Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters that belong to it. I only own the idea and plot.

Summary: One some spur of the moment thought, Naruto finds himself helping a shinobi of darkness. Through this one encounter of life-saving events, Naruto and this man grow closer through a family-type of a bond. Awaiting the two are great adventures and many challenges.

Danzō sighed slightly, staring down into his teacup. The warm tea fragrance filled his nostrils, gazing into the pools of gold deliciousness. He rarely got to enjoy his times like this in the confinement of a home he hadn't been in for months. It was pleasant. Well, mostly. His mind was warped with thoughts that plagued him. Most were of worries of an unforsaken future and the rest was of undetermined consequences of actions that need to be taken soon. It wasn't that he as a person was scared, but rather fearfully for his village that he's taken so much pride upon. However, one thought stuck out the most.

Konohagakure needs to be protected.

But how? How could he do what he's sworn to do since he was a child in the academy? How does he protect an entire village if it's just falling apart from the inside? How can he help his village?

In reality, there is a hell of a lot of things that Danzō could do that would greatly benefit Konohagakure. He had money, so much that he could practically build his own smaller village. He had connections all over the world, so exporting could be increased exponentially. He had the knowledge that comes with old age, enough so that he could teach almost all the newer generations. He was wise when it comes to his strengths, so he could lead a whole army to victory. Though, that doesn't mean that Danzō should go forth with any of these.

It was better to stay quiet and in the background. After all, a ninja's best quality is their use of deception.

He took another sip of his tea, letting the warmth coat his throat. Yes, such a way of living was fit for someone like him. He ran everything from the shadows; nothing went by him without him noticing. His version of the Third Hokage's ANBU, ROOT, was for doing things from the darkness. They found out more information that the ANBU and were more controlled than the Hokage's agents. They were quick on their feet and knew how to get the job done. The ROOT worked well together and independently; a little too well. They were loyal to him and him alone. They didn't report back to anyone except Danzō.

They were great soldiers.

A sudden shuffling entered his ears. He made sure not to stiffen in surprise; better let the intruder think that they were still hidden. One thing is true about Danzō, nothing ever goes past him. Nothing. Not even this intruder who has managed to pass the force field surrounding his compound and entered his home.

He stood up, an empty tea set in his arms as he headed towards the kitchen. While he lived in a large compound, he lived alone. Danzō didn't trust enough people to let some maids or servants walk around his home.

Dropping off the dishes in the sink, he turned around and walked towards the extended hallway in his compound. The shuffling continued from somewhere around him. He concentrated on finding where the intruder was based on the noises he was hearing. Danzō internally smirked, using his good arm to punch through the ceiling in the hallway. The audible shriek filled the room as a blond-haired child fell to the ground. Danzō's eyebrows furrowed together before realizing who the child was.

The Kyuubi Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Well, this is unexpected." He thought to himself as the child no older than six picked himself up from the ground. Danzō gave the kid a quizzical look, "What are you doing in my compound, boy?"

Naruto looked up with wide eyes as words started to form in his throat, "I-I-I-"

"You are wasting my precious relaxation time." He replied, already finding himself annoyed by the six-year-old, "Speak or leave immediately."

"W-Wait!" His chest rose and deflated in quick succession, "I, uh… um… I wanted t-to warn you… about s-someone."

Danzō was not expecting this, "Really now? Who would that be?"

A determined look suddenly filled Naruto's eyes but decided to whisper instead of burst out in shouts, "A bunch of the ANBU members that chase me in the village. They are planning on hurting you tonight!"

"ANBU?" He rose an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah." He nodded slowly, "There's five of them. Two of them watch over me during the day and the other three beat me up at night. I, uh, I know what their masks look like…"

"Alright." Danzō looked around the house, "Come with me." Naruto latched onto his black cloak, glancing around the compound with fearful eyes. He stared at the blond-haired boy, "Tell me, what possessed you to sneak into my compound and inform me about this? Aren't I a stranger?"

"Um… no, not really. Hokage-Jiji talks a-about you all the time. You w-were… are… um, friends?" Naruto tried, furrowing his brows, "But, uh, I knew that Hokage-Jiji would b-be sad if those ANBU g-guys got to you."

"So you snuck in to warn me?" He supplied.

