Small update: Some people have been asking about Itachi and him being Naruto's teammate in the exams. I wrote about it in chapter 5 and talked about it in the A.N. at the end of that chapter. Since Itachi went through the academy (even if he finished it in one year) he is already a part of a genin team and therefore not an option to be on a team with Naruto.

A few points:

I have this whole story in my head and therefore know a whole lot of background for all the characters and things that I might not manage to put on paper clearly enough, or I simply forget to put it in the story because I think I already have.

So in case it's not clear or some confusion comes up about it when you read this chapter then basically Genma pretty much knows that Naruto is gifted. He has some suspicions about Kakashi and Iruka and their relationship but that's about it. Therefore he has no idea that Iruka is above Chuunin rank or anything else like that even though he called out Iruka's name when they rescued him... funny how a blow to the head can do that to you..

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Rain. It was coming down in buckets from the dark clouded sky. Naruto hated the rain. Or so it seemed to the 3 men in the living room. He was sitting by the window glaring at the sky like it had just deeply offended him.

"I want to go outsiiide." He whined for probably the 28th time since that morning. Not that Iruka was trying to count, he just always did.

"Well you can't go outside so just find something to do inside." Kakashi answered for about the 22nd time, again not that Iruka was trying to count, the other six times he'd just grunted "Naruto." and rubbed his temples.

"I wanna train!" Naruto glanced away from the sky to the three men finally settling his gaze on Kakashi.

Kakashi stood up from the couch, where he had been sitting with Iruka, Genma was lying on a futon in the middle of the room. He made his way over to Naruto and sat down next to him on the floor, he then pulled the kid towards himself while leaning backwards until he was lying on his back with Naruto sitting on his stomach.

"You can't train today kiddo. There's no one to train you. Me and Iruka are sick and Genma is recovering."

Both Iruka and Kakashi had woken up with a rather bad cold that morning, Naruto had seemed a bit feverish when he woke up but had recovered very soon. All of them had just been chilling out in the living room. Genma had insisted on moving there as well despite of his injuries. He'd said he would rot if he had to spend all day in Iruka's small room and threatened to crawl into the living room himself if they wouldn't get him there. So Iruka and Kakashi had taken opposite ends of Iruka's futon and carried Genma in there.

"But, but I wannahh.. h-hey st-stop tick-ling." Naruto squirmed and tried to swat away Kakashi's hands.

"No way. You wanted to train, this is training." Kakashi evaded Naruto's hands easily.

"H-h-how is ti-ckling me tr-training."

"Use your head. It's like sparring, except I'm not trying to hurt you. Come on, is that the best you can do? What happened to all the things we've taught you."

Naruto tried in vain to evade the attacks but when everything he tried failed he decided that his best option was to get the hell out of there. He quickly threw himself to the left and made a mad dash over to Iruka.

"Hey, we never taught you to run away from battle." Kakashi called after him.

"I'm not running away, I'm making a tactical retreat to get back-up." Naruto ran into Iruka's arms and turned to face Kakashi again.

"Naruto." Kakashi sat back up with an obvious smirk in his sole visible eye.

"Yeah?"

"Just a little tip for the future. When getting back-up make sure the person you run to is actually on your side." As soon as Kakashi had finished talking Naruto felt hands circle the upper part of his arms and then pressure on his back, locking him in an inescapable grip.

"Ok Kakashi I have him." Iruka called out. Kakashi quickly made his way over to them and started tickling Naruto again.

"No fair. Iruka you're mean, I thought you were on my side!" Naruto wailed between laughing.

"Hey me and Kakashi are partners you know, teamwork is very important."

"But I thought I was your kid, family should always come before friends."

"Huh. You're right, I didn't think about that." Iruka released his grip on Naruto. "Alright, attack!" Suddenly Kakashi found himself being pushed down on the floor by the partner he was supposed to be able to trust with his life and four sets of hands tickling him.

"What! Iruka you traitor." Kakashi managed to flip over on his stomach and push himself out from under the other two. He scooted as fast as he could over to the futon Genma was lying on before he turned to face Iruka and Naruto.

"Alright, no one come any closer! No fighting around the injured man."

Genma rolled his eyes at that remark. "Sure use me as an excuse. I'm glad that while I'm lying here in excruciating agony I can at least provide you with cover from a Chuunin and a little kid." Genma's tone was filled with fake indignation and he managed a weak smirk up at Kakashi.

