Munchkin Ninja [Naruto, SI]

So, since I plan to get pretty dark with this fic, I can't really post it over on SV. That's why i'm posting it here.
OO

Long shadows formed as the light of the morning sun shown through the blinders, a sun beam hitting me right in the eyes, waking me up. I scrunched up my face, eyes watering from the light, before I sat up, giving my eyes a good rub to remove the crud from them. The sight of the dimly lit white walls of my bedroom greeted my eyes as I opened them and glanced around, before landing on the calendar, most of the dates marked with an X but today was a round circle.

That’s right. Today was the day, the day I would start training at the Ninja Academy, in Konohagakure.

A moment later my alarm rang. It was 6:30, but the academy started at 8:30. I quickly turned off the alarm, before getting up.

10 days ago I lived in an orphanage, where I had been forced to share a room with 5 five other orphans. Now I lived in a boarding house, meant to house orphans that were attending the Ninja Academy. Here I had my own room, that had it’s own attached bathroom. Given that the boarding house had a dedicated boiler, that meant I didn’t have to compete for hot water any more.

I was six years old, having woken up in this world three years ago. Given that you can see the Hokage Monument from anywhere in Konohagakure, it didn’t take me long to figure out where I had ended up.

I was a scrawny little thing, with grayish white hair and hazel eyes. Or at least, that was how I was when I woke up. Now I was a muscular six year old, due to my intense exercise regimen and high protein diet.

Speaking of which, it was time to eat breakfast and get started on my daily exercise routine.

I got out of bed and quickly put on my exercise clothes (a white wife-beater and gray cotton shorts). Stepping out of my room and locking the door behind me, I walked down to the cafeteria, where the cooks were already busy cooking breakfast for the boarding house inhabitants.

The boarding house I had moved into when I signed up to ninja school was designed to hold at least 100 students. Now, normally there weren’t that many orphans who where willing to join ninja school, so at the most it held around 60, most of whom were boys. If it had been at full capacity I would have been forced to double up with someone, but thankfully it wasn’t.

This large capacity meant that the cafeteria was pretty big, with the kitchen one end, where cooks would serve food on a tray, like at a normal school.

It seemed today’s breakfast was dumplings. I got two meat dumplings and one veggy dumpling, before sitting down at a table to eat. As I ate, I glanced around the room. I wasn’t the only early riser, there were a few others. A girl that sat at a table to my right, whom I recognized was from my old orphanage, and two boys that sat at a table behind me. I didn’t know them.

One of the boys stood up, walking around the table to stand near me. He was already dressed for the day at the academy, probably with no exercise routine planned.

“Hey, you’re from one of the other orphanages, right?” he asked. His voice had an annoying nasal quality.

“That’s right,” I said shortly.

“What’s your name?” the boy asked.

“Kazuto,” I replied shortly. I didn’t ask his, and kept my attention on my food.

“I’m Toyokuni,” Toyokuni said. “Me and Shinzo were gonna go play in the play ground before class starts, you want to come?”

He indicated the other boy who was still sitting at the table.

“Sorry, I'm going to be busy until then,” I replied, scarfing down the last of my meal, before getting up. I noticed that the boy was slightly taller than me. “Maybe another time.”

“What are you doing?” Toyokuni asked with a frown.

“Exercising,” I replied, turning away. I was out of hearing range before he could reply.

The boarding house had it’s own training area, a small playground, and on the other side was a small forest.

To warm up I did some jumping-jacks, before running twenty laps around the training ground. When I was finished with that, I did a handstand and walked two laps on my hands, after which I did my normal stretches to gain flexibility. Then I did the normal exercise routine, which included handstand push ups, pull ups, sit ups, more jumping jacks, handstand spin with my legs perpendicular to the ground, back flips and fore flips, and a few cartwheels.

While I was doing this, Toyokuni and his friend came out and went to the playground. They didn’t do very much playing, instead watching me.

When I was finished with my normal exercise routine, I went into the nearby forest. Having already unlocked my chakra early on, I had mastered the leaf sticking technique, and was now working on tree walking.

Tree walking was a much more challenging exercise than most would think. In the anime they make it look so easy, but it wasn’t. Tree walking trained muscles that I didn’t know I had. When tree walking, if you wanted to remain perpendicular to the ground, you had to use your abs and leg muscles to hold yourself aloft. That was when you were facing up. Facing down was a lot more difficult, you had to use your back muscles.

