hello, welcome to my first fan-fic.

it's an ANBU naruto story that I have been brewing in my head and on my computer for a while.

I apologize for grammar errors, Polish is my first language, not English. I speak and type English fluently but I do sometimes struggle.

I do not own Naruto.

please enjoy!

When Naruto woke he knew two things, one he wasn't in the hospital that he had gone to sleep in, and second was that people were yelling. There were other things that he could notice, the ceiling was painted an ugly green, he wasn't wearing the same clothes he went to bed in, there were other people in the room with him, the bed was super uncomfortable. But the first two were the main factors.

The shouting got louder, about what he wasn't even awake enough to comprehend. Then someone shoved him off the bed. He landed on someone, who shrugged him off as best they could while trying to get dressed. He plopped onto the floor and was immediately stepped on. He was on the ground for a second before someone lifted him by his hair.

He came face to face with a mask.

An ANBU mask.

The shouting voice was not coming from this person, but another ANBU in the room, behind this one.

"get dressed!" it was practically whispered to him from ANBU currently holding him but it did register in his mind that he should probably get dressed. The ANBU released his hair, and Naruto barely caught himself with his own feet he spun looking for anywhere to find clothes to get dressed. A pretty blond kunoichi dressed only in a black tee shirt and panties was his first sight. He paused to take a real good look despite the situation.

Then he was shoved roughly into a thin locker, he could see another one right next to it, it had a name he didn't recognize.

Kaori Yamanaka

Nice. The hand that held him against the locker grabbed his head and moved it up so he could see the name on the locker he was pressed against.

Naruto Uzumaki

Not nice, he was released but could feel the ANBU's irritation behind him, Naruto opened the locker. A white ANBU mask greeted him, the only marking on it where r-201 underneath it laid black pants, boots, and armor, kunai, shuriken, and a knife.

Naruto was pleased to notice that he wasn't the last person to be done getting ready was he slow yes, but he wasn't the last. Now being fully awake and having a mask to cover up his eye movements he got a good look around the room. It was a large compartment style barracks and from what he could see there were a hundred other people with the same mask as himself, their numbers all counting up. The four ANBU patrolling the room were checking everyone, securing their armor straps. Adjusting their swords or knives. He noticed that he received the least amount of adjustment. A good thing or a bad thing he had yet to find out. A fifth ANBU member in a cat mask stood in the center off the room.

"you all have been selected for ANBU." The man paused "despite this, a majority of you are not going to pass this training, some of you may not even survive!" Naruto got the feeling he would be one of the ones to pass no matter what.

"you are the second platoon out of four, as such you are called Second platoon, your leadership is as follows. Recruit 200," oh shit a tall thin man stepped forward, "Gin Nakayama, will be your platoon's captain! Recruit 201." oh fuck Naruto took a shaky step forward. years of walking around the village gave him a sixth sense as to when people were looking at him, and he could feel everyone looking at him.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" that sixth sense flared as a majority of the room immediately disliked him. He could tell Kaori, r-222 and r-276 hadn't reacted super negatively, he then noticed that they were also probably the youngest in the room beside his thirteen-year-old self. "will be your platoon's first lieutenant. Recruit 202." A short kunoichi stepped out. "Asami Kurama will be your platoon's second lieutenant. Anyone else doesn't matter. Now your first training exercise will begin in an hour. Outside there is a flag, it's your flag, the three other platoons have their own flag. You are to retrieve one of their flags while holding onto your own. The platoon that lets their flag get captured first will be disbanded and only fifteen people will be reshuffled into the program, you have an hour to prepare in here." The five ANBU disappeared.

Naruto didn't fail to notice that Gin had only called Asami over to him to prepare, he also noticed that almost everyone in his immediate vicinity had practically run to get away from him. He caught Kaori, r-282.

"hey uhh-"

"look kid." She interrupted him "you seem okay, but I didn't miss the reaction everyone had about you." His shoulders slumped "I don't know why, I don't want to know why, but I also don't wanna get caught up in whatever it is. So just keep your distance, okay?" she didn't let him responded before spinning on her heal and stomping off to the crowd that had gathered around their leader.

