Note: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 1: Decision of a lifetime

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting in the Hokage's office and let out a long sigh while looking out the window. Even though it was already 4 o'clock in the morning the entire village of Konoha was still wide awake. Several hours earlier the village was attacked by the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox and though the battle was short many people died in the attack and there was a lot of damage. Even now there were still several fires around the larger civilian areas and all shinobi were hard at work putting them out with water-based ninjutsu.

Officially it was labeled a natural disaster, but he knew where the Kyuubi really came from of course. It escaped from its imprisonment when Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of his successor Minato Namikaze and the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, underwent childbirth. For the last couple of weeks he and Minato went over the possibility of the seal loosening and how to prevent it from happening. It seemed however that their precautions weren't good enough and the demon managed to escape after all, killing its container in the process. Alongside Kushina his own wife Biwako, who acted as the midwife, and several of the most senior ANBU also died. He could still feel the terrible killing intent and power from the beast when it attacked Konoha and he could only imagine what his wife must have felt when it escaped and attacked them at point blank range. His only solace is that the Kyuubi would have killed them quickly and saw no point in making them suffer.

After the beast escaped however it made a straight line for Konoha itself and launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night. Its first target happened to be a very large civilian area since it was located in the center of the city while most of the ninjas live in their respective clan-compounds and apartments closer to the edge. It took several minutes before most shinobi were ready to counter-attack. But even that would have been a futile attempt had it not been for the fourth Hokage. After several minutes of desperately trying to stop the beast without much success the Fourth himself appeared on the battlefield alongside his summon Gamabunta the chief toad. He managed to teleport the beast away from the city and seal it away in his new-born son Naruto, thereby saving the town. Unfortunately he himself died in the summoningprocess in what looked like the Kyuubi's claw penetrating his upper torso as its last act of defiance before it was sealed away inside Naruto.

That was the scene he and two of his ANBU guards found when they reached the safehouse Minato teleported the Kyuubi to. So with Minato dead and no successor ready to take his place Hiruzen found himself once again in his old office with a baby in his arms and a village in despair demanding actions to be taken. That's why he ordered the ANBU to inform all clan-leaders and the elders that there would be an emergency meeting of the council to decide the future of Konoha and little Naruto, who was now sound asleep in his arms, unaware of the events which would now forever be associated with his birthday.

"I demand that you kill that demon!" said the representative of the civilian population. He looked at Naruto, still asleep despite the rather loud noises in the meeting room, with utter disgust in his eyes.

"Naruto himself is not the Kyuubi, but merely its container" Sarutobi tried to explain for the hundredth time that night, "and I will not tolerate killing innocent babies".

"The Kyuubi is too dangerous, we cannot risk it escaping again! Killing its container is the only way to destroy it for good" yelled the representative, wondering why the Hokage couldn't see reason.

"The seal of the fourth Hokage will hold the Kyuubi back! I can assure you there is no danger of it escaping again. We will not kill Naruto and that is final." The third said while slamming his hand on the table, making it clear that the topic was hereby closed.

"What do you suggest we do about little Naruto then?" asked Shibi Aburame in the calm and logical tone his clan was known for. "Does he have parents or legal guardians to take him in?"

"No, his parents died in the attack today and he has no other family." the Third answered vaguely, not wanting to reveal exactly who his father was.

"We can't put him in the orphanage, he's too dangerous. I refuse it!" said the civilian representative, still not entirely convinced that a simple seal can hold back a tailed beast.

For the next two hours the council debated several possibilities but all of them were shot down for various reasons. Getting adopted by a civilian family was impossible. Almost everyone lost someone in the attack and nobody would want to adopt the very demon they deemed responsible for it. The clans, while more convinced of the notion that Naruto himself wasn't a demon, weren't really willing to adopt him either. For one it would be obvious he was adopted since he wouldn't have the clan's bloodline and thus be unable to use any of their techniques. They also feared the backlash their clan would receive if they adopted a jinchuuriki, though none of them said that aloud of course. Danzo was willing to raise the child and insisted on turning him into a human weapon like Han and Roshi, the two jinchuuriki from Iwa or Killer B, the jinchuuriki from Kumo had been in the last war. However the Third was heavily against this idea and insisted that Naruto would not be raised as an emotionless puppet, he was supported by many of the clan heads in this decision.

The meeting was reaching a stalemate until suddenly a voice spoke up: "Perhaps I can offer a solution?"