The mood in the living room might seem to be filled with easy going humor but Genma could still see traces of tension in the other three. A little hesitation here and a wary look there were all the clues he needed to know that what happened the day before wasn't completely sorted out yet. Naruto seemed almost unfazed, Genma wasn't sure if he really was or not, it was really hard figuring out just what the kid was thinking or feeling if he didn't want you to know. Genma had spent considerable amount of time studying the kid while he was taking care of him but had never been able to figure him out completely, he was getting better at it though so if he'd spend more time with the child he thought he might learn to read him completely.

Kakashi's relationship with Naruto didn't seem to have changed much from what Genma could tell but Iruka's relationship with the boy had changed somewhat. They did seem to have gotten closer after the argument but he could feel that Iruka still felt guilty about it. What Genma couldn't really understand was the strange tension between Kakashi and Iruka. Of course the two of them had fought the day before but he had a feeling that the problem had roots much deeper than from just that incident. Kakashi was almost exactly like Naruto, he seemed perfectly fine but there was a small voice in the back of Genma's head that insisted that that just couldn't be true. It was supported by the fact that Iruka kept getting a hint of worry in his eyes when he looked at Kakashi.

He couldn't really remember a whole lot of what happened after the attack but Kakashi's scream the day before was one of the things that Genma clearly remembered. That scream indicated that something definitely wasn't alright.

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All four guys turned to the window again when they heard something tapping the glass. Well three of them did anyway, Genma tried but gave up half way when he found that turning his head to see the window made it feel like it was going to burst open and he got a shooting pain leading from his neck and down his back.

The maker of the noise turned out to be a messenger bird tapping his beak against the window. Kakashi got up from his safe spot on the floor, opened the window and took the message. He smoothed out the little note and read it over before turning to his partner.

"The Hokage wants to see you." Kakashi glanced over to Genma to make sure he couldn't see him before he signed the rest of what he was going to say. "He wants a full report on what happened on the mission among some other things."

"Alright I better get going then." Iruka stood up and headed for his room to get his vest. Naruto followed behind him.

"Are you going to see Jijii? Can I come too?"

Iruka paused and turned to look at the boy standing in his doorway, his vest only half on.

"Ah, sorry kiddo." He finished putting on his vest and zipped it up before he walked over to Naruto and knelt down in front of him. "I have to make a report to the Hokage about our last mission and it's top secret so I can't take you with me this time." Iruka spoke softly so his voice wouldn't be heard down the hall. The base house wasn't exactly small but you could never be too careful and he didn't want Genma to hear him.

He ruffled the boy's hair. "You'll get to come along when you're older and ready for it."

Naruto looked Iruka in the eyes. "Do you think I'll be as good as you and Kakashi when I get older?"

Iruka was taken aback by the question. He'd heard the kid doubt himself as a person a few times but he'd never heard him doubt his own abilities before. Naruto was always full of confidence, sometimes overly so, in their training and never seemed to give up until he'd managed to learn what he was being taught.

"Naruto, there's not a doubt in my mind that you'll not only be as good as us in the future but you'll leave us so far behind in the dirt that we'll look like amateurs next to you."

Naruto gave him a skeptical look. "You're just saying that."

"No, as much as I'd like it not to be true I can't deny it. You're going to grow up to be a great ninja who'll make this young handsome man here gray haired way too early from worry." Iruka grinned and pointed at himself. "Don't get me wrong, I'll cheer you on all the way to the Hokage seat if that's where you're headed. I just wish you'd have turned out to be an average guy who'd end up as a desk working Chuunin instead of a future top secret assassin."

Iruka stood up and looked down on the boy. He couldn't figure out what was going through the kids head now. He looked thoughtful for a moment, or constipated, he honestly couldn't tell which. Suddenly Naruto looked intently at Iruka and reminded him, not for the first time, just how non average he was.

"Even desk working Chuunins have to take missions and fight when something big happens. It's better to train and be the best you can be instead, even if it means you have to put your life on the line more often. When it comes down to it those who go on regular missions have more experience than those who only work at the desks and will therefore be more likely to succeed in a crisis."

Iruka smiled down at the kid. He really was way to good compared to his age. "You're right. See this is why I say your going to grow up to be a great ninja in the future." Iruka started walking down the hall to the front door. "Just be good today and help Kakashi take care of Genma alright?"

"Sure." And then Naruto said something that proved just how old he really was. "Iruka?"

"Yeah." Iruka turned to look at the boy who looked a little confused about something.

"What made Kakashi worry so much that his hair turned gray?"

Iruka laughed and turned to the door again. "That's a good question, why don't you go ask him about it." He turned around in the door and smiled and waved at the child he'd begun to think of as his own. "I'll see you later. If you're good I'll teach you a new trap when I get home."