"ouch rejected!" r-276 and r-277 where behind him, "im Morio this is Shoto" 276, Morio the taller redheaded one, gestured to 277, Shoto the shorter brunette. "we uhhhh decided to throw our towel in with you." Now Naruto was surprised. "I saw your fight with that Neji kid, at the chunin exams! your strategies were solid, chunin like us would have been hard pressed to beat him like you did!" Naruto didn't by it but if he had some friends during this whole thing, whatever it was, it would probably help. He turned his face to Shoto, someone who had definitely reacted badly to his name being announced.

"I had to repair the valley of the end after your fight!"

"Oh thank god, I thought you didn't like me cus-" he trailed off, he couldn't see their faces but he knew they were confused. "uhhhh forget about it, anyway I don't think I'll be invited to the powwow any time soon so if-."

"actually Uzumaki-sempai." Naruto blinked in surprise "I had an idea, but I know Gin personally, he's a bit of a stickler for the rules, and I thought you might be the better person to come to for this." Shoto spoke up, "what if we didn't wait?" Naruto grinned behind his mask.

"continue."

"im an earth specialist and I just picked up a technique that lets me travel through rock, I can drag a few people with me, and I thought a small team might work to get the flag early."

"and." Morio interrupted drawing out the word " I just got this done last week!" he showed off his forearm proudly, a storage seal was tattooed onto it. " we put the flag inside and come back when its time to start we unseal it and call it good." Naruto thought for a moment.

"Alright I like the plan but what if someone else from another platoon has the same idea?"

"you are the first lieutenant just get some people to help, but I can only take five maybe six."

"Riiiight. Ill uh go see if anyone else wants to try." The two nodded "I'll be right back.

Kaori was standing in the back of the crowd tapping her foot impatiently against the tile floor. He tapped her shoulder.

"you again didn't I tell you to beat it?" Naruto saw the glances from the others around them.

"Look uh, I've got an Idea, actually Shoto's got an idea but we need your help."

She glanced up at Gin who was going over what areas or training grounds they could be in, not even coming up with a battle plan.

"alright shoot I'll listen."

"we gotta get one more person then I'll tell you." She shrugged

"its better than Win." They walked off towards where r-222 was standing.

"does everyone know? him Shoto and Morio said something too" her mask stared blankly back at him.

"he's part of the BPB." Naruto waited for more

"that is?"

"the border patrol battalion. how do you not know what that is?"

"uhhhh."

"anyway, he's been a chunin there for a while, he's trying to join the ANBU for years."

"okay that makes a little sense, I guess?"

r-222 was leaning against a bunk bed casually when they arrived near him, his dark hair casting a weird shadow over his mask.

"ah Uzumaki, it's nice to meet you." the sarcasm hit Naruto like a brick.

"Uhm, you know my name but-"

"don't worry about it gotta practice that whole secrecy thing right, what it is you came to see me for?"

"well, Shoto had this idea that we go steal a flag early, and I kinda like it. But we need some people to come with us as a just in case."

"so, you came to a stealth and infiltration specialist to request back up for what could be a heavy combat operation?"

"Well, I uh didn't know-"

"I'll do it. It's more entertaining than sitting here for an hour listening to Gin talk."

"does everybody know him?"

Naruto did not like being in the ground. He couldn't see, feel, hear, or breath. The only noticeable thing he could 'feel' was his hand curled in someone else's, it felt like an eternity before he was spat out of a wall of rock. He landed on top of something, it felt nice. Then Kaori grunted and shoved him off of her on to the cold dirt.

"never again!" 222's voice rang out "we are never doing that again!" Naruto rolled to his left as Kaori moved her mask off a bit and hurled onto the ground.

"Hey, guys Shoto's passed out!" Naruto groaned and sat up he felt stiff and sore all over. They were never doing that again. they were on a mountain, high up on a mountain, the village was visible from where he sat, but only barely. The sun was high in the sky and did nothing to protect him from the cold that was setting in, which was a new experience for him. A hand cast a shadow over his face, 222 helped him up.

"so, what's next?" Naruto dusted himself off, before helping Kaori up.