And it was worse when you had to move, that meant shifting all of your weight onto one leg, which may or may not be up to the challenge of holding you up. This assumed you were walking up or down the tree. Running was a lot easier since you had your forward momentum to hold you up.

Tree walking was more of a workout than regular exercise.

By the time I was finished, it was 7:40. I walked out of the small forest and passed the training ground. By now most of the inhabitants of the boarding house had woken up and were getting ready for school. Since the academy was only a few blocks away there we didn’t need that much time to get ready.

After taking a short shower and dressing up properly (in a green shirt and some blue jeans), I went back down to the cafeteria and packed some dumplings for lunch, before exiting the boarding house.

With ease, I jumped up to the roof of a house on the other side of the street. I had practiced chakra enhanced jumping as well, so taking the shinobi road was the best route.

It didn’t take long for me to get to the Ninja Academy, and I was early. People were only just starting to arrive, but a small crowd was already starting to form. Spotting a lamp post nearby, I jumped from the roof top I had been crouching on, landing on the lamp quite easily.

I kneeled, leaning over the lamp post to get a better view. The Hokage was there, as were what seemed like a few shinobi parents. I noticed a dark haired boy with the Uchiha fan on his back, standing close to a man wearing the standard flak jacket. That had to be Sasuke.

Strangely, as if he had known I was looking at him, Sasuke turned to look at me. His eyes widened slightly, but he otherwise didn’t move.

I grinned at him, before I grabbed the pole connecting the lamp to the post. Then I swung down, under the lamp, before placing my other hand and left foot on the post, connecting to it with chakra. Using chakra, I slid down the post (It was metal), coming to a rest on the ground.

Sasuke kept his eyes on me while I did this, and when I landed, I walked up to him casually.

“Hello,” I said, “First day at the Academy?”

Sasuke nodded minutely.

“Me too,” I replied. “My name is Kazuto, what’s-”

“Come along, Sasuke,” said Fugaku, giving me a stern look.

He walked farther into the crowd, and Sasuke walked behind him. Rude.

OO

I only barely payed attention to the Hokage as he droned on about hard work and academic excellence. The new students had been lined up into a square of rows and columns, which the Hokage stood in front of, while the parents also had their own little square off to the side.

Coincidentally, I had ended up with Sasuke on my right side. I didn’t say anything, though. It wouldn’t have been appropriate while the Hokage was giving his speech.

“-know you will do the Leaf Village proud.” said the Hokage, concluding his speech.

One of the teachers walked forward.

“When I call your name, come forward and get your classroom number,” the teacher said. He then proceeded to call out names. When my name was called out, I got room number 143. I didn’t bother staying behind, instead walking into the academy and finding my room number.

As always, I was the first one there. I took the seat that was in the back, closest to the window. Slowly, the room filled up, and the last student to come in was Sasuke, who was followed by the teacher, a rather chubby guy with a blue bandanna headband on his head.

“Sasuke,” I said, waving at him, and indicating the seat next to me. Sasuke blushed with a slight smile, and he took the seat.

“Sorry about father,” he whispered.

“It’s OK,” I waved it off. “So you’re an Uchiha?”

Sasuke nodded. “Are you from a clan?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m just an orphan. Just moved out of the orphanage ten days ago.”

“Where do you live?” he asked.

“A boarding house for students who don’t have a home,” I replied.

“Oh”

Oh, indeed. After that we fell into silence.

OO

After the bell rang, our teacher called roll, and then spent half an hour informing us of what we would be covering that first quarter. Ninja school didn’t have winter or summer break, instead school was arranged into quarters, with a two week break in-between.

After that, we spent the next hour running laps around the schools track. Given that I already spent a lot of time running laps before I signed up for ninja school, I finished first.

Then we had the taijutsu evaluation, where we had to spar with the teacher one on one so he could get an idea of how much we already knew. Given that I didn’t know any taijutsu, I didn’t do very well on that one. At best all I could do was flail at him wildly.

After that was lunch break, then the academic part of school, where we learned history and math and that sort of stuff. By the middle of it I was really bored and was waiting for it to end.