As Iruka closed the door he heard a little shout of triumph. At least one thing never failed to cheer the blond boy up.

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As the little boy ran out of the room after his guardian Genma decided to have a quiet conversation with Kakashi. He let his chakra leak out a little, feeling the Jounin still standing by the window. Deciding to just get straight to the point instead of beating around the bush, he'd gathered enough clues to know for sure that Naruto was no normal kid, he spoke softly from his spot on the floor.

"What level is Naruto on?"

Genma couldn't see Kakashi and for a moment he thought the guy wasn't going to answer him, that or he just hadn't heard him.

After some hesitation Kakashi answered the question, He knew Genma wasn't stupid and he'd more than proved himself while taking care of Naruto. Who knew, maybe he could even be of some help in the future.

"Well you've probably figured it out yourself but Naruto ain't exactly your average 5 year old. The Hokage started training him around a year ago and got him up to genin already." Kakashi wasn't about to reveal anything about the Akutenshi or the relationship between him and Iruka so he twisted the truth a little bit.

"The Hokage asked me to train him further, he's scheduled to take the Chuunin exam soon. I wanted to adopt him legally but because I'm a single Jounin it wasn't possible since I'm required to go out of the village on missions pretty frequently. Therefore it was decided that Iruka would adopt him. His job is to teach Naruto and train him further in the basics. We've been living here with Naruto since then."

Kakashi decided to move over to the couch to make things more comfortable for Genma. Talking to someone who you couldn't see was something ninjas tended to connect with torture sessions or suspicious characters and Kakashi could see the tension in Genma's body even though the other man tried to hide it. And since Kakashi was certainly not going to be telling the man the whole truth about the situation he needed to keep the man calm so he'd be less likely to suspect anything.

Genma looked over at Kakashi when he'd gotten settled. "I figured that much. You've decided to keep his abilities a secret?"

"Yes. Naruto faces enough criticism and controversy as it is, adding the pressure of being a prodigy and a Jinchuuriki as well to that makes his life in no way normal. We're having a hard enough time already getting the council to agree to let him progress as a ninja. You can only imagine how it would turn out if the whole population knew about it. We had a cover made for him, when Naruto reaches the right age he will enter the academy and be placed in Iruka's class, that way Iruka can keep an eye on him and his 'education' and the other teachers shouldn't notice anything if he slips up and suddenly exceeds all the other students. Hopefully during the time he goes through the academy peoples opinions of him will change and he won't meet to much opposition. When he graduates I'll be put as his Jounin instructor. It's not a perfect cover but we're working on it as we go, you helped us out a lot by giving Naruto that make-over. We never thought about changing his appearance which is a very important factor for everything to fit."

"So you think Naruto is ready for the Chuunin exams at this age?" Genma asked sceptically. Sure Kakashi had taken the test around that age, everyone knew that, but the test had changed and judging from the fight Genma and Naruto had gotten in he wasn't sure the kid could handle fighting anyone.

" Yeah I do. We have been training him to fight, he's an excellent student and he never gives up." Kakashi replied.

"Getting fighting training and actually fighting are two completely separate things." Genma stressed.

"I know that." Kakashi snapped. "I had a really hard time getting him to fight at his full potential when I first started training him." He sighed and and calmed himself down before he spoke again. "You have to understand that Naruto has been keeping himself in line pretty much his whole life. He's been striving to be this model child who never disobeys or steps out of line because if he makes one wrong step he's convinced that he'll be proving everyone who's ever called him a monster right. Iruka once asked him why he never defended himself when he was being beaten. One of the reasons was because he didn't want to stoop down to their level and that it was unfair to hurt someone weaker than yourself. But the most important reason was that if he hurt them back they would have even more of a reason to hate or fear him. Naruto constantly has to think about how his actions will be interpreted. That's also another reason why I'm very glad that you helped build a cover for Naruto while he staid with you. It helps him get over thinking about what other people think of him, it also gives him a chance to have some kind of a normal childhood."

Kakashi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing his hands together.

"It's the most important thing to work on now. It's going to be hard to get Naruto to change his opinion of himself. From what I've seen when training him, he's not afraid to fight. He's not afraid to get hurt. He's not really afraid to hurt others either. What he is afraid of is himself. Good or bad, enemy or an ally.. Monster or human. Which one is he and which one will he become if he keeps on fighting. These are the only thoughts I've been able to read from him during training."

