On the afternoon of October 23rd, Naruto lost a fight with his classmates and disappeared into the forest. Izumo and Kotetsu reported as much to Hiruzen.
The two of them left with sheepish apologies and with the order to take the night shift as punishment for their inaction. Hiruzen sat in silence in his office for a moment after the door shut behind the chuunin, before rolling his desk chair over to a bookcase on the right.
He unlocked a lock with a burst of his chakra and opened a drawer. Returning to his desk, he set down his crystal ball.
Automatically, he moved to wipe the dust off the surface before realizing it wasn't necessary. The crystal ball often went long periods of time without being used, but Hiruzen had used it just a few days prior, when those two dead jounin were found in the forest. The jutsu allowed him to find the locations of everyone he knew the chakra signature of, so he had checked which known missing-nin were nearby enough to be responsible for the jounin's deaths.
He had found nothing. The only peculiar thing was that one chakra signature was nowhere to be found at all. That could just mean that the chakra signature was hidden, though, or that the missing-nin was dead. It didn't have to mean something.
He folded his hands into the proper signs and focused on finding Naruto's chakra signature. It was nearby, the orb showed him; Naruto, with already-drying blood in his hair, was running through the woods, alone. He was well enough to run, and he was safe. That was good to see.
Hiruzen watched over him for a short while, making sure he remained safe. He did so more out of sentimentality than because of a real reason for concern; if there was some unknown missing-nin in the woods, they would've already had many opportunities to harm Naruto. He'd been in the forest every day, even before Konoha found the jounin's bodies – if a missing-nin had wanted him, they would have taken him already. Very few missing-nin would dare to be so bold, though. Getting this close to Konoha at all was a risky decision for missing-nin.
Hiruzen was torn from his musings by the crystal ball; quite suddenly, it went entirely blank again, Naruto's image disappearing. The jutsu had lost Naruto's chakra signature.
Hiruzen sat back in his chair, eyebrows raised. It was clear that Naruto was not dead – Hiruzen had seen shinobi die through his crystal ball, and the change was much more gradual, the image fizzling out rather than just disappearing – but rather, that his chakra signature had suddenly become hidden.
Very odd. Naruto was certainly not able to do that. Perhaps he had entered some space where his chakra was hidden.
But such spaces didn't occur naturally this close to Konoha. Seals – fresh seals, which Hiruzen didn't know about – must be hiding this spot away. Someone other than Naruto must have drawn those seals, someone whom Naruto knew about and was intentionally running towards. An ally of his.
An ally, who was clever enough to use chakra concealing seals… Someone whose own chakra signature was also currently nowhere to be found… Someone who was familiar with the woods around Konoha, and who consistently quietly visited around October 11th, and who would have no intention of harming Naruto…
Hiruzen was increasingly certain about that gut feeling he'd had before. He was increasingly certain that Naruto had struck up an alliance with Hatake Kakashi.
Hiruzen folded his fingers. Out of all the missing-nin he knew of, Kakashi was the least bad one Naruto could have come across. He was quiet, and he was only violent when threatened. Hiruzen had known for years that Kakashi visited Konoha each October, and he had allowed it because Kakashi never started trouble. Perhaps he also left Kakashi alone because he felt like he had failed him; allowing him to visit the graves of his comrades was the least Hiruzen could do. Kakashi was quite like Uchiha Itachi in that sense.
Of course, there was a difference between tolerating Kakashi and letting a ten-year-old Konoha citizen be friends with him… Kakashi may not cause trouble, but missing-nin did still always attract a lot of trouble.
Well, as for what to do with Naruto, Hiruzen would think of later. For all he knew, there was something entirely different going on; it sounded like a pretty story inside his head, but he was aware he was making a lot of assumptions. The sudden disappearance of Naruto's chakra signature was a good lead, though.
The next time he spoke to Naruto, he would try to confirm whether his assumptions were correct.
"Does the name Hatake Kakashi sound familiar to you?"
The sensation of being kicked in the head is still fresh in Naruto's mind. The way his vision went white, the way his ears rang, his stomach turned. The way the rest of the world seemed to disappear a little bit, leaving him with nothing but disoriented terror.
Hiruzen's question feels much the same way.
He knows. He knows about Kakashi. He knows Naruto knows him.
Naruto screwed something up somehow, and now-
And now, he has to talk his way out of it. He's not sure what will happen if he fails – Hiruzen said that nothing bad would happen if he answered him and nothing bad would happen if he didn't, but he could very well be lying. The possibility of losing his only friend claws its way up Naruto's throat.
He needs to pretend he doesn't know who Kakashi is. He promised Kakashi he wouldn't rat him out, and keep that promise he will.
In a moment of clarity and sheer luck, he manages to recall how he reacted when Kakashi told him his mom's name. How he genuinely didn't recognize it.