By now I had learned that, of the rookie nine, only three were in my class: Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke. It probably meant that as more people dropped out, classes would be merged.

Finally the day came to a close around five o’clock. After the teacher dismissed us, I stayed behind, waiting for every one to leave. After they were gone, I stood up and walked up to the teachers desk.

“Oh, do you need something,” the teacher asked. “err...”

“Kazuto, my name is Kazuto,” I replied.

“Kazuto,” the teacher nodded.

“Yes, I was wondering if the Academy had a library?” I asked.

“Oh yes, of course,” The teacher nodded again.

“How can I find it?” I asked.

“Second floor, North wing. it’s pretty big, so you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

OO

Like the teacher said, the library was pretty big, so it was hard to miss. When I arrived, there was a chunin manning the front desk. The chunin seemed to be reading a book, but he put it away when I walked up.

“Hello,” I said as I walked up to the desk, pulling out my academy card. “I would like to check out some books, is that ok?”

“Uh, yes,” said the chunin. “So long as you’re an academy student or at least a genin, you can check out books.”

“How many at a time? And for how long?” I asked.

“Ten, and three weeks,” said the chunin. “I need to check your card before you enter.”

I handed it to him.

“This seems to be in order,” the chunin said after a moment, handing it back to me. “Find whatever books you want and bring it up here to check them out. Also, the second floor of the library is restricted to genin. I advise that you don’t try even get into the place, understand?”

“Ok,” I said, giving a casual salute.

OO

It was annoying that the whole second floor of the library was restricted, but I didn’t mind, for I found what I was looking for anyway. Apparently, foundational information (such as hand signs, the basic three, chakra control techniques, E-rank techniques and information on basic survival) weren’t restricted. Also, information on the very basics of Nature Transformation and Shape manipulation could be found here, which was neat.

However, information on any specific that weren’t E-rank or one of the Basic Three was restricted, so even if you trained Nature Transformation, you had to wait until you were a Genin before you could learn technique related your Nature element.

I didn’t mind that much, though. I figured that if I could learn the basics, I could probably figure out how to make my own techniques. But that was a long way into the future. I had other stuff I had to learn first.

When I arrived back at the front desk, I was carrying the allotted ten books with me: A Guide to Chakra Control by Tsunade Senju, The Basic Three by Tobirama Senju, Ten Common E-Rank Techniques also by Tobirama Senju, A Ninja’s Guide to Wilderness Survival by Hideo Sarutobi, Poisons and Their Antidotes also by Tsunade Senju, Genjutsu and Reality by Shinku Yuhi, and a few other books that I had gotten just for fun.

The chunin at the front desk gave me an odd look when he saw the haul I brought to him.

“Getting an early start, are you?” he asked as he scanned the books.

“I like to be prepared,” I said shortly.

 

After I had gotten all the books that I wanted, it was time to return home. I decided to take the long way home so that I could have time to think. I left though the back door of the Academy, and walked towards the back road, which was behind the south wing.

I heard Sasuke before I saw him, and just as I turned around the corner of the south wing, I saw him there. He was busy throwing shuriken at the back fence. On the fence were three black circles. Most of the shuriken Sasuke had thrown were sticking out of the fence inside the circles.

Ah, so Sasuke already knew Shurikenjutsu, huh?

“Hey, Sasuke,” I called out. Sasuke flinched, turning around to look at me. I must had startled him.

“Oh, hi, er…”

“Kazuto,” I said.

“Kazuto,” he replied awkwardly, blushing. “I thought you’d already left.”

“No, I was at the library,” I replied easily. “They’ve got some pretty decent books, you should check it out.”

“Maybe later,” Sasuke said with a shrug, looking back at the fence.

“Nice Shurikenjutsu,” I said as I walked up to him, looking at the fence. “You got four out of six inside the circle!”

“Not good enough,” he muttered. “Itachi could have gotten them all in the circle, in a straight row too.”

“Who’s Itachi?” I asked, pretending to be curious.

“Oh, he’s my big brother,” Sasuke smiled, then his smile turned to a frown. “He’s a chunin, even though he’s only thirteen.”

“Oh,” I replied. “You’re gonna get gray hairs early if you try to compare yourself with a chunin. I suspect your shurikenjutsu is even better than most genin!”