Kakashi didn't say it but he'd been thinking it for quite some time now as well. He didn't believe Naruto would ever become the demon he contained but what would he turn into if they kept pushing him in this direction. What would he become once he joined the Akutenshi. Kakashi and Iruka hadn't changed all that much but of course it had taken it's toll on them. Little pieces breaking off one by one, too small and far apart to be noticed but clearly visible when you compared the persons they had been then and the persons they were now. Kakashi fought everyday to keep his village safe, his friends and comrades safe and now.. a very important person had to be kept safe as well. Then why.. when he fought so hard to keep peace and life safe.. did he feel so conflicted. Sometimes he felt like a monster himself. He wowed that he would do everything in his power to make sure Naruto would stop feeling like that... would never feel that way again.

Genma was silent for a while. Then he tilted his head slightly to the side, as far as his injuries would let him, and looked at Kakashi. "So you believe that he is ready?"

"Yes I do." Kakashi stated. "And any reluctance that might remain with him by the time he takes the test will hopefully pass away during the examination."

"Well I hope you're right." Genma said as he looked back up at the ceiling. "For his sake I hope you are right."

Kakashi was compelled to agree. There was simply no knowing what was going through the boy's head and though he was almost certain that the boy was ready both mentally and physically there was never really any certainty at all when the blond boy was concerned.

And speaking of the devil. Naruto came ambling into the room, a slight smile on his face.

"Kakashi?" The boy asked thoughtfully.

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed as he stopped staring at Genma and looked over at the boy.

"What made you so worried that your hair turned gray?"

Kakashi stared at the boy for what seemed like forever before his mouth finally supplied him with words. "Eh.. What!" Not very intelligent words but it was something at least. He hadn't been raised to take care of little children at any rate, too busy learning how to kill and survive.

"Iruka said you get gray hairs if you're worried, so you must have been really, really worried about something."

Kakashi looked back at Genma when the man began to chuckle weakly.

"Well you see Naruto, being worried isn't the only way for your hair to turn gray. It can also turn gray if something frustrates you or annoys you very much."

Naruto looked at the silver haired man thoughtfully. "Oh. So what happened to you?"

"I met Iruka."

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Iruka walked nonchalantly through the Hokage tower and up to the leaders office. He waved at Izumo and Kotetsu as he passed by the records room, greeted other chuunins and the occasional jounin who happened to have a child in one of his classes, regular Jounins didn't give him a second glance... mainly because they never gave him a first glance to begin with. When he reached the Hokage's office he gave his secretary his best polite smile as he breezed by her.

Iruka had tea with the Hokage quite often so no-one ever thought twice about why a lowly mission desk chuunin and a school teacher was called to his office so many times. It really had started out with just tea when Iruka was younger and still terrorizing the town with his pranks. Sarutobi, recognizing the pranks as the outcry for attention that they were, decided it would be a good idea to meet with the boy at least once a week to see how he was doing. But when Iruka's talents had become known and with the passing of time the meetings had changed from idle chit chat to mission briefings and reports. Since Iruka handled most of their strategies, and was essentially the brains behind the organization of two, they used this method quite a lot. It was a bit less noticeable for a chuunin to come in and have tea with the Hokage than it was for two men clad in strange looking Anbu gear to come sneaking in.

As Iruka entered the office the leader of the village slowly took a final puff of his pipe before he set it aside.

"You know that's a pretty bad habit." The chuunin told the most powerful Ninja of Konoha. "You really should think about quitting."

Sarutobi smiled. "Unlike what most people would believe there are very few things that make a great leader." He gestured for Iruka to sit down. "Being level headed is one of them."

Iruka waited for a few moments for the man to continue but when he showed no signs of going on he inquired a bit confused. "What has that got anything to do with you smoking."

"The day I go into withdrawal from nicotine is the day this village crashes due to shitty management."

"Ah.." Iruka was still surprised at how essentially normal and good humored the Hokage was at times.

"So..." Sarutobi began lightly. "Tell me what happened." Iruka and Kakashi had already told the Hokage about the essential parts of the mission, which was mostly just that they had gotten the scroll before the enemy had had time to decipher it and that they had run into a slight problem, the full report had had to wait due to the attack on Naruto and Genma.

"I honestly can't tell you what on earth happened." Iruka began. "We went over the place as well as we could. Mapped it out, studied the guards and planned everything perfectly. I've gone over the plan and the events again and as far as I can tell compared to our information and our plans everything should have been perfectly fine." Iruka began rubbing his scar as he made himself more comfortable on the chair.

"The thing that just does not fit in are the guards. They weren't shinobi and therefore had no chakra signature to track and we took that into consideration. There is just no way that they should have known we were there! I was masking my chakra to the point where even Anbu members would have trouble feeling it, not to mention pin pointing it. Of course there is a small chance that someone just happened to spot me but that does not explain how a whole platoon managed to sneak up on me without me feeling a god damn thing!" Iruka finished irritably.

