like this was a complete fruitless venture. He did get to learn more about his parents.
Kakashi placed his hand on top of the kid's head and ruffled his blond hair. "Maah, don't look so down. I can't train you, but I can still give you a crash course."
The Uzumaki looked back up at the taller man with hope making its way back onto his face. "Really?"
The copy-ninja eye-smiled at the smaller boy. "Yep. Are you free now?"
"Yessir!"
"Good answer, you passed the second test. A good ninja always jumps at the opportunity to learn new skills and to improve oneself, no matter the situation. Now follow me."
Naruto quickly ran after the Jōnin as he attempted to keep pace with him with his shorter legs. "What do you mean 'second test'? There was a first test?" He asked as he looked up at the grey-haired man.
"Information gathering on the target, which you passed."
"Oh." Replied the blond. Well, that was interesting.
Naruto looked around in wonder at the grassy field that made up training ground 7. He'd seen it before, while he was spying on ninja to pick up whatever skills he could -Not that he got much out of it, he could never remember those weird hand signs they kept making-, but he'd never actually been inside of it. It was quite pretty; the midday sun highlighted the different shades of greens and flowers in a beautiful way.
He looked back at the man that was accompanying him, who for his part, was just standing there, silent and unmoving.
"So, what are you gonna teach me first? How to spit fire? How to summon lightning!?" He asked in excitement. "Are you gonna teach me some awesome cool fighting moves!?" The blond did some ridiculous fighting poses that his young mind considered to be "cool".
Kakashi watched the blond closely. "What do you know right now?"
"Oh, hm." Naruto paused halfway through a poorly executed back-kick and looked down thoughtfully."Well, there was some kind of clone jutsu that I copied from someone a while back, but I can't do it that well. Other than that…Nothing."
The copy-ninja observed the younger blond. He was only six, so he wasn't expecting much else. But…
The life of a jinchūriki was an unforgiving one. There was a reason why the name meant 'Power of Human Sacrifice'. During times of war, they were a village's greatest weapon save for the Kage and could completely turn the tide of a fight. What better way to strike fear into the heart of your enemies than by sicking an angry, seething mass of destruction onto them?
But even during these peaceful times, Jinchūrikis were ostracized and still treated as weapons, being trained every day to keep their skills sharp, undergoing mental conditioning to bear the weight of a tailed beast's power, learning to control and harness it. They were the epitome of killing machines. They were monsters that had to be the strongest.
And if war ever broke out again, Naruto would have to fight those monsters.
The blond had to be ready. From the start, he was given an unfair hand. And while that sucked, there was nothing he could do now but fight and survive. And he would make sure that Naruto survived. He would take his own life sooner than he'd let him die in a ditch, killed like a dog by some random shinobi.
He would not hold his hand, he would not coddle him or baby him, or make him believe that everything could be resolved with peaceful talk and cups of tea. The life of a Shinobi was a grizzly one. In a world where they raised child-soldiers and murdered each other on a day-to-day basis, he had to make sure that he would be ready. As much as it pained him, he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He couldn't let the boy have the childhood that he wished he could have.
He couldn't do something like that, he didn't have it in him. But perhaps someone else could. Someone who could do what needed to be done.
Reaching down to his belt, he grabbed hold of his mask and brought it up to his face, clipping it into place. Dog looked over towards the small blond, who was looking back at him curiously.
"Sooo…You've been silent for a while." The boy looked off to the side. "Are you-"
A sandal brutally burying itself into his stomach cut the Uzumaki off. The boy cried out in pain as he was violently sent flying away, the back of his head slamming into a tree being the only thing to stop his momentum.
"Where was your mistake?"
Naruto painfully opened one eye as he struggled to catch his breath. God, everything hurt. His head was ringing, it hurt to breath, it hurt to not breath, it felt like a part of his stomach had been caved in. Looking up at the monotone sound of the older male's voice, he had to wonder what had just happened. It was still Kakashi standing in front of him, yet it didn't feel like Kakashi. Everything was still there, the hair, the clothes, the blue facemask that he could kind of see around the edges of the dog mask.
All was the same besides that mask.
The person standing in front of him felt completely different. While Kakashi stood with a slight slouch and a lazy feel, this man was standing rigid and at the ready, a cold and terrifying aura surrounding his body. What the heck had just happened?
"My…My mistake?" He struggled to get out.
"You took your eyes off the enemy."
"B-but you're not my enemy!" Wheezed out the blond.
Dog said nothing in reply and slowly stalked his way forward. What was this? Was this the crash course he was talking about? He didn't like the idea of training all that much anymore, he felt scared. That pressure surrounding the man was so familiar yet unfamiliar.
"Get up." The ANBU commander said coldly.