Sasuke looked down at the ground, an annoyed look on his face. “It’s not just that, every one in my clan and at school is always comparing me to Itachi. They all want me to grow up to be just like him. It’s not fair.”

“Well, not everyone,” I replied. “I think you’re just fine the way you are.”

Sasuke glance up at me, his face turning into an ugly scowl. “What do you know?! You’re just a clan-less nobody! Nobody knows you and nobody wants you!”

I gave him an even look.

“It was nice knowing you Sasuke,” I said, walking pass him.

I was ten feet away before I heard him call out. “Wait! Wait, I’m sorry.”

I turned around to see Sasuke running up to me.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Sasuke continued, looking sheepish. “I just… get so angry sometimes.”

“I accept your apology,” I said coolly, before giving a slight smile. “I sometimes let my emotions get away from me as well. Just remember that not everyone is as accepting as me.”

“I’ll remember,” Sasuke nodded.

“Well, regarding your clan and people at school, just inform them that you don’t appreciate being compared to Itachi,” I replied. “I’m sure that will make things better.”

“But… what if father gets angry at me?” he asked, looking down at the ground. “I can’t just say something like that.”

“Sasuke...” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “If you say nothing, then nothing will change.”

He looked up at me.

“Your Father may be angry at you at first,” I continued with a smile. “but he will come around. Just tell him that you want to be judged on your own merits, not Itachi’s. And be polite about it, it will smooth things over with him.”

“You really think so?” asked Sasuke, hope in his eyes.

“Well I don’t have a family myself so I might be talking about of my a- er, butt,” I corrected quickly. “But speaking as a person on the outside looking in, it’s easier to look at things objectively when the situation doesn’t affect you.”

“Ok, I’ll try,” replied Sasuke, pushing a lock of hair out of his face. “Thanks, er… ”

“Kazuto,” I said easily.

“Kazuto,” Sasuke finished. He turned to leave. “Bye.”

“Good bye,” I said, shaking my head. Children were so impressionable. And forgetful.

OO

Ten minutes later, I arrived back at my boarding house. There were a few students hanging out in front, mostly older students who were smoking (They weren’t allowed to smoke inside). One of the older students that I recognized as one of the Dean’s deputies waved at me. A dark green sash indicated his deputy-ship.

“Hey Kazuto,” he said as he checked my name off on a clipboard. “Curfew is at nine, don’t forget.”

“I won’t,” I replied easily. It was almost six, I had plenty of time.

Time to get to my room and unwind for the rest of the day.

OO

I had just arrived at my door and was about to unlock it when I noticed that my security methods had been tripped. I felt a chill run down my neck, before relaxing.

Usually, to know whether someone had gotten into my room, I took a few tips from Light Yagami, the main character from Death Note:

First security method: the handle. I usually made it slightly ajar when I left, so that anyone who used it wouldn’t know to put it back the way I had it.

Second security method: a bit of paper stuck in the lower door jam. It would fall to the floor if the door was opened. However, this marked the ingeniousness that was the third security method.

Third security method: a bar of graphite placed inside the hinge. If a child opened the door, they probably wouldn’t know to put the paper back where it was, or place the handle back where it was. But if a mindful adult, or a mindful ninja, were to try and sneak into my room, they probably would put the handle and paper back the way it was. However, they would most likely miss the graphite bar, thinking the sound it made when it broke was a creaky hinge or something.

Thankfully, it seemed that who ever had opened my door hadn’t put the handle or paper back, so it was probably a child or mindless adult. Also, the door was unlocked. Annoying.

I opened the door to see a orange blur tackle me to the ground.

“Oof!” I said as I hit the floor.

“You’re finally here!” said Naruto with a cheer. “Where were you? I've been waiting forever!”

“Naruto!” I hissed, pushing him off and and sitting up. “I was busy. I told you I would be late.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto waved away impudently. “You and your books, I know. But you promised to take me out for ramen today to celebrate us getting into the Academy. It’s too bad we aren't in the same class, though. I’ve been waiting to see you all day. Where were you this morning? I almost missed the entrance ceremony.”

“It’s not my fault you woke up at the last minute,” I replied gruffly, walking into my room. “How did you even get into my room, anyway? I’m pretty sure I locked it.”

“It was already open when I got here,” said Naruto casually as he followed me.

I stopped, a chill running down my back. It had already been open?