"That does sound rather unlikely." The Third said as he contemplated Iruka thoughtfully. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

Iruka rubbed his scar again, deep in thought. "There is another thing that's bothering me." He began slowly. "Even though they weren't ninja and had no chakra they moved like they'd had years of training as such. No regular guard, no matter how well he is trained, will fight like that. "

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi asked cautiously, eyes locked on his former student.

"I mean." Iruka said quietly. "That apart from the fact that they didn't have any chakra at all they could all have been shinobi at jounin level. The way they fought and moved suggests they've had extensive ninja training. Plus the mistakes they made were strange to say the least, it's like they were going to use chakra but then realized that they didn't have any."

Iruka bent forwards in his chair and regarded the Hokage with serious eyes. "Sarutobi-Sensei. It's like someone had just sealed away all their chakra or something, which is completely impossible because doing so would have killed them."

Silence filled the office as Iruka finished. The two men sat across from each other. Contemplating one another and the younger man's words. Finally the leader of the Leaf village moved, he reached into one of many secret compartments of his desk and pulled out the scroll the Akutenshi had recovered. After pausing slightly to make sure no one would interrupt them he carefully unrolled the old parchment and placed it on the table where both of them could see.

"I'm guessing Kakashi used his Sharingan to examine the guards?"

"Yes. No sign of any chakra what so ever, no chakra points and no chakra passages."

"Strange." The Hokage mumbled as he studied the old scroll. "Very strange."

"So what is this scroll for? Why did they show an interest in it?"

"No one knows." Sarutobi said quietly. "No one besides Orochimaru, it's his research and it's written in a code only he knows."

Iruka looked at the unrolled scroll. The markings on it made no sense to him at all, just a bunch of strange lines and symbols thrown in together to make a whole that could only be read by their creator.

"You think this group could be connected to him then?" Iruka asked.

"No." Sarutobi said. "No I don't believe they were. Not directly at least. This scroll was left behind by Orochimaru along with a lot of other things that he had no use for anymore, which either means he already knew all he needed to know about the subject or it was a lost cause. He has no use for this scroll and wouldn't therefore waste manpower to get his hands on it again."

Iruka sighed. "Well, I could come up with about a hundred theories about the why and the how but without more information nothing is going to come out of this."

"On that matter you are right." The Third agreed. "The only thing we do know is that even though this text is nearly impossible to decipher it is imperative not to let it fall into the wrong hands. Orochimaru wasn't known for working on anything remotely safe or innocent."

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Naruto ran down the hallway from the living room. After more whining about wanting to train Kakashi had finally come up with a fun exercise they could do indoors. First he showed him how to conceal his chakra and after practicing for a while Naruto had started to learn how to do it. After that Kakashi had told him to go and hide somewhere and try to keep his chakra concealed while the man would look for him, after that they were going to switch places and Naruto would have to try to find Kakashi while he was hidden.

So now Naruto was running around trying to find a good place to hide. The kitchen was out because it was only separated from the living room by a low wall so even if Kakashi had his eyes closed he would probably be able to hear him if he tried to hide in there. Both their room and Iruka's didn't have many places to hide, only the big closets in each room but he found both of them a bit too obvious to hide in so he went further down the hall to look for somewhere better. The house was quite big but the ground floor was pretty spacious and therefore had few rooms to choose from. The bathroom only had a shower, a bathtub, the toilet and some small cabinets so there was no place there to hide so Naruto closed the door again.

He looked to his right at the staircase to the upper floor. There was a small door on the side of it leading down to the basement but he wasn't allowed to go down there, it was where Kakashi's and Iruka's actual base of operation was and he'd been told that he was too young to go there yet. He didn't quite understand all the explanations they had used, he didn't quite understand a lot of things about their life or even his own life, but he knew what a secret was and why you sometimes had to keep things hidden from other people so he didn't ask or think much about it. He knew how to keep secrets very well and he'd learned quite early to not ask about things that didn't concern him, people never liked it when he asked about something. When the time came he would know more about it, until then he would just listen to what they said and not go there.

Naruto, on the other hand, had never been told not to go upstairs so he tentatively started climbing them. He knew there wasn't much up there, just a bunch of storage rooms and stuff according to Iruka. Naruto had asked him about it once but, even though he was very curious like most kids his age, he'd never gone there. He never really saw a reason to until now.