"Yeah…" Naruto looked up, "A-Am I… Am I in trouble?"

Danzō stared down at him, "If you are lying to me just to assassin me, I'd have to kill you. If you are telling the truth, I will reward you."

He gulped but shook his head, "I'm not lying, I promise."

"Promises can be broken, child, don't be so gullible." He stated.

"Oh…"

"Do you know my name?" Danzō asked, suddenly curious.

The boy furrowed his brows in thought, "Danni? Danino? Daoni? Wait, there's not I in your name, is there?" He shook his head, slightly amused. "Uh... Daz? Something with a Z in it, right?" The older man nodded, "Da… uh… Dazo? Wait, I'm getting close, aren't I?!" Excitement filled the boy's voice. The ROOT leader nodded. "Yes!" Naruto cheered, "Um… Dazno? No, wait, I've got it! Danzō!"

"Yes, my name is Danzō Shimura." He smiled slightly, "And what's your name?" He already knew the answer but decided to amuse the boy anyway.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He exclaimed, smiling brightly, "I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

"Good luck, kid," Danzō said as the two entered a lobby-type room. He looked down at the blond-haired child. Naruto let go of his cloak, leaving the man's side to look around the nicely decorated room.

"Wow~" He awed.

"Naruto." He said, catching the kid's attention, "How did you get into this compound? There is a large force field covering this whole place that can only be opened by my blood."

The Jinchuriki looked up at him, "Oh that's easy. There was a hole in the force field. It was kind of big too. I could crawl through and still have room to spare."

"So, that means that the ANBU agents that are coming to kill me could have gotten in also." He mumbled.

A look of horror filled Naruto's face as he covered his mouth, "D-Did I lead t-them in?! Oh K-Kami, I'm s-sorry. I-I didn't mean t-to, I j-just wanted to h-help."

He chuckled, "I don't think you led them in here. I believe that they already knew about it. I haven't been able to relax in my home for months. They would have had that amount of time to find weak points in the force field."

"R-Really?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, now, we need to be ready for anything." Danzō said calmly, "What were the five ANBU's masks?"

"Uh… boar, lemur, bat, tiger, and leopard. Tiger and Leopard always team up, so watch out for them." Naruto stated.

"Alright, go find a hiding spot in this room. This room masks chakra. I'll deal with the traitorous ANBU." Danzō stated.

Naruto looked around the room, hugging himself slightly, "B-But won't you get hurt? The ANBU are pretty scary."

"I'll be fine." He rolled his eyes, "Now, hurry up, I can feel their chakra in the house." The boy nodded, climbing up a bookshelf and hiding behind a few books on the top shelf. Danzō thought it to be impressive. Had he not watched Naruto climbed and hide there, you wouldn't have suspected anything. Maybe there was more to the boy than a demon sealed in his stomach.

Danzō left the room in search of the ANBU that were after him. It was at this moment that he wished to have some of his ROOT operatives patrolling his compound. Though, it couldn't be helped now. Even if he was old, he could still take down a numerous number of opponents. Especially the ANBU forces. He strolled down the hallway, eyes peeking around discreetly, feeling the faint movements in chakra somewhere in the compound. His shoulders were relaxed as if he didn't know that he was being hunted in his own home. A crackling noise came from behind him. He grinned, "So, it begins."

Fainting left, Danzō managed to outmaneuver the lightning that came for him. Tiger stood behind him, arms out in front of him in a taijutsu stance. Leopard appeared in front of the old man, her body hunched low to the ground, hands hovering over the wood. Almost simultaneously, Tiger and Leopard shouted out twin attacks. Water pooled around Danzō's ankles as lightning came to meet it in some sort of dance. The old man effortlessly jumped out of the way, hopping onto the wall and using chakra to stick to it. Just as quickly as he landed, he jumped away and shunshinned behind Leopard as hands came out of the wall. Boar left the wall, standing beside Tiger and Leopard. Danzō stared them down, realizing that there were still two more.

A smoke screen filled the hallway, making visibility hard. Danzō didn't need his eyes to fight in these conditions, having been in thousands of situations like these. These ANBU's were like children trying to play ninja. It was quite amusing, to say the least. Dodge a fire infused fist from Lemur and jumping up from the grappling hands of Boar, Danzō found that the was enjoying himself. A wind-powered jutsu came from behind, hitting his back and cutting him up. Bat dropped down from the ceiling, staring at Danzō. He fell to the ground, only to turn into mud. The five ANBU members looked around the area, slowly backing into each other.