"we gotta find a flag but first lets help Shoto."

"that's it?" he turned to Kaori.

"you got any better ideas?" she huffed just like Ino.

Morio was up and about, trying to wake Shoto up.

"guys I don't know what's wrong, he's never done this before!"

"here let me." 222 knelt down next to Shoto and his hand lit up green. "chakra exhaustion."

"what how? This has never happened before!"

"ya but one of us probably had chakra reserves too large for him to handle pulling through." Oh shit.

Kaori perked up "but I don't sense anything more than a chunin from you guys."

"the armor masks chakra. Its supposed to help us not be sensed."

"then who has that much? Because Shoto's reserves are larger than Kakashi Hatake's!"

"I do." They turned to the thirteen-year-old.

"you? But you're like twelve!"

"I'm thirteen, but ya, I've got four times the reserves of Kakashi-sensei."

"what!"

"that's not possible."

"interesting, but ultimately pointless now, we need to do something about him."

Naruto looked around, the trees nearby where coniferous. And sparse. The rock wall behind them was just that a sheer cliff of stone that went up one hundred feet. "we need to store him."

"we can't just leave him!"

"and we can't take him into a combat zone!" Kaori rebuked Morio.

"Put him under the tree, I'll feed him a chakra pill that should get him going in like an hour just in time to join the main group."

Naruto turned to Morio, " look if you want to stay and protect him I'll let you but we're gonna need some help." Morio looked back down, with the mask on it was impossible to tell what his face looked like but Naruto could feel his confliction.

"I'll…I'll help let's get him stored." They did just that, carving out a few branches on the bottom of the tree, and force feeding him a chakra pill, once he was hidden.

"k-282, do you sense anything?" he could tell she was confused. "its probably smart if we don't use our names if you all know Gin then who knows you?" they nodded.

"makes sense."

"understandable

"didn't know you had it in you."

He ignored that last bit. Kaori brought her hands together and was still for a minute.

"there's something in that direction." She pointed to their left, down the mountain "but I can't really tell what it is. There're also people moving around but they're all sporadic I can't really pick up a single direction."

"those are probably regular ANBU or other recruits looking for a flag. What's the plan 201?"

After a moment of contemplation that Naruto didn't know he could pull off he spoke. "let's go see what that thing is down there, then come back up if its nothing."

Luckily, they were correct to move down the mountain, unluckily so were the other teams that had left early, Kaori had counted twelve others that were now surrounding the flag.

"so this starts as four verses twelve then develops into a four v four v four." 222 said while trying to spot the other contenders from their vantage point on a small rock.

"so what do we do?" Naruto looked at the flag in the center of a circle of rocks.

"we don't know if they know we're here." He said, "but we also don't know if they don't know we're here."

"they also know the same for us." Kaori made a noise.

"speak plain!"

"right we do nothing, and report what we do know to Gin."

"I'd rather not." This time Morio spoke up.

"ya same."

Naruto turned to face Kaori now laying on his back. "your friends with Ino right?"

"Is now really the time, but yes she's my cousin."

"does that mean you gossip as much as she does?" she huffed.

"we do not gossip we Yamanaka run the counterintelligence program for the village!"

"right so you would know wants to be ANBU then?" now she seemed to understand

"ya, but I only know a few by name." Naruto nodded

"do you know their type. Like what would the general group of them be like?" she thought.

"skinny, fast, somewhat intelligent, and adaptable. That's what they usually are."

"any powerhouses?" she shook her head.

"only like one or two but I don't recognize their chakra here."

"I've got an idea" he brought his hands up to a cross.

To Kaori, Morio, and 222 the world exploded into a cloud of chakra smoke, Kaori got a headache from the amount of chakra she sensed come out of Naruto. To the other recruits, they thought someone had summoned a class-A summon. Until they were swarmed with clones. The sheer number of them forced an immediate retreat.

"holy fuck!" they darted through the veritable sea of clones with ease, they didn't have to worry about any stray shuriken or kunai as a clone would jump and take the hit. "holy fuck, this is insane!" Kaori was stumbling down the path of clones, the amount of chakra in the air making her head spin.