Naruto panted harshly. "I-I don't think I can…"
"You said you wanted to be strong, right?" Dog snarled. "Stronger than anyone."
How did he know that? He'd only said that to himself while he was at home.
"Then, get up!" Dog disappeared from his view, and it was only his instincts screaming at him to move away that saved him from a deadly stomp that cracked the earth beneath. Frantically standing back up, he crossed his arms protectively in front of his chest as a powerful kick connected with his forearms, fracturing his bones and sending him flying once more.
Naruto's head was swimming. His arms hung limply at his sides as he felt pain everywhere unlike anything he's ever felt before. His chest felt numb, his breathing ragged as tears of pain stung the corners of his eyes. He weakly lifted his head to look at the approaching ANBU with tired eyes. No…He couldn't fight it anymore. His eyes closed slowly as his brain finally granted him blissful darkness.
Dog stopped in his tracks as he watched the boy's head droop into unconsciousness. With a sigh, he brought a hand up to his mask and pulled it off his face, returning it to his belt.
Perhaps he'd been a little harsh, but it was necessary. After all, one didn't repeat the same mistakes again when pain was a penalty.
Kakashi sat down next to the blond and rummaged through his pouch for medical supplies. 'Not that it even matters,' He thought. 'The kyuubi will probably take care of those by the time I'm done applying them.'
Naruto slowly blinked his eyes opened. God, what had happened to him? He felt like he just got ran over by one of those big trains he'd heard about from the land of snow.
Memories soon came back to him. That's right, he received a total beat down by Kakashi. What the hell was all that about? Wincing at his throbbing head, he placed a hand against his temple to try to ease the pain and looked up, finding the masked man sitting a few paces away from him, legs crossed and facing away from him towards the direction of the village.
"Welcome back." He said plainly.
Naruto quickly crawled back, making sure he was a safe distance away. He didn't know if that guy was going to start beating the hell out of him again, so he had to be careful. But looking at him now, his demeanour seemed to have gone back to his normal self, if not a little more subdued. He glanced down at the object hanging from his belt. Was it that mask? Kakashi's personality had changed as soon as he had put it on and now, he was back to normal once more.
"I know you're afraid of me right now," Naruto looked up at the back of the shinobi, who still hadn't turned around to face him. "But please trust me when I tell you that this is the quickest way."
The blond boy brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them for comfort. The quickest way? What did he mean by that?
"I know you did your research," Kakashi continued. "You know what being a jinchūriki entails." Naruto looked down at that.
"I want you to be ready." The copy ninja said. "I want you to be able to take care of yourself, which is why I'm being so harsh on you right now. It's only against the worst odds possible that a shinobi truly shines. This is how you become strong. You fight, you survive, you adapt. And the next time, you won't be the one that will be trying to survive."
Kakashi slowly stood up and dusted his pants. Naruto looked up once more at the taller male before his gaze drifted back to his belt, eyeing the mask hanging from it. "That mask…What is it?"
The ANBU commander looked back at the boy. "That mask is my duty. That mask is what lets me do what needs to be done. When there is something that Kakashi, Jōnin of the hidden leaf can't do, then I put on this mask and let Dog take over."
"Dog…? Are you kidding me?" Naruto frowned up at the man. "It's just a mask. Nothing changes when you put this on, it's still you."
"It's much more than just a mask." Kakashi reached behind into his pouch and pulled out his green book from earlier. "It's what keeps me sane. It lets me be able to look my friends in the eyes and be able to genuinely smile with them."
The blond stared up at the Jōnin in disbelief, who only chuckled in return. "I don't expect you to understand right now. But maybe you will one day. For now though…" Kakashi reached into his pouch once more and pulled a rolled up scroll out from within. "I want you to get stronger. I can't train you, but I can point you in the right direction." He tossed the scroll over to Naruto, who only managed to raise his hands up to catch it before it whacked him on the head.
"I will find you again in one year. Until then, train your body. Train until you sweat and bleed. Train until your muscles are begging you to stop. Train until you can't anymore. And in one year, we will meet once more."
And with that, the mysterious shinobi was gone. Looking down at the scroll in his hands, Naruto unfurled it and saw that it contained a list of training exercises.
'Running, air punches, air kicks, rock throws…He wants me to do the exercises on this list for a whole year?' The blond wasn't too sure, but that seemed like the most logical explanation.
His eyes went back towards where the masked ninja had been before. Was this really the path he wanted to take? This felt like a turning point, where whichever decision he took would change his life forever.
Naruto glanced back down at the scroll in his hands. He promised to himself that he would be stronger, and now he'll promise to himself that next time, he'll put up a better fight. His grip around the scroll tightened as determination shone within his eyes.
He had work to do.
AN: Hey, you! Yes you, reading this right now! You're telling me you haven't reviewed yet? It'd be a lot cooler if you did.