At the top of the stairs he entered another hallway, one that was probably right on top of the one on the ground floor. It had two doors on each side and a single one at the very end. Naruto tried the side doors first. The first three rooms were completely empty apart from the built in closets in two of them but, like the once in the rooms down stairs, they looked a bit too obvious to hide in. The fourth room looked promising, it had what looked to be a whole lot of furniture covered with white sheets, so there seemed to be a lot of places he could hide in in there. He decided to check out the last room before he settled on that one though, both to see if it had any better hiding places and also just to see it since he was up here already.

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Kakashi closed his eye and waited for the boy to exit the living room before he opened it again, he wasn't cheating because there was no way he could see the boy once he'd left the room and he'd rather see Genma when he was talking to him. There really was no reason for Naruto not to hear their conversation now but there was also no reason for him to be present so Kakashi decided to use the opportunity he had now to sort this out completely. Although the boy knew very well about the animosity directed towards him he didn't see a reason to remind him of it, plus the boy was looking forward to the exams and he didn't want to dampen his spirits.

"There's another slight problem with Naruto taking the chuunin exams." Kakashi began quietly so Naruto wouldn't accidentally overhear them. When he saw Genma was listening he continued. "The council agreed to let him take it on two conditions. One: he can not be recognized and two: he has to have two teammates with him."

Genma snorted at that, he knew just as much what it meant as Kakashi and Iruka did.

"Yeah I know. Even though not being recognized is best for Naruto and he is required to have two teammates to take the test to begin with it's a bit easier said than done. Of course people are going to notice a five year old taking the exams and even though he is a genin Naruto hasn't finished the ninja academy and therefore isn't a part of a genin team. And it's highly unlikely that two genins are going to be free to go with him."

"Yeah that's true." Genma agreed.

"But we did manage to sort all that out, although we have to bend the rules.. or down right break them.. a little bit to succeed."

Kakashi paused when Genma looked at him with a puzzled look in his eyes but when he said nothing he continued.

"Since Iruka has officially been appointed Naruto's guardian it's not against any rules for him to enter the exams under the Umino name and with some seals it will be possible to change his appearance slightly, we'll be turning his hair brown and darkening his skin color slightly to make him resemble Iruka more. The idea was to pass him off as Iruka's cousin or something like that. Since Naruto's status won't be going into any official records it's not going to be a problem for him to use a different name."

"I assume that's the rule bending." Genma stated. "So what's the rule breaking then?"

"As there is no chance to find two teammates to be on his team, both because like I said it's highly unlikely for two to be available and because even if they were they probably wouldn't be allowed to team up with him, we decided to just make them up."

"Make them up?"

"Me and Iruka will be going as his team. We'll henge into two teenagers and go with him through the first two rounds, after that there is only the one on one fighting left and no need for a team so we'll drop out at that point."

"And the reason for you telling me all this is?" Genma asked. Because Kakashi definitely wasn't the kind of guy who would just go blabbing about breaking international exam rules just to make idle chit chat.

"We need your help." He stated. "There were only three people, besides the council, who knew about Naruto's abilities and that he was going to take the exams. Since me and Iruka will be a part of his team that only left the Hokage to act as a sensei... and there is no way that he can do that. Since you already figured out on your own, about Naruto, you're the best choice that we have right now... well basically the only choice that we have right now because as you know it's very important to keep his abilities hidden and there is no one else we can turn to for help. The exams are in a month and since all you really have to do is just tag along you should have recovered enough by then to do it. So what do you say?"

"I'll say your completely out of your mind to even think about doing all that and if this whole thing ends up blowing in your face I'll be the first one to say 'I told you so!' while we sit rotting away in some dungeon or another."

Genma grinned and Kakashi couldn't help but smile back.

"I see he got you as well." He said softly.

"What do you mean?" Genma asked

Kakashi stood up and prepared to leave the room to go off looking for Naruto. He turned around at the door and looked at injured man on the floor.

"Naruto, apart from being a prodigy, has a rare gift. Be around him long enough and before you know it you're one of his best friends." Before Genma could argue Kakashi continued. "Yes, Naruto is hated. But the reason other people aren't affected by it isn't because they won't let the boy close enough for it to happen.. it's because he won't let them close enough to be affected."

And just before Kakashi walked out of view he said.

"You should count yourself lucky. Even though he is extremely polite and friendly to everyone he's very, very choosy about who he trusts and calls friends... and that's exactly what he views you as now."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Naruto sat it his hiding place, concentrating very hard on keeping his chakra hidden. He wanted to show Kakashi how good he was becoming. He'd never really understood the need to prove himself to anyone. He'd seen kids his age working very hard to accomplish something, had seen their parents smile and compliment them even if they had failed miserably. Naruto had learned pretty early on that no one was ever going to pat him lovingly on the head or give him encouraging words no matter what he did. The only kindness he had received was out of either pity or duty and he often wondered if that kind of acknowledgement was any better than none at all.

