DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WANT TOO!

Edited

PROLOGUE

A small darken figure ran across the rooftops, heading for the open window of the Hokage's office. The figure had been on a solo A rank mission and had been gone for a month and a half, infiltrating and gathering information on the current standing of Kirigakure.

The said figure tapped thrice of the window which made the other occupants of the room sans the Sandaime to turn.

"So you have returned. Seems like another successful mission, Yeou."

Yeou, the ANBU Captain with a fox mask, nodded as he handed a scroll to the Hokage who had finally turned and smiled at him.

The other occupants of the room were Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Hatake Kakashi. Only the last one knew Yeou. The small ANBU Captain was SSS ranked for more than four hundred kills in three years of service to the Hokage. He had been brought in by the Hokage himself and the now ANBU captain for the last two years had risen up through the ranks quickly.

He was fast, sharp, observant, strict, and very strong. Kakashi had seen it for himself and he knew that if he were to even spar with the captain, Kakashi would lose.

The Hokage unsealed the scroll and read through it as the rest of the people sans the ANBU held their breaths. The Hokage's face had contorted into different expressions until three minutes later a smile had finally appeared.

"It seems that you did more than required. As expected of you, Yeou. You have three days to rest and come back for another mission." The old man said, giving the hidden message only the ANBU captain understood as 'Return home and change. Come back and I shall give you your next mission which will be an A rank with indefinite time of accomplishment.'

The said ANBU merely nodded and vanished before everyone's eyes. Kakashi sighed. His superior always did that as a way to leave or escape. Which ever the situation was. No one spoke for a while until Kurenai finally broke the silence.

"My apologies Hokage-sama but who was that?" she asked and the old man chuckled.

"That was Yeou, ANBU captain of squad zero. He has been captain for the last two years and has never failed in his assignments since entering ANBU. Despite his form, he is intelligent, a genius far beyond that of even Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi combined. " Kakashi acknowledged it with a simple nod.

"He is calm, collected, and highly perceptive. During difficult events, he is still capable of maintaining his composure, assesses the situation, and devises appropriate plans of action. His ability to formulate escape routes on the spot when cornered puts Nara's to shame. His strength can be compared to that of seven to ten S-rank captains of all five countries put together. But most importantly, his loyalty to his village and subordinates surpass all charts as he would and has never left anyone behind. When returning from missions, his team would have little to no physical injuries if he could prevent it." The listeners except Kakashi were stunned. He already knew all this.

For someone so small, Yeou was definitely someone they'd look up too.

"Anyway, Yeou has returned from a month and a half solo A-rank mission to infiltrate Kiri and gather as much information as he could. The scroll he brought back is valuable to the village for future use." Hiruzen told them and they now felt more awed by the young ANBU captain for his actions for the good of the village.

"Uhm… how old is he exactly?" Kurenai asked once more.

The old man chuckled.

"His turning twelve soon."

"WHAT?!" four jounins screamed at the same time.

Kakashi thought that his superior was just small in stature, NOT that he was actually THAT young!

Asuma's cigarette had fell on the as his mind processed the fact that someone who was a decade or so younger than him was ANBU captain for two years!

"So… lets get back to the forming of teams. Gai, I want you to handle Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hyuuga Neji. As you very well know, Rock Lee is a taijutsu specialist as yourself." Sarutobi explained.

"Not to mention looking like a miniature version too." Thought Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi.

"YOSH! THE FLAMES OF ROCK LEE'S YOUTH WILL SOON BURN BRIGHTER THAN MY OWN!" Gai announced and the rest sweat dropped.

"Asuma, you will have the Ino-Shika-Cho team. Do not underestimate the Nara boy. Despite how he looks, he is a genius as well. He can already use his clan's shadow techniques with ease." Asuma nodded.

"Kurenai, you will be in charge of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. I want you to get that girl out of her shell before your team attempts any C rank mission." Kurenai nodded and sighed. It would be a challenge.

"And finally, Kakashi. Your team will be a bit… special. There is an odd number of students graduating so I had to add one more student from another batch. You have Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and…" he paused as he looked up from the paper in front of him and straight at Kakashi who discreetly held his breath.

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." The room went dead quiet.

They all knew who the boy was. Not only was he the son of the late Yondaime but he was also the container of the nine tailed fox that had nearly destroyed Konoha nearly twelve years ago.

"And why has no one heard of him till now?" Kakashi asked and the Hokage sighed.

"It was thought to be the best solution back then after the passing of the Yondaime. It was also written in his will that no matter what, the council should never touch his son or harm him in anyway. He has been taught within the confines of the Namikaze compound and has never set foot outside. To the rest of the civilians, he is simply Uzumaki Naruto and nothing more. No one has ever seen him aside from myself, Anko, Ibiki, Tenzo, and surprisingly Danzo." He smirked.