"how are…..what?" Morio was in the same boat as Kaori. An explosion went off killing a group of clones only for more to rush forward and fill the spot. Ahead of them, the real Naruto ran unhindered, when he should have died from chakra exhaustion.

They reached the flag without an issue, as still more clones charged forward into battle. "276 seal the flag we'll cover you." By covering him Naruto meant they stood around watching the clones get demolished by the ANBU recruits.

"now that I look, they're not doing much."

"with this many, they're practically mindless, their only command is to rush the enemy. If I made probably one hundred less, I could have had them actually attack or think somewhat." Kaori reached out and grabbed one running by, it slid its feet along the dirt as it tried to run towards the other recruits. She let go and it took off.

"that's awesome." The flag went up in smoke.

"we're good to go." Morio was breathing heavy. "but that-"

The horn was loud, it rattled their bones, Morio fell to his knees. It hadn't dissipated before a new noise began, something behind them was grinding, then clicked. The ground behind them fell. And ninety-six ANBU recruits rushed out into the sea of clones.

"fucking run!" 222 and Kaori were already running, Morio was struggling to get up, Naruto grabbed him and started to drag the young man.

"im sorry" he panted out "the flag was big!"

"just shut up and conserve your energy."

Three recruits leaped out of the battling crowd and rushed them. They stopped when they hit the first shadow. Naruto dragged Morio past a rock to see 222 holding a hand seal.

"glad that worked" he grunted as he caught another one "got an idea on how to get out of here?"

"just one!" Naruto moved his hand to the side and bit his thumb, bringing his hand together he flew through hand seals and slapped his hand on the ground. The puff of smoke was tiny. Fuck.

"yo!" the small toad greeted them with a wave.

"that's your big plan! Summon a fucking baby frog." Kaori yelled at him as she met the first recruit to pass 222's shadows in taijutsu.

"Ummm im actually a toad, so please check your facts."

"Gamakichi now's not the time I needed to summon anyone else, is anyone available?"

"im hurt Naruto truly and honestly hurt!" a kunai embedded its self in between them, "I thought you liked me more than this" Naruto was gonna cry "but no, no one is available. We were actually gonna see if you wanted to stop by and celebrate the bug festival with us!"

"nope sorry a little busy at the moment, I'll take a rain check." Naruto summoned more clones this time with the ability to attack, they swarmed the caught recruits like locusts and started fighting.

"that's too bad it would have been-"

"we need to fucking move!" Naruto grabbed Gamakichi and 222 grabbed Morio. Kaori vaulted off of her rock to land next to them as they began to sprint away, A few more recruits chasing after them. Their hidey-hole exploded a moment later.

"so, Naruto you sure you can't-"

"just go home I'll call you later!"

"rude!" with that the summon disappeared into smoke.

The continued to run, kunai and shuriken rained down on them. The sound of battle was beginning to spread as the four platoons spread out to capture the flags. Naruto followed Kaori as she ducked behind a rock, ready to ambush a few recruits still chasing them. The rock was big and held up by a few small ones.

"this'll do" he summoned a clone and channeled chakra into his hand. "put exploding tags on the rock!" Kaori began slapping them on the sides. The Rasengan screeched against the rock for but a second before sending it tumbling down the slope. Its departure was sudden enough for him to almost fall with it. Kaori grabbed his collar and dragged him down with her.

"KAI" the world erupted in flames and dirt. The class-2 explosives cracked the ground beneath them and nearly sent them flying. It took Naruto a minute to recover, the ringing in his ears dissipating as what was definitely Kyuubi chakra healed them.

"I'm beginning to like this position." Kaori shoved him off and back on to the dirt. Naruto looked at where their chasers should have been.

Inches from where he lay, a new cliff had been formed, the rumble of the ongoing avalanche shook the earth and threatened to send him and Kaori off the new edge. He scrambled up pulling Kaori with him, she stumbled, her equilibrium thrown off by the explosion. It didn't take long for them to reach their own flag, surrounded by other platoon members. 222, and Morio were arguing with their platoon commander.

"You disobeyed a direct order from our instructor! You could have our whole platoon fail!"

