2
"And the Commander appeared-" explained Naruto as he went on and on about the incident. Sarutobi couldn't help but smile at the small boy's attitude towards the incident, it was good that Naruto was taking to the news so well because it showed that Naruto could handle sensitive subjects like this one much easier than many expected.
"Thank you, Naruto but please step outside while I have a chat with lord Sarutobi," said the Anbu commander. Naruto left the room as the Commander turned back to Sarutobi.
"I would like to place him in Anbu," said the Commander. Few could claim to surprise the aging Hokage but one of the few who had that honor was the Anbu Commander. As soon as the Commander's boss got over his immense shock, he set to argue against.
"Absolutely not, he's a genin and he's not old enough, even if I agreed, which I never will, he lacks the darkness that makes up Anbu," said the aging leader.
"He doesn't have the darkness, he's just very good at hiding it," said the Commander.
"What do you mean he's good at hiding it? He is as cheerful and as happy as they come."
"He isn't happy, he just tries to be strong, he tries to hide his pain so that the villagers never see and capitalize on it, he has darkness just that everyone who looks at him sees a happy little boy, not one who has very little in his life,"
"Being in Anbu will change him," said Sarutobi.
"Being a shinobi will change him, this will just help him learn his responsibilities faster," countered the Commander.
"He's not skilled enough for Anbu, he'd never survive the training," Sarutobi raised a good point, one that the Commander had already found a solution to.
"Simple, he won't go through basic training, I will have him placed on Team Ro, they can train him for say a month and a half before all of them return to duty."
"Anbu won't accept him."
"Not at first, Anbu never accepts anyone at first, they have to prove themselves."
"What would Naruto stand to gain from this?"
"One, people won't hate him in Anbu they might not try to get to know him at first, two he will get proper training, three he will learn teamwork and coordination, four he won't be able to use shadow clones in pranks meaning the village will be safe from hundreds of Narutos running around pranking everyone."
"Explain to me everything, from his training to what missions he'll do at first, I want to know everything before I agree," said Sarutobi.
-With Naruto-
Naruto was looking at the different hokage pictures and potraits, his eyes wondered over to the Fourth Hokage, Naruto's idol and favourite. When the Anbu Commander came outside, he noticed Naruto's attention to the potrait and smiled underneath his mask.
"Naruto, you can go back inside now," said the assistant. Naruto walked inside to find the Anbu Commander now on the right side of the Lord Hokage, both looking at Naruto.
"Naruto, now that you know of your burden and due to the ill treatment of you in the academy and you're own habits of skipping classes, we can't really place you into a genin team where you might not actually grow into a skilled shinobi, as the jounin sensei expects you to know things taught in the acadmey," explained Sarutobi in a soft voice.
"So I'm not going to become a shinobi?" asked Naruto horrified.
"That's not what I mean, what I mean is that me and the Anbu Commander have reached the conclusion that you should join Anbu," said Sarutobi to which Naruto was both shocked and a bit scared.
"Aren't Anbu like assassins and stuff?" asked Naruto.
"Indeed, Anbu are assassins but Shinobi are also often Assassins, both often do the same thing except Anbu do it to a higher degree, another thing with Anbu you could become a skilled shinobi, one that is actually respected and feared, you won't have people who hate you for your burden," explained the Commander.
"But will they still not like me?" asked Naruto.
"They will be cold as many leave Anbu after the first few months, but if you stay you will gain many comrades and allies," said the Commander.
"Will I have to kill people?"
"You will be killing people either way, kid, it is just a question of when."
"So Naruto the question is, do you accept, would you rather be placed on a genin team or in Anbu?" asked Sarutobi. Naruto thought for a moment his hand on his chin, it was a difficult choice but one he had to make.
"Yes, I'll join Anbu" said Naruto.
"Good you may leave, I will send an Anbu member to collect you in the morning," said the Commander. Naruto left the room as the Anbu Commander turned towards Sarutobi.
"Now we have some other things to talk about," said the Commander.
"Like what?"
"Like all the things I have noticed while watching Naruto,"
"Okay, where should we begin?"
"First, what idiot left the scroll of sealing so unguarded that an academy student could steal it?"
-Next day-
Naruto woke up in his dirt apartment to find a black haired Anbu operative wearing a black cloak with a porcelain crow mask staring at him, Naruto didn't know what he was doing but was annoyed that he was just standing there.
"Are you just going to stand there all day?" asked Naruto, but got no reply, the Anbu just stared, as if that was the answer to his questions. Naruto knew about this weird silent types and just rolled his eyes but decided if the Anbu operative was going to stare, Naruto was going to stare right back at him. they stared at each other for a full minute.
"I have been sent to collect you," said the Anbu as Naruto got up, put on his favourite jacket and turned towards the Anbu Captain.
"Here," said the Captain as he handed Naruto some gear, he gave Naruto some directions to the Anbu headquarters and disappeared in some smoke.
-Some time later-
Naruto arrived at the location to find the Anbu Commander waiting for him. The Anbu Commander was dressed as always in his white cloak, with a wolf mask on his face.
"Oh hey," said Naruto with a wave but got hit on the head, by the commander, dropping his gear and was now sitting on his ass, touching his head.
"What did I do?!" shouted/asked the blondd chibi.
"Lesson 1, always be respectful to your superiors," exclaimed the commander.
"But-"
"Even if they don't deserve that respect, Anbu pride themselves on being efficient and people are more likely to listen to you if you don't yell in their faces."
"Alright... Commander-sama," forced out Naruto, to which the Commander sighed, Naruto picked up his gear and himself off the floor.
"Good, now let's get you a tattoo," said the Commander as he led Naruto through the Anbu base explaining different features of the location and where everything was.
-Time skip-
Naruto had just been shown the barracks, where several of the Anbu operatives turned and stared at him. Naruto honestly buckled under the attention and walked towards a man with brown hair, already dressed in his gear at the end who smiled at him.
"You must be Naruto, I'm Tenzo, I'll be your captain, get ready and we will go and meet the rest of the team," said the operative, with a smile. Naruto put on his uniform which was made up of black clothing, a grey flak jacket, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals with spikes, three ninja pouches on their back waist and finally a small sword for his back. He then grabbed the mask going towards the mirror and putting it on.
Naruto's mask resembled that of a dog but that wasn't what interesting about that mask, it was who it used to belong to.
"So Naruto, it seems your code name is going to be hound now, it seems you are replacing him," said Tenzo.
"him?" asked Naruto.
"Ah you see that mask of yours belonged to my old Anbu Captain," said Tenzo.
"What happened to him?"
"He was discharged from Anbu," explained the captain "Now then let's go meet the rest of the Team, they are waiting for us in a training ground."
-Time skip-
When they arrived there, they found 2 people waiting for them, the crow masked Anbu from earlier except this time his cloak was missing and a purple haired girl Anbu, both were dressed in standard Anbu gear.
"Good, you're here, now Naruto, this is Shisui code named Crow and Yugao code named Cat," explained Tenzo.
"Nice to meet ya," said Shisui with a grin, to which Yugao nodded.
"Nice to meet you too," said Naruto.
"Let's get the introductions out of the way, and then we can begin to training," said Tenzo.