Instantly I scanned my room, checking to see if anything had been disturbed. I usually set three items in a specific way, items that may interest children, but that an adult wouldn’t touch: a stuffed animal on my desk, a puzzle toy on my dresser, and a kunai on my nightstand.

Which meant an adult had been in my room, an adult who hadn’t bothered to close the door when they left.

I eyed Naruto.

Or, and adult who had been here when Naruto had arrived and had been forced to hide. An adult who might still be here.

Worst case scenario, an ANBU Root ninja.

 

I didn’t freeze, even though I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. An adult had been in my room, had probably gone through my things, and was possibly still here, but hidden.

“Huh, so some kid had the temerity to break into my room without my permission, hmm?” I said, glancing back at Naruto. “I wonder who they were.”

Naruto had enough grace to look sheepish, and look down at his feet. I took the moment to channel chakra to my nose. Doing so would significantly increase my sense of smell, and I would be able to detect any smell that shouldn’t be there.

Unfortunately I was disappointed; there was nothing there but the musty smell of the boarding house, and the foxy smell of Naruto.

“I’m sorry, Kazuto,” said Naruto quietly. “I won’t break into your room in the future.”

“I accept your apology, Naruto,” I said coolly, as I turned to walk to my closet.

“You mean it?” said Naruto with a hopeful voice, but I wasn’t paying much attention to him.

During those brief steps to the closet, I channeled chakra to my ears, enhancing my hearing. I started to many things: My heartbeat, Naruto’s heartbeat, the small vibration of walls as sound hit them, the voices of other children in the boarding house.

But I didn’t hear what I was looking for: the sound of a third heartbeat in close proximity, or the sound of a third person breathing.

“Yes, I mean it, Naruto,” I said in a bit of an irritated voice as I opened my closet door. “Just don’t do it again and we are square.”

“Yes!” Naruto gave a little jump, before looking at me with a grin. “Alright, can we go now? I can already smell the miso ramen!”

“I need to change,” I said squarely. “Wait for me outside the door.”

“Why?” he asked, looking at me quizzically. Good question, there had basically been no privacy at the orphanage, and I had been forced to change clothes in front of other boys that shared my room. Being adult in mind, I hadn’t exactly welcomed the experience.

“I value my privacy,” I said sharply. “Now get out!”

“Ok, ok! I’m going!” said Naruto hastily, walking out of the still open door and closing it behind him.

Finally, I was alone. Or at least, hopefully alone. After putting my rucksack in the closet, I walked to the door and locked it, so that Naruto couldn’t peek. After that, I shucked off all my clothes and laid on my bed, relaxing for a few moments. The blinds were down on the window, so I didn’t have to worry about someone peeking in that way.

After a few moments of relaxing, I channeled some chakra to the skin over my abs, a fairly sensitive area to variations of hot and cold. If there was a ninja here, they may have ways to make them invisible and soundless, but could they prevent themselves from making air currents and giving off heat? I didn’t think so.

After a few moments of focusing of sensations of my abs, I felt it: a slow air current, originating from the ceiling, that was warm. It was august, and still quite hot outside. Since the building was air-conditioned, any current coming from the ceiling should be cold, not warm. And I would have known if the air-conditioning was broken.

There was a ninja in the room, an expert at concealing himself using traditional means.

I sighed, just my luck that someone from the village, either Danzo or the Hokage, had taken an interest in me. Now I had to find out which one, which meant doing something I hated.

When I had first woken up in this reality, I thought I had been kidnapped and injected with acid, literally. The whole place had seemed like one giant acid trip, because of my hypersensitivity to chakra. I didn’t know why I was hypersensitive to chakra, but regardless the world swirled with ever shifting colors that seemed to flow like a river and yet crackle like a storm. Bypassing ninja were like mini-suns, come to blind me with their brilliance, the river-storm that was chakra rippling in their wake.

For the first year after I had woken, I could bearly focus on what was real, the acid-trip that was chakra distracting me from other people. The caretakers at the orphanage had thought I was one of those ‘special’ children, since I kept staring off into the distance, my eyes blinded by a pair of ninjas who kept sitting around in a building nearby.

It took me a long time, but after months of effort, I slowly, desperately, began to shut the acid-trip out. It wasn’t easy, the only way I could do it was by constantly focusing on what was real, focusing on what I could see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears, touch with my own hands.