Naruto looks away, narrowing his eyes at a nearby plate of salmon and scrunching up his nose. "I mean," he says slowly, "I don't think so… Is it someone I should know?"
Hiruzen's face is friendly and entirely unreadable. "Not necessarily," he replies. "I was just curious." He takes a drag from his pipe. "Iruka-sensei tells me you've been taking care of a sick dog in the woods."
Hey, what? "You're just dropping the subject now?" Naruto blurts out. "You got all intense about this Kakashi guy and now you don't care anymore? Why'd you even bring him up?"
"Because I have reasons to believe that Kakashi is also in the woods around our village right now." He turns to the window, looking outside. "And I wondered, just as a thought experiment: what if Kakashi and that dog of yours were one and the same?"
Naruto's fancy new jacket is slowly getting soaked with sweat. Lying once wasn't enough. He gives a shaky laugh. "Your brain is weird, jiji."
"It certainly is. And my thought experiment wasn't even correct; you don't know Kakashi at all." At Naruto's cautious nod, he continues: "Still, would you mind joining me in my thought experiment for a moment?"
Of course he minds, but he can't say that. "Okay."
"Let's say that, hypothetically, there isn't a dog," Hiruzen says. Naruto can tell that he's watching him for a reaction from the corner of his eye. It makes the hairs on his arms stand upright. "And that it's, instead, Kakashi whom you've been helping."
"Which isn't the case," Naruto says, voice carefully steady.
"Thought experiment," Hiruzen reminds him kindly. "So, Hatake Kakashi is a missing-nin." Naruto nods thoughtfully, trying very hard to seem like this is new information for him. "I know Kakashi," Hiruzen continues, "and I know he means our village no harm. In this hypothetical scenario, I know there's a missing-nin outside of our village, but I don't know whether it's Kakashi. It could be someone else, who does want to attack our village."
He pauses, and Naruto realizes he's expecting him to respond. "That'd be bad," he says belatedly.
"I, as the Hokage, want to keep our village safe," Hiruzen continues. "If I can't verify whether the missing-nin outside of our village wants to harm us or not, I will consider them a threat." He turns to look at Naruto; his expression is serious. "Do you understand what that means?"
"It means you'll send shinobi to kill the missing-nin."
It means that, if Naruto doesn't tell Hiruzen that the missing-nin is Kakashi, then Kakashi will be killed.
Hiruzen gives a nod. "Correct. And if it then turns out that I gave the order to kill Hatake Kakashi, I would be quite sad. I wouldn't want to be responsible for his death." He turns towards the window again, taking a drag from his pipe. "What a complicated thought experiment, don't you think?"
Naruto balls his fists. It frustrates him that Hiruzen keeps calling it a thought experiment, because they both know it's not. It's a trick. Or maybe it's not a trick: maybe it's an opportunity for Naruto to save Kakashi.
"So what would you do if I did tell you it's Kakashi?" Naruto asks, and adds a bit too intensely: "As a thought experiment."
"Interesting question," Hiruzen says thoughtfully. "I would leave him alone." At Naruto's questioning look, Hiruzen clarifies: "I would stop the extra patrols around the forest, because their purpose was to find out whether the missing-nin was still around and who it was; you would've answered those questions. I would keep his presence a secret – I don't want him dead, but there are people who disagree with my views, and they would hunt him for the price on his head. And I would discreetly keep our shinobi away from him as much as possible, because the law says missing-nin are to be killed on sight but I'm afraid he'd kill our shinobi first."
"Couldn't you change the law or something?"
A corner of Hiruzen's mouth twitches, a wry smile. "I cannot simply decide that some missing-nin are good and some aren't. There happens to be a political opponent of mine who would find that very weak," he says, "and he would use that to turn Konoha against me. Chaos would follow, and that'd put our village in danger. Danzou could become Hokage, and you should trust me when I say that would be the downfall of Konoha." He gives Naruto a warm smile. "But that might be a bit advanced for our thought experiment. I suppose my answer is that I can't actively offer Kakashi protection, but I won't give the order to harm him, either."
It sounds good. It sounds like a really good offer – at the very least, it sounds way better than letting Hiruzen give the order to kill Kakashi.
But… But Naruto promised Kakashi he wouldn't tell anyone about him. He doesn't break promises, he never does.
Except Naruto suddenly isn't sure anymore that lying is the best thing to do here. Damn it. Damn it, he really doesn't know what to do.
He stays silent, staring defiantly up at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen smiles at him, kindly, and puts away his pipe. "If it's truly a dog you're taking care of," he says, "then, forget everything we talked about. But if it's Kakashi, this would be a good time to tell me. I'm headed to my office, now."
He starts to get up. Naruto's skull fills with panic. He tightens his fists so tightly he can feel his nails dig into his palms.
Hiruzen has already turned around when Naruto speaks, through gritted teeth.
"It's Kakashi."
