Manhunter

A man came through the Hokage's office door and said, "Sir, I'm not certain that sending him back off to the orphanage is the best of ideas."

The aged leader asked, "Well, what would you suggest, Doctor? No one is willing to take him in, I can't take him in—not politically—and I have to bribe the orphange just to let him through the front door!"

"Lord Hokage, I'm not suggesting that he be put on the street—I'm as concerned for the boy's safety as you are. Why don't you allow me to care for him?"

"Doctor, I don't know for certain that I can trust you…"

"Don't insult me, Hiruzen. You trust me to work with Ibiki-san in the Torture and Interrogation Department. You even trust me—me, of all people, to give medical aid in your hospital. You trust me not to betray you, not to kill your citizens; but not to be a caretaker? If I can keep from killing my subjects in the Interrogation Room, AND properly care for my patients, I can likely keep from over-traumatizing a seven year-old boy."

The Hokage, not really seeing any other options, finally said, "Very well; I'll get the paperwork ready—but if anything happens to Naruto under your care, I will have your head on a pike."

"I'd better make it easy for you to find me, then."

Naruto, who had been sleeping on a couch, began to stir. Upon catching sight of the not-quite-yet bald man with maroon eyes, he warily asked, "Old man, who's that?"

Borderline smiling, the Third Hokage told him, "This is your new legal guardian. I'm going to find the necessary paperwork to make things final, so I'll leave you two to introduce yourselves."

After Sarutobi left the room, Naruto timidly walked up to his new guardian and said, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage."

The older man smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Naruto. My name is Doctor Hannibal Lecter."

A few minutes later, the Sandaime returned with a few papers, which he had Doctor Lecter sign, before asking for Naruto's signature as well.

Leaving the office, Naruto asked, "So Dr. Lecter, what do you do for a living?"

"I work two jobs: I'm a civilian member of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation department, and I work as a surgeon at the Hospital. I usually work at the Hospital, but in some cases I get called in to the ANBU if someone's proving exceptionally resilient. And you don't have to call me Dr. Lecter. As I'm your legal guardian, call me Hannibal, if you like."

Looking over and seeing the boy's confusion, Lecter asked, "Is somehing bothering you?"

"What do resilient and interrogation mean? And what's exceptionally?"

Hannibal said, "Well, sometimes, other people know things that you don't, but you really need that knowledge for one reason or another. The methods used to get that information are collectively known as interrogation. Resilient is like… when you keep knocking someone down, but they keep getting back up. That's an example of resilient. And when someone's exceptional, that means they're special."

"Oh."

Then, Naruto's stomach rumbled, and Hannibal laughed. "What do you say we get some dinner, eh?"