The room was instantly silenced and everyone looked around trying to find the source of the words until they noticed it was one of the ANBU that spoke up. This shocked them since the ANBU, though present at every meeting for security reasons, never once interfered. Most had even forgotten they were even there since they usually stood at the side blending in with the shadows.

The Third looked at the ANBU that spoke up, a man wearing a mask with a dragon motive, and recognized him as Ryu the new commander of the ANBU. The previous commander Phoenix alongside 4 of his 5 captains were assigned as one of the guardians of Kushina and were amongst the first to die by the Kyuubi's hands and Ryu, the fifth captain and now the highest in rank, was named as the new commander despite his young age.

"Very well, come forward and explain yourself" ordered the Hokage wondering what the new ANBU commander had to say.

"Yes, lord Hokage." Ryu said while bowing politely and stepping forward.

"I propose that Naruto Uzumaki will be placed in the ANBU headquarters were he will be raised and supervised by the ANBU during his childhood." Ryu said quickly coming to the point.

"What!" the shock was clearly written on the face of everyone in the room, including the other ANBU who were now beginning to question the sanity of their new commander.

"Allow me to explain my reasons" Ryu said without flinching, "I can assure you I did not propose this lightly."

"Please explain your reasons for this most unorthodox proposal" Shikaku Nara said, having deemed this whole meeting too troublesome after debating for two hours.

"Of course" Ryu continued in his still calm voice. "The civilians demand that the jinchuuriki is put under heavy surveillance do they not? To make sure the Kyuubi never escapes again?" he asked this to the representative of the civilian council who answered with a quick yes. "Well then, what better place than the middle of ANBU headquarters? He will be surrounded at all times by dozens of highly classed ninjas who can interfere immediately should he start to lose control and are skilled enough to kill him it ever becomes necessary. If the seal ever breaks we can react immediately and stop the Kyuubi from attacking the village again." The civilian representative had nothing to say against that and only nodded his head towards the masked man.

"Lord Danzo" he said next, turning towards the heavily bandaged council member, "you deem that Naruto should be trained in the way of the ninja so that he may become an asset to our village correct?". The older man only nodded in response. "Well since he will be trained by the ANBU we can guarantee that he will receive the very best training a young ninja can hope for." Danzo scoffed at that idea. He was sure that his own Root organization would be more suited to prepare the boy than the ANBU were, but since Root officially didn't exist anymore he couldn't bring that up in a council meeting. So he reluctantly agreed that the ANBU were the best this village had to offer.

"And finally Lord Hokage" he said while turning towards the Third Hokage, "we can assure you that Naruto will be protected by the very best of this village. No one will harm him during our watch and he will be allowed to experience as normal a childhood as is possible for someone in his position."

"Does anyone have any objections to this proposal?" the Third asked to the people around the meeting room, "if not then I decree that Naruto Uzumaki will now be placed under the care and protection of the ANBU. You are dismissed".

The other members of the council left the room one by one until only the Third, Ryu and Naruto, still asleep, remained. "Ryu," the Hokage suddenly said, "why are you doing this?"

"Sir? I already explained the logic behind my proposal" Ryu answered. "Yes, and you did a fine job of convincing the other members with it. But I sense there is another reason you're not telling me. So once again: why are you doing this?"

Ryu remained silent for a while until he finally spoke up: "It is Kushina, sir."

"Kushina Uzumaki?" the Third asked, starting to see where this was going. "I was her old teammate, before she got married and retired." Ryu answered. "I couldn't just sit back while the council debated about killing her son. My apologies for lying to you and the council sir."

"No, it's alright," Sarutobi let out a small smile while he said this, "to be honest I'm starting to see more and more merit to the idea. I'll give you a week to make the preparations, and then I'll leave Naruto in your care." "Yes lord Hokage I will begin immediately." Ryu said as he bowed and returned to the ANBU headquarters.

"So it's babysitting?" asked Salamander, one of the newly appointed captains of ANBU.

"We are tasked with taking care of the new jinchuuriki of the nine-tails and to guarantee his safety as well as make sure the seal will hold" Ryu explained.

"But this Naruto, he is still a baby right?"

"He is a newborn, yes"

"And we have to feed him, change his diapers, make sure he sleeps and watch over him at night?"

"That is how one generally takes care of a baby" Ryu said.

"So it's babysitting?" Salamander asked again.