Every time I felt myself slipping back into the acid-trip I would poke myself with a needle until I bled, focusing on the pain it caused, until the day came when I was finally, completely, focused on reality, pushing the acid-trip into the very depths of my subconscious.

And now if I wanted to see this ninja, I had to go back. Back to the acid-trip.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I eased my grip on reality. It had been almost two years since I had last seen the acid-trip, the river-storm that was chakra, and now I could see it again, in it’s full glory.

My room fell away, leaving only the brilliant sun that was the ninja. I closed my eyes to make sure the ninja wouldn’t see me looking at him.

Although quite brilliant, the ninja was cold. One of the things I had learned during that first year was that cold meant emotionless. The ninja was also a very bland, darkish color. Emotions tended to be very warm, colorful, and fuzzy. This ninja was like cold, hard stone.

So, definitely one of Danzo’s men.

I pinched myself on the hip, focusing on the pain so that I could come back to reality. It was a bit of a slow process, so by the time I was back to myself, Naruto was banging at the door, yelling at me to hurry up.

“Ok, ok!” I yelled back. “Coming.”

I went to my dresser, pulling out a shirt and some pants, before putting them on.

As I opened the door, I could swear that I felt the ninja drop to the ground, jumping out the door over my head before I could close it.

The ninja was going to follow me, I realized.

Well, if it really was one of Danzo’s men, then I would just have to make sure he realized that he couldn’t touch me, not unless he wanted to draw the attention of the Hokage.

 

We walked casually though the streets of Konoha, Naruto cheerfully chattering away about his day, while I only payed half-attention. I could still feel the ninja, just the barest trace of him. They weren’t directly behind us, instead they were walking besides us, on the roof tops of nearby buildings, on Naruto’s side.

I fought to remain calm, my mind racing as I considered the possibilities.

Far as I could see, the root ninja was there for two possible reasons: it was either a routine intelligence gathering mission, or they were scoping me out as a possible recruit.

If it was the former, it probably wasn’t a big deal. My notes and journal weren’t actually kept in my room, as I had the foresight to store them in a rusted mailbox that I kept in an old part of the sewer I had found when I was five. The sewer itself was old and hadn’t actually been used for quite a few years. Didn’t help with the smell, though.

If it was the latter, that was more concerning.

A year after I had woken up to this reality, after I had managed to leave the acid trip behind, it hadn’t taken me long to figure out where I was. The Hokage monument was pretty prominent from everywhere in Konoha, actually, so you couldn’t really miss it unless you were blind.

Once I had figured that out, I decided to write down everything I knew about the Naruto universe. Locating a notebook and pen wasn’t that hard, the orphanage had an office after all. It was when I was writing everything down that I remembered Danzo.

Danzo and his Root Anbu. While it was never explicitly stated how Danzo recruited members for his Root Anbu (At least, as far as I was aware), most of the members appeared to have grown up in Root in the series. That implied that Danzo most likely recruited them at a young age.

I didn’t know exactly how Danzo recruited them, but it stood to reason that it wasn’t just anyone who was a viable candidate. Danzo struck me as a person who wanted only the very best and brightest for his Root, so he wouldn’t pick up an average child on the streets. No, he would target children that were regularly observed and could be analyzed for potential candidacy, yet wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared. In other words, children from orphanages.

It wouldn’t be that hard to pay off the staff of an orphanage (they probably didn’t have particularly big pay-cheques), and it wouldn’t be that hard to slip some people in there to keep an eye on the children (more staff that you didn’t have to pay for), perhaps even test them for intelligence and strength (playing games with them).

And so it was with that conclusion in mind that I resolved to hide my advanced mental state, and any leg ups I might gain as a result of training early. In addition, it didn’t take me long to figure out which of the children in my orphanage were the most likely to be targeted, so I kept a close eye on them to see if they would disappear as time passed.

But as the months passed, there didn’t appear to be any changes or disappearances. The children I had identified didn’t seem to be gone the next morning, or the next, or the next, even though they displayed remarkable intelligence, and a few were much larger and stronger than others.

I even kept an eye on the staff, looking to see if any of them played with the children, or missed one of their scheduled work days, but none of them did, save for those that were visibly sick.