"I'm not sure if that's what they are doing." Naruto mumbled seemingly to himself, but the demon inside him stirred. He understood what his kit was talking about. "I don't think they took me in out of pity... duty might be a part of it but I don't get the feeling that it is very often."

The red fox was silent and yet Naruto understood what he was saying perfectly. The so called monster inside him never spoke, the seal was too strong to allow such communication, but somehow their feelings were connected and they could always understand each other.

"They treat me like I belong." The little blond boy whispered. He was sitting underneath a huge desk in the space where the chair was positioned, a row of thick heavy drawers on either side of him and a plank at his back blocking him from view. He liked this room, it was dark and the furniture looked ancient but the row after row of bookcases somehow calmed his mind. Naruto had always liked books. He wondered why this room was never used anymore. The bookcases and all the furniture was covered in dust and he could see some spiderwebs in the corners. It looked like what ever floor material that the room once possessed had been stripped off a long time ago, maybe they had been planning on renovating it in the past. But for now the room was forgotten. Left alone. Untouched for who knew how long.

Naruto envied the room. He'd never wanted attention. Never really craved for affection. Not that he could remember at least. All he ever dreamt of when he was younger was to be left alone. To be given some peace. Because those were the only times no one treated him badly. But lately he didn't want that anymore. He wanted to be noticed. He wanted to be accepted. He had two.. no.. three men he wanted by his side. And although it warmed his unapproachable little heart the thought also chilled him to the bone.

"Will they ever throw me away like this room?" The little boy wondered. The beast stirred again. "What makes you so sure that they won't." The child mumbled quietly.

He was glad Genma had given him a cover. A mask to hide behind. A shield to protect him. If no-one knew the real him they couldn't hurt him. They could pound endlessly against his walls but they'd never get in unless he showed them the door.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Kakashi paused by the stairs. He'd searched the ground floor by sight alone, not focusing his chakra to find the child's because he knew the boy wasn't good enough to mask it from him, probably wouldn't be for years, and he wanted to give the boy some time in order for him to practice holding his chakra in for a long period of time. He knew the boy wasn't in the basement, he never did anything they had told him not to do.

Kakashi looked up at the second floor from where he stood at the bottom of the steps. No one had ever told the boy not to go upstairs. There was no reason to. It was only Kakashi who never went there. Could barely make himself step on the first step of the stairs. He knew what waited for him up there. 'Where is Iruka when you need him.'

The young man let his chakra flow out. Up the stairs. Across the floor. Down the hallway, through every door and into each room. Finding nothing... until he reached the last door. The only place left for the boy to be hiding in. The only place Kakashi couldn't enter.

He paused for a moment, not really knowing what to do. On one hand he had to get Naruto out of there, couldn't just leave the boy alone there for long. But on the other hand he knew he couldn't do it, couldn't face the ghost that waited for him behind that door. So there was only one thing he could do. He focused his chakra, did a few well practiced hand seals, bit his finger and slammed his hand on the floor. There was a puff of smoke before a small brown dog became visible, it had on a blue vest and a ninja headband on his forehead.

Recognizing the nervous smell of his master, he never looked anything but cool and composed but you can't fool a dog's nose, he decided not to grumble at the summons. He might give the brat who raised him shit on a regular basis but he loved him well enough to not kick him when he was down.

"So what is it you want me to do?"

Kakashi bent down and rubbed the dog's head absently. "He's in that room." It wasn't much but the dog understood.

Pakkun followed his master's gaze to the second floor. "Iruka's puppy?" He knew that Iruka would never go in that room himself.

"Yes." Kakashi replied. "And he's a kid not a puppy." He added as an after thought.

"Is there a difference?" The little pug mumbled. "So you want me to get him out?"

Kakashi sat down on the floor in front of the stairs. "I just can't..."

"Mm hmm." Was all the dog said as he started hopping up the steps.

He might not understand human emotions all that well but this he did understand. He'd been a puppy himself when it happened but he still remembered being cuddled up against a young silver haired boy, who had just started concealing his face, as he shook almost every night from some unseen terror. A boy who all too soon had seen bloodshed, had shed other peoples blood, for the sake of a village and for the approval of one man.

A man who had taken his own life in the library of their home and left his blood drained body for his son to find, surrounded by a circle of blood that had soaked into the thick carpet.