"yes", Ryu let out a sigh as he surrendered the point, "during the first 5 years of his life we will for all intents and purposes be nothing more than babysitters. Afterwards we are responsible for his training until he graduates and becomes a genin."

"Why are we responsible? Just let the academy handle him" Hawk, another newly appointed captain said.

"Don't be ridiculous! You know damn well that without specialized training at home it is near impossible to pass the academy by yourself. The low number of successful civilian ninjas is all the proof you need. There is a reason that 80 percent of our forces come from established clans even though the clans are only 10 percent of our population!" Ryu said. "Besides, it is crucial to the safety of the village that Naruto learns how to handle all the extra energy the Kyuubi will give him. His chakra network is already as big as that of a three year old and you just can't learn that level of control in the academy."

"I still don't like it," Salamander said, "I didn't join the ANBU so I could do goddamn babysitting missions again! This is a D-rank mission for crying out loud, let the genin handle it."

"It also an order from both the Hokage and the council, so you will do what you are told." Ryu said making it clear he didn't want to discuss it any further. "besides, it might be a D-rank in nature but we are getting full-time A-rank pay for it so stop complaining. We can use the extra funds."

"So how will we do this then?" asked Deer, one of the two female captains alongside Crab. "We can't exactly let a baby sleep in the barracks can we?"

"Officially the Hokage gave him apartment 101 of 'The Iceberg', which means that as far as official channels are involved Naruto will be living by himself." Ryu said. "And since he will be a tenant of 'The Iceberg' he is of course allowed to use its public facilities including the library, training rooms, blacksmith and lounge. The barracks themselves and the meeting rooms are off limits however, since those officially don't exist unless you actually join ANBU."

"So he will stay in 'The Iceberg' but he won't actually join ANBU?" Deer asked. "Of course not! He's a baby for crying out loud! In what universe does having a child join ANBU make any sense? He won't just magically become Jonin-level because we train him for a while." Ryu said, while starting to lose his patience with his new captains and their stupid questions.

Everyone thought about that for a bit. 'The Iceberg' was the unofficial nickname of the headquarters of the ANBU forces, named because over two thirds of its content was hidden below the surface. Officially it was just a regular apartment complex owned by the village and overseen by the current Hokage. Unofficially however it housed the living quarters of the ANBU force alongside plenty of training areas and other facilities, most of which were hidden below the surface. Never before had an outsider seen the true inside of The Iceberg, let alone been given a permanent room there. To say they were shocked at the news of their new neighbour would be an understatement.

"Anyway, as for the schedule: each team will be responsible for Naruto for one week before the next team takes over. The order will be: 'team Salamander', 'team Hawk', 'Team Wolf', 'Team deer' and 'Team Crab'. Afterwards Salamander's turn begins again. Since Naruto won't actually arrive for another week Salamander's first task is to make sure apartment 101 is prepared. Any questions?" Ryu gave everyone their orders and his 5 captains left the room to inform their team of the new "mission" they were assigned.

One week later the Hokage entered the Iceberg with a sleeping baby in his arms to take him to his new home. He hoped he made the right decision for Naruto's future. After they left two members of team Hawk entered the room and started their first watch. Little did they know that the ANBU would never be the same again for years to come...

a/n:

Like Ryu already explained to his captains with their stupid questions:

Naruto will not join ANBU! (idk, maybe when he is an adult but definitely not as a 6 year old like other stories do, that's just retarded)

Naruto will not be ridiculously overpowered or Jonin-level at age 12. He will be a decently trained Genin (think on par with Sasuke) and be more "professional" instead of running head first into things. But in raw power he won't fight harder, just smarter. ;)

While this won't be an AU and everything will be canon I do plan to let small changes pile quite high so expect quite some deviation from the regular "Zabuza - chuunin - Sasuke escapes - timeskip" pattern. Though not too big a deviation either.

On that note: the first part of this chapter is what Hiruzen "thinks" happened. He doesn't know about Tobi so he can't talk about him. Before complaining about deviating from canon, that is the reason.

And lastly: I don't plan on using OCs in this story at least not as main characters. Ryu (his codename) is just a necessary evil since Kakashi is to young to be a realistic head of ANBU yet (He is 16 at this point in time) and he also doubles as a plot-device to allow the deviation to happen.

Anyway the next update will be on Monday the 28th of May 2012 at some point during the day.

please R&R