Professional... otaku?

Checkup

After Elma's weird visit Dix took a short nap to regain his mental prowess after the exhausting chakra exercise. Then he got fed and took another nap. Right after he took another nap as he was tired out because of sleeping all day. Thus, another day has passed. The next day he tried to divert a bit of energy from his chakra stream, which mostly resulted in utter failure. Kids usually start learning this when they enter the ninja academy of the village at around 8 years of age. With Dix being a 2 days old infant trying something like this is a bit of a stretch. He could barely feel something coming along, so he thought he just needs more time to practice, and if he had something he lacked none of, it was time.

He was heavily immersed in the practice, when, just like yesterday, he got interrupted by the entrance of not just Elma, but two other person at her side as well. They were the only humans he had ever seen except Elma and the blurried bodies of Minato and Kushina. Upon closely inspecting their faces he had to realize that he didn't know them, never seen them before and probably never will, as they never appeared in the anime, meaning they either die before that or they had no roles around Naruto whatsoever. They were a male and female, the man was covered by a lab coat, the woman had the usual getup of a senior ninja of the village.

The first to talk was the ninja woman. "Is this the one?"

"Yes, he is. Please be gentle, even though he is the host and is usually quiet, he is still just a newborn." came then answer from Elma.

The kunoichi (female ninja) started making his way towards Dix with purposeful steps and a strong sense of duty glistering in her eyes. "Obviously." she said in a low voice.

The man on the other hand didn't seem so eager, he just let the woman ahead and kept standing around near the door with his right hand raised to scratch the back of his head with an annoyed expression on his face. "Let's get this over with, got a ton of work ahead of me." At this remark both women looked at him with disagreeing eyes and a frown on their faces. "What... I really have important stuff to do...".

From that on he was mostly ignored. The kunoichi turned back to Dix and stepped even closer, now he was in arms reach. Dix had no idea what was coming so he just lay there, like always. Even if he wanted to, he had no means to resist whatsoever. The woman reached out to Dix and put her hand on his chest-area. Dix could feel the invading energy getting past his skin trough the physical connection they had. It started, probably, scanning his body from top to bottom. The energy was warm and caring, it even took extra caution around his organs and the seal. It took quite a while, but Dix just stayed silent and kept staring at the woman's focused face. At the end she stepped back and looked at the 'scientist'.

"I'm done, nothing out of the ordinary. The Nine Tails really is a beast though. I can feel the its overwhelming power even trough the seal. Be absolutely sure not to make any mistakes."

"Yeah, yeah, roger that little missy." he said even though he looked barely older than his partner. She was annoyed for sure, hearing the nonchalant answer coming from someone like him.

The man stepped forward to take the place of the kunoichi. This time he put his hand on Dix's stomach, right above the seal. The man wasn't even willing to look at him before closing his eyes and rapidly expanding his chakra around the seal. In stark contrast to his partner, the man's 'intent' was cold and calculating in nature. His actions seemed careless, but in reality he did his job fast and precisely. This took even more time then the body-scan from before, even though the surface covered was smaller, the process had to be carried out extremely cautiously and meticulously while checking multiple layers and other auxiliary functions. After finishing the probing energy retreated as fast as it came and the man turned around and headed to the door.

"Even though I'm impressed by the fact the Fourth managed to pull a seal up with such complexity while being impaled on a huge-ass claw, I wasn't really needed for this, even my assistant could tell you the seal is working fine and is in a good condition, now if you'll excuse me..."

"If the beast were to escape you couldn't stand up against him, could you? You should rather be happy you can help now when you are still somewhat useful." came the retort from the ninja woman. The man was already at the door reaching for the door knob when the words reached him and made him slightly twitch. He looked back at the woman. For a second of glaring he just released a troubled sigh and opened the door to leave, without dropping any remarks.

The woman just shook her head a bit with a youthful smile on her face and followed the man. They had to report their findings together, maybe he will be a bit more bearable after the exchange. At least for the time being. Just a second after they left, Elma let out a sigh of relief while letting go of the awkward smile she had on her face trough the whole procedure. Remembering her duty she quickly closed on Dix to check if he needed anything, and after confirming the time he last got fed, she hastily left the room to get a bottle of milk.

Dix himself had no idea what happened in the last 1,5-2 hours. He could still not talk Japanese, so he could only try and draw conclusions from what he perceived. This was helluva annoying for him and he wanted to get on top of this problem as soon as possible, but for now he just wanted to get back to practicing his chakra control.

He was about to dive back in when some sort of premonition made him look towards the door. He though he would just find it closed like it always is, but not this time. It seems like Elma, in her hurry, absentmindedly left the door open, and now he could see the head of someone in it. Only the top half of the head was visible, a bit of the nose, a pair of deep crimson eyes and a good chunk of long black hair dangling below it. Most notably they had a genin headband of konoha on their forehead. Dix could feel a sense of familiarity but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He tried to push himself out so he can take a better look at the figure who, after a second of hesitation, managed to find the courage to enter the room which has been barred from entering for anyone except a few chosen individuals.

Now as Dix could see who was standing in the door in their entirety, he saw a young and petite girl, with the previous description and a fine dress on her body. He was wrecking his brain to remember who that was, and soon it came to him, he was struck by a bolt of realization. He knew exactly who this girl is.

*This is Kurenai! What is she doing here?! She is really young at this point of time, what business does she have around here, of all places? This is an orphanage!*

She took only a single step into the room with a flustered face, looking around and being visibly anxious about something. She gathered a bit more courage and looked intently at Dix and started speaking quickly, but quietly.

"I... I know this is pointless, but I still want to say sorry we couldn't help your parents, our seniors forbid us to take part in the fight, and they were right, we are too weak as we are to fight, and you have to suffer because of our incompetence. I'm really sorry. " She bowed a bit before silently rushing out of the chamber.

Dix could only lie there with a blank expression and see the girl swiftly leave. After a few moments he turned back towards the ceiling and started focusing inward, like nothing happened.

*Wonder what she said, maybe when I grow up I'll still be able to remember...*

Kurama on the other hand barely looked up from his lying position in the seal. He was taking it easy and laze around as not much was happening. Its definitely not unusual the humans would check the host for complications, so he just ignored that. The more interesting happened right before that, when the child had some mild disturbances in its chakra... Maybe thats why the humans decided to check on him. Kurama was sure its nothing, so he just went back to sleep right away.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Seems like Hiruzen is pretty bad at keeping secrets, even the kids know about Dix/Naruto by now.

You find the official discord for the novel here: https://discord.gg/XCEDp7H9tA