He might not understand humans at all, but he knew his own senses.. and he never wanted to see his master go through that again.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Naruto stilled completely when he heard the door creak open. He hadn't heard any footsteps coming down the hall, not that that said much since both Kakashi and Iruka often walked without any sound at all when they were at home. He didn't hear any footsteps after the door opened either but something was there, he could feel it. Not Kakashi. This thing was way to small to be his friend, and it didn't really feel human.

Even though Naruto didn't know how to mask his own chakra, or find anyone who was doing so, he was pretty good at sensing people. It had happened almost by accident a year ago and he'd used it so often since, trying to avoid certain individuals or just people in general, that he had gotten quite good at it. His focus wasn't really good though so when he concentrated all he could sense was the small chakra signature crawling closer across the floor to where he was hiding. Naruto got ready to face what ever it was that was coming. He hunched up, bringing his fists in front of his face. Either to defend or attack.

"I'm not here to hurt you so you can relax." A gruff voice spoke from the side of the desk.

Naruto snapped around to face the direction of the voice. He didn't see anything. "How did you..."

"I might not be able to see you but I can smell you just fine.. and you reek of determination and wariness... Among some other very interesting things." The small pug said as he walked into view.

"You're a dog?" Naruto asked a bit surprised.

Pakkun just rolled his eyes as if he wanted to say that no he was actually a cat, but he let the sarcastic remark slide and instead went with. "Yes, that would be correct."

"Dogs can't talk!" The little blond boy said as he squirmed a little.

It was at a time like this that it was hard being a prodigy Pakkun thought. The boy knew very well that logically dogs should not be able to talk and yet there was still a five year old boy in there as well exclaiming in wonder and excitement over the real thing sitting right in front of him. He'd seen it often enough with his master in the past, when he'd wanted to do something silly like jumping in puddles after the rain but never did because it was beneath him and he knew better than to do something so foolishly pointless.

"Yes, you're absolutely right. Normal dogs don't talk.. but I'm not a normal dog so I don't count."

Naruto squirmed more. Pakkun thought this was very interesting. He could smell the interest the boy had very well and yet he was holding himself back from asking questions or even showing much of an interest at all. This puppy wasn't normal. Dogs were very good judges of character and even though he could feel that this pup was as good as they got there was something dark in him as well.

To help the boy out a bit he answered the unasked question. "I'm a ninja summons, which makes me a ninken not a regular dog. Kakashi trained me to speak so I'd be able to carry messages."

"Kakashi can summon you?" The puppy asked him. If the dog could smile he would be doing so now. This young pug was so much like his master, he looked like he wasn't interested in him at all but the smell gave him away.

"Yes he can, he wanted me to come and get you."

"Why didn't he come himself? He's supposed to find me himself."

Pakkun paused, this was probably something he shouldn't be sticking his paws in. "He'll tell you when you get down stairs." Not that the dog had any idea if his master would or not, he'd be long gone before the puppy got downstairs.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It wasn't until that evening though that Kakashi gave Naruto an honest explanation of why he hadn't come to get him himself.

The boy had paused on the stairs as he was coming down them and for a while all they did was look at each other. The man sitting on the floor and the little boy standing on the stairs. That was how Iruka found them when he got home from his meeting with the Hokage and without any explanation he knew what must be going on. He might not be able to read either of his two companions but he'd lived with Kakashi long enough to come up with some pretty good guesses, plus all the evidence he needed was standing right in front of him.

"Naruto." He said gently to the boy. "This is your home and you are allowed to go anywhere you want in it except for the basement." The little blond head turned and those gentle blue eyes were directed at him.

"But why.."

"Kakashi never goes to the second floor." Iruka cut in before the boy could finish. "He has his reasons to but that does not mean that you can't go up there. You didn't do anything wrong."

Naruto had seemed content with that and had descended the rest of the stairs, stopping in front of Kakashi. "You cheated." He half whined. "You used a dog to find me."

Kakashi smiled at that. "No I didn't, I knew exactly where you were and sent a dog up to get you not to find you."

They had just crawled onto their futon and Naruto was squirming about trying to find a comfortable place on Kakashi to snuggle up to. Once the boy settled down he looked up at him, yet again with an unreadable look on his face.

Kakashi sighed as he put his arm around the child and closed his eyes. After what seemed like eternity he whispered the words. Recounted a small fraction of a memory he never wanted to remember.

"My father died in the library. I found him two days later when I came home from a mission."

Not a word was spoken after that, but both man and boy held one another just a little bit tighter that night. And for the first time in a while Kakashi couldn't feel his hands shaking.