And so a few years passed, and the day came that Naruto and I signed up for Ninja school and moved into the boarding house, and not a single child disappeared from the orphanage overnight, and I resigned myself to the idea that my conclusions must have been wrong. Danzo probably recruited members for his Root at a different age, which was the next conclusion I had come to, and now that I thought about it, it made sense.

It probably wasn’t just enough for a child to display intelligence or strength. All the intelligence and strength in the world wouldn’t do you much good if you sucked at being a ninja, and that was what ninja school was all about, weeding out those who were bad at being a ninja.

So the question was… why would they be scouting me out as a recruit so early?

“Hey, are you even paying attention to me?” asked Naruto irritably, jerking my shirt.

I blinked, looking over at him. “Sorry, Naruto, I was just deep in thought.”

“Huh?” he cocked his head. “What about?”

“Some freak broke into my room,” I said quietly. “I didn’t notice anything missing, but still. It’s kind of disturbing that someone could just break in without much effort. I didn’t notice the door being forced, so they must have had a key. I will have to report this to the dean.”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Naruto replied, looking up in thought. “So you think someone stole a key to break into your room? Why would they do that?”

“That’s what I've been asking myself,” I said, looking down the road. We were close to Ichiraku Ramen. “Look, we’re here.”

After we had sat down and ordered our usuals (miso ramen for Naruto, chicken ramen for me), I turned to look at Naruto. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t really like Naruto that much. Honestly, he was a good kid, but was too hyperactive and had too much of a fondness for pranks for my taste. I had befriended him for one reason, and one reason only: his closeness to the Hokage, a relationship that I hoped to use to my advantage.

If I was forcibly recruited into Danzo’s Root, Naruto was my ticket out. He could and would go to the Hokage if his one and only friend were to disappear suddenly overnight, and the Hokage, knowing that I was Naruto’s one and only friend, would spring me out of Root out of sympathy for Naruto.

However, I would rather avoid the whole kidnapping spiel if I could, so I would have to act now, while the Root ninja was in earshot. As a matter of fact, I could feel him on the roof of Ichiraku Ramen now, so he could hear us loud and clear right now.

“So,” I started after finishing my bowl. “I have to admit that this whole breaking and entering thing has me a bit worried.”

“How so?” asked Naruto after he slurped up some ramen from his second bowl.

“Well, I think who ever did it was probably looking for information on me,” I said carefully. “Do you remember what the caretakers at the orphanage said about children who run off on their own, leaving the orphanage?”

Naruto shuddered. Everyone who had lived at the orphanage remembered that story, about how children who ran off would inevitably end up at the red light district, forced into sex work. It was a story told with graphic detail, and meant to scare the children into staying at the orphanage.

“You think that… that someone wants to take you there?” asked Naruto with a wince.

“Maybe,” I said quietly. “And if they got a key from the dean’s office, the dean may be in on it.”

Naruto gave me a look of horror. “If that’s true, we should tell the old man!”

“We can’t know for sure, Naruto,” I replied, waving my hand. “At the moment, all it is is a theory. But if it is the case, we should prepare for the worst.”

Naruto nodded and gave me a serious. “How?”

“If one of us disappears, the other goes to the Hokage,” I replied. “He will be able to sort this out.”

Not that anyone would dare try and steal Naruto, but still.

“Yeah, the old man can do anything!” Naruto smiled, before frowning. “but I hope he doesn’t have to.”

“Me either, Naruto,” I replied. “Me either.”

After that we lapsed into silence, and I waited while Naruto finished his third bowl, before paying. Then we got up and began to walk back to the boarding house.

“Naruto, why don’t you go on ahead,” I said after we were about two thirds of the way back. I sat down on a nearby bench. “I want to stay out a bit longer.”

“Ok!” Naruto chirped. “See you tomorrow, Kazuto.”

“See you,” I replied, before turning to look down the road in the other direction. The Ninja was still following us. I wondered why the ninja hadn’t gone back to report to Danzo.

As the ninja grew closer, I wondered if they were going to ignore my heavy handed advice and actually kidnap me. If that was the case, I would rather Naruto not be here, as he could get hurt.

As the Ninja rounded a corner and came within visible range, I realized that it was no longer concealing itself from sight, and next moment, I realized who it was.

It was Toyokuni, the kid who had offered to play with me this morning.