"every platoon sent people out. We weren't the only ones we just managed to snag a flag first." Gin noticed himself and Kaori approach.

"you!" Naruto knew what was next "you risked everything we could have so that you could get the glory!"

"now wait a minute!" Kaori stepped in "we did this because we thought it would help!" their further argument was interrupted by the arrival of their cat masked ANBU.

"Congrats, you've captured a flag" the man sounded very bored "the exercise will continue until another flag is captured. However, you have secured your place in the training regiment." If it weren't for the mask on Naruto's face he would be sticking his tongue out at Gin.

It had been a week of hell for Naruto, and subsequently, everyone who had sided with him during their first exercise. While some were grateful they had managed to get the flag many had been swayed by their platoon commander to think that it had been a bad idea.

Throughout the week, and the exercises that had followed. Any idea they put forth was shot down, their armor and masks messed with, and the gear stolen. Kaori had called everyone a petty bitch and that chunin and jonin shouldn't act this way. Naruto had expected it once his name had been called out.

On Sunday they found out they had the day off and were allowed to head back to the village to handle any administrative duties or issues that needed to get done. 222, or Nara as they had been calling him had disappeared the moment they were released. Shoto and Morio had said they didn't need to go down to the village. Kaori decided she needed me time and departed shortly after being dismissed. Naruto had been summoned by their lead instructor to an office in the back of their barracks. When he arrived, Gin was already standing at perfect attention in front of Cat. To piss him off Naruto slouched.

"I want to congratulate you all on your excellent tactics and leadership during this first week of training. Your use of a specialized squad and its unorthodox tactics have led to recon adopting some of its battle strategies." Naruto could feel Gin being pleased with himself, but the man couldn't hide his annoyance at naruto's own success.

"because of this success, your platoon is being given some extra liberties." The ANBU pulled two manila folders out and tossed them to them. "ANBU has supply drops throughout the village, you are being granted access to one of them for your platoon. Gin you are dismissed, Uzumaki you stay."

Cat waited for Gin to depart, Naruto waited and waited.

"it seems like we'll need to work on your perception too!"

"ero-sennin!" he spun and ran towards the giant man "ero-sennin you're here."

"haha, brat of course im here!" Jiryia returned the hug Naruto gave him.

"ero-sennin you've got to get me out of here, its crazy I just woke up and there was yelling, then I saw Kaori's ass, we fought other recruits, and-"

"Relax, relax. I get it it's been a tough week."

"your gonna take me out of here….right…..ero-sennin?" the week of reading only body language gave Naruto an edge, and he could see Jiryia's confliction. "you're not here to take me, are you? Why?" Jiryia sighed.

"there's a lot going on….a lot, Konoha is in a bad spot, and we can't afford to take liberties that we normally would have. Tsunade and I tried to fight it but like I said there is a lot going on." Jiryaia sighed and sat down at the desk. Naruto just noticed that Cat had disappeared. "I was gonna take you out of the village for training, but." The older man gestured to the room. "that idea got canned."

"what is a lot ero-sennin? it got me stuck in here I want to know!" Jiraiya sighed again.

"Iwa and Kumo are testing our borders. we've taken too many hits in the past few years for us to just shrug off, I can count our A-ranked shinobi on one hand, our S-ranked use even fewer fingers. our alliance with Suna hangs by a thread, basically, we're fucked! the council hatched a plan to get you into top fighting shape. tsunade got overruled with a no-confidence vote for your handling, too emotional invested they said, and she's too new a Hokage to just refuse the council, sarutobi-sensei could have, he has been for years but now with the situation, we're in they got it to pass."

"so that's it then I just become the village weapon!"

"that's not what they want. With your sunny disposition, they got a better idea, I actually approve of it somewhat. they want to make you into an icon, a force for the village to look up to, someone we know we can count on to be our pillar, the trunk of the tree. it'll help with becoming Hokage later on too, but enough with this depressing stuff, its time to train."

Naruto was confused. "but it's my day off?"

Jiraiya's smile sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. again I apologize for any grammar issues.

leave a review, hate, criticism, or compliment.