"What do you mean 'surprisingly'?" Asuma asked curiously.

"You see, Danzo knew of Naruto-kun's existence of course. He had challenged him to a game of shougi. If Danzo won, Naruto would submit to Danzo's… handling. However, if Naruto won, Danzo would never meddle in his affairs and if he did and Naruto found out, he'd have Danzo's head on the pike faster than Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique. Suffice to say, Naruto won the challenge and Danzo was left with no choice." He told them and chuckled.

Before anyone else could say anything, a knock on the door interrupted the meeting and as the door opened to reveal who it was, Kakashi stared in shock as to see just who had arrived.

Standing before them was a miniaturized Namikaze Minato. Naruto stood straight with no emotions on his face to reveal anything. For someone who had never been out of the Namikaze compound, the boy had perfect tanned skin, bright, blue eyes and spiky, blond hair. He even had jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. An exact carbon copy of the Yondaime with exceptions of the height since he was still a child.

"My apologies for disrupting your meeting, Hokage-jiji." Naruto apologized and bowed.

Even the voice was nearly the same as Minato's.

Kakashi couldn't help but stare at the son of his late sensei and felt guilty that not once had he been there to care for the boy.

"Not at all Naruto-kun. Come in and I'll introduce you." He said and Naruto did as he was told.

He went over to the Hokage and sat next to him.

"Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi… This Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, the lady present is Yuhi Kurenai. The one next to her in green is Maito Gai. Beside him is my son, Asuma. And the silver haired jounin is Hatake Kakashi." Naruto turned from the old man to the adults and bowed.

"Yuhi Kurenai jounin level and dubbed as Konoha's Mistress of Genjutsu. Maito Gai, jounin level. Konoha's Green Beast and master if taijutsu. Sarutobi Asuma, jounin level and former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas. Lastly, Hatake Kakashi, jounin level, former ANBU, dubbed as the Copy Ninja of Konoha as well as Sharingan Kakashi. The only non Uchiha to have said ability and former student of the Yondaime." He said seriously and the four were amazed. The boy was well informed.

"Correct, Naruto. As expect of you. Genin Team placement will occur in four days so you will be escorted discretely by Tenzo and Ibiki to the Academy. You will be under Kakashi's team along with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto raised a brow.

The hidden message once more was: 'Your next mission is to be on the same team as the Uchiha and keep him in check as requested by your former ANBU colleague, Uchiha Itachi.'

From the file he had Ibiki provide, the Haruno was only book smart while the last remaining Uchiha was simply a spoiled brat. Ruined by the blunt favoritism of the civilian council since he is the remaining member of the Uchiha clan sans Itachi who had become an S rank missing nin due to his participation in the Uchiha massacre.

It was a bit obvious that Naruto wanted to say something but he didn't which made the other four wonder what he wanted to say.

"So, what brings you here, Naruto-kun? You never leave the compound." Sarutobi asked, pretending perfectly as if nothing else had happened.

"I had Ibiki and Tenzo escort me here to ask about the team placement. I tried to ask Anko about it but she could not give me an answer since she didn't know if I will be placed in a team at all. However, it seems as you already have made them." Naruto answered, playing along before he turned to Kakashi.

"I do expect to never see you holding that horrid book you have on your person whenever I am around. I assure you that you will lose it and will witness it burn to ashes. There are no more copies of said book anywhere here in Konoha, so if you value it, leave it when you are to meet me and the rest of your team." Naruto told him directly and Kakashi shivered.

The tone used was like the same one the Yondaime used before when giving missions and instructions to the ANBU and jounins before. And there was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that his sensei's son would do his threat if Kakashi disobeyed.

"Of course." Kakashi answered after a long pause.

Naruto then stood up and bowed to the Hokage once more.

"Since I have finished my purpose, I shall return home for now." Naruto said and got a nod of acknowledgement before turning to the adults who were still staring at him.

"It was an honor meeting all of you. I shall take my leave now and I wish you all a pleasant day. Hatake-san, I shall see you in four days." He said and proceeded to exit the room without further hassle.

The four adults stared at the closed door before turning to the Hokage who chuckled.

"As you all just witness, Naruto-kun is not very social and very direct when voicing his opinions. He will proceed with his threat Kakashi, so best be on your behavior when he is around." Sarutobi said and got a slow nod.

Kakashi not only met his sensei's son for the first time but was warned and threatened to behave with the same tone the Yondaime used on Kakashi before.

A smile came across his face behind his mask. He just knew that the day of meeting the whole team will be very entertaining.

A/N: And here we go! The prologue. How was it? Do you like it? Read and review then please. ^_^

Yeou means fox in Korean. Kitsune is too common so I changed it to be different.