The ground in between the circle of ANBU appeared Danzō, throwing both his legs out, effortlessly kicking Boar and Tiger in the chest. He did a one-hand cartwheel towards the right, getting some distance between himself and the ANBU. Lemur flanked left, hand coming to mouth, uttering a jutsu. A large fireball filled the hallway, catching the hallways on fire in its wake. Danzō shunshinned to a different part of the house. He then realized that he was inside of the lobby and that the ANBU were quickly approaching.

"Are you okay?" Naruto whispered from the top shelf, poking his head out from the books.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Keep hiding. I'll come back for you." He stated, doing another shunshin. He disappeared.

Naruto looked at the spot where the older man had once been. He frowned in worry. "I really hope that he'll be okay." He thought to himself, "What happens if he gets hurt? Hokage-Jiji will get sad and so will Konoha. What do I do?" The six-year-old stared at the door. "But he told me to keep hiding." He reasoned with himself, "He'll come back for me…" The more that Naruto stared at the wooden door, the more that the thoughts kept coming back. "But… if he doesn't come back for me, that means that he's d-died, right?" He questioned, "Oh Kami… what do I do?" Naruto sighed, realizing that there is only one thing to do in these situations. Kicking the books away, revealing his spot, Naruto climbed down the large bookshelf. He rushed towards the door, opening it slightly. He peeked out and noticed that there wasn't anyone in the hallway. Nodding to himself, Naruto slipped out of the lobby-like room and into the hallway.

The fire had overtaken the west parts of the compound due to Tiger and Lemur teaming up to set things on fire. Along with Bat enhancing the ferocity of the flames, well, let's just say that it was getting annoying for Danzō as he fought off the five ANBU by himself. He's going to tear Hiruzen a new one for having such traitorous ANBU members. Leopard started shooting water bullets as Bat started to fight with taijutsu up close. It was like child's play watching Bat try and hit him with his fists. Though, it was kind of distracting dodging punches, kicks, water bullets, great fireballs, and constantly trying to not get sucked underground by Boar. He wasn't being pushed back by the five ANBU, he was simply trying to get more distance between them and himself. Though, luck didn't seem to be on his side now because just when he thought he was getting a little farther from them, one of them would appear and put him back on the defense.

"I fucking hate ANBU." He grumbled to himself, punching the shit out of Leopard. The sudden sound of metal hitting a body before falling to the ground filled the hallway. All movements stopped as Danzō glanced behind him, seeing Naruto holding a metal bat that was partially colored red. Beside him was another ANBU member with a hummingbird mask on, blood trickling out the back of his head. Fear and shock were present in the boy's eyes.

He didn't even notice him.

He glanced up at the older people, "H-He was trying t-to hurt you…" Danzō nodded, hopping towards the boy and swiftly picking him up. Naruto couldn't seem to let the metal bat go, his hands grasped so hard around it that his knuckles were turning white.

"Good job." Danzō praised. The boy didn't say anything back. He stared at the man as the founder of ROOT rushed away from the ANBU with fast steps.

"They are going to try and trap you in the hallway again," Naruto mumbled, still shocked that he had killed a man.

"Got it." He stated, taking a left turn into a room. He shut the door behind him. Danzō rushed over to a desk, opening the bottom cabinet. There was a silver button in the back. Quickly pressing it, the older man ran over to the door that had appeared from the wall.

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"There are secret passages all over this place," Danzō informed, the door closing behind him. He took out a brick from the wall inside the secret passage, pressing a red button. A ticking noise filled the air. Danzō picked up his pace, using a few shunshin to get farther inside the secret passageways. The ticking was becoming quicker and more prominent. Naruto was getting worried. It was only when the two managed to get to the surface above the Hokage Monument did the ticking noise become so quick that it was almost inaudible. A booming noise filled the area as Naruto's eyes widened. Danzō had blown up his compound and those ANBU inside. The older man looked down at the shocked boy, "Come on, we've got to inform the Hokage." Naruto nodded numbly as they took off towards the Hokage's office in the middle of the village.