[Hiruzen's Office]
It was late afternoon, it had been a few hours after Hiruzen met with the Yamanaka clan head. He was in the room smoking his pipe and watching his crystal ball. He had just seen the attack on Naruto. For a second, he had been worried but his worries vanished when Neko came to Naruto's aid.
'That attack was not anyone from the civilian council, Kakashi's team has an eye on them. I would have known if one of them planned some of them. Who could it be?... One of the clans?... it might be one of their members but the clan heads would not have ordered something like this... Danzo?... possible but unlikely, the plan was too sloppy for it to be him..... might just be someone who holds a grudge. Neko's report should have more information. ' Hiruzen thought.
[Undisclosed Location]
[Undisclosed Location]
Deep beneath Konoha, silence hung heavily in the stone corridors of Root Headquarters.
Danzo Shimura sat motionless in his chair, his visible eye fixed on the darkness ahead.
A masked shinobi knelt before him.
"The attack failed."
It was neither a question nor an accusation.
"Yes, Lord Danzo."
"The target survived."
"The ANBU intervened."
Danzo remained silent.
After several moments, he asked,
"The assailant?"
"Dead."
"No identifying equipment remained."
Danzo closed his eye briefly.
"So Hiruzen has learned."
"Most likely."
A faint tap echoed as Danzo's cane struck the floor.
"As expected."
The room fell silent once more.
"The Hokage will tighten security."
"The child will no longer have only one escort."
"Likely an ANBU team."
The Root shinobi remained still.
Danzo finally stood.
"Hiruzen believes he is protecting the boy."
He turned toward the dimly lit map of Konoha mounted on the wall.
"He is merely reacting."
"Tell Team 3 to report to me immediately." Danzo said to the masked shinobi and he flickered away.
[Hokage Office]
".....Lord Hokage the kunai was thrown with the intent to kill, it was aimed straight for his heart, Gojo just happened to bend a bit just at the right time and the kunai hit his shoulder." Cat finished explaining the attack on Naruto.
'Could Naruto have reacted to kunai?....no probably not he is only four.' Hiruzen thought.
"I understand. What of the assailant?" Hiruzen asked.
"..... Sir I tried to trace that assailant, but I could find no trace of them." Neko said sounding a little defeated. This surprised the old hokage.
'If it was just another shinobi we would have caught him or at least found a trace..... could it be that someone got to him first?... but that would require quite the skilled shinobi to erase any trace of what happened... or it could be a rogue shinobi that got away?.... but that would be quite a dangerous shinobi to just disappear without a trace.' Hiruzen thought trying to figure out what he was dealing with.
'There is someone behind the scenes and Naruto is important to their goals that much is certain.' Hiruzen concluded in his mind.
"That is fine. Cat, I am assigning you an A-rank mission, you will be the team leader, pick two other members, one has to be a sensor, and the other one a specialist at defensive jutsu.Both of them have to be from the anbu. Your mission will be to protect Naruto, and his safety will be your only priority for at least the next two weeks. Is that clear?" Hiruzen asks.
"Yes sir."Cat says her voice filled with determination.
[Couple hours later]
Hiruzen is sitting in his office, doing paperwork as usual. Then the door opened and a blonde man walked through the door. Seeing him Hiruzen signaled his anbu to leave.
"Lord Hokage I am here to report on Gojo." Inoichi says after entering the office. Hiruzen motioned him to sit down. Inoichi sat down and explained his encounter with the 4-year old to the old Hokage.
"I started off by introducing myself to him and he did the same. He was wary of me at first but he calmed down a bit after I started talking to him. There were times when he would look back and see where 'Cat' was. He felt a lot more secure when she was also in the room with us, so I let her stay. After about half an hour or so he was a lot more comfortable and we could converse better." he said.
The Hokage listened intently not missing a single word.
"He is a wary and cautious child, it borders paranoia. Though that will change over time as he has more positive interactions."
"The boy is very intelligent, he learned to read on his own by listening to adults read to stories to children at the orphanage and reading books at the library. He is very diligent and observant. He is like any other kid very curious about the world around him. His hobby is to spend hours on end in the Konoha library, learning new things."
"Whenever the topic of the orphanage would come up, everything about him would change, his face would become expressionless. He would either just not say anything and stare at me or speak in an apathetic tone."
"When I tried asking him about his injuries and burn mark his body stiffened for a second and then his shoulders drooped. He looked down at his knees and his hands started fidgeting. He never said how he got them or who caused it, he just said that he fell down the stairs. Talking about them made him very uncomfortable."
"When I tried talking to him about the people that attacked him. He was surprised that I knew about it but then his face lost all expression and he spoke in that apathetic tone again."
"It is only my first meeting with him but in my opinion, he is apathetic towards the people who have wronged him. He is almost incapable of feeling anything towards them. It is probably a coping mechanism, he subconsciously does not like to think about them and the things they did, so he feels nothing towards them and thus does not need to think about them."
"But he is also ashamed of the scars on his body, he does not like to talk about them but they are certainly a subject of shame for him and he would rather lie about how he got them or talk about them than tell us the truth. "
"After this, I tried to change the subject and talk about the library. When we started to talk about the library, he was very excited and told me about all the books he read and the new things he learned. After talking for a while, he admitted that it was the first time someone spoke to him and listened to what he was saying."
"The village is simply... irrelevant to him. He has had very few positive interactions with the villagers, me being one of them. I would say that making some friends and socializing will be important for him. Other than that I would like to have a session with him every month." Inoichi said.
"Hmm... I understand, but on the condition that I also listen in, I want to know how their son is doing." the old Hokage said and the clan head nodded.
[With Naruto]
Naruto was walking back home after talking to Inoichi, he was quite happy it was the first time he had such a long conversation with anybody. It felt really nice when someone wanted to talk to him and listen to what he was saying. Although it was a bit awkward and first and uncomfortable when Inoichi asked about the orphanage, they got through it quickly.
'That old man was awesome.... I hope I get to talk to him again sometime.' Naruto thought as he skipped through the streets. He could feel the stares and some glares but he was too happy to care about that right now.
'Maybe I should get some ramen...' Naruto thought as he suddenly became even happier than before.
[Root Base]
A second Root operative appeared.
"Team Three."
The operative knelt immediately.
"Your assignment is reconnaissance."
"You are not to engage the target."
"You are not to engage the ANBU."
"If discovered..."
"You were never there."
"Understood."
The operative disappeared without another word.
A third masked shinobi entered.
Without turning around, Danzo spoke.
"The rumors."
"They continue to spread."
"See that they reach the appropriate ears."
The operative bowed.