Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza

Chapter 31: Recruitment

Naruto enjoyed his sleep in the next morning. Almost as soon as the exams had finished, the boy had been whisked away to Konoha's Department of Intelligence. Although it hadn't been played up at the time, the suicide bombing within the Chunin Exams had sent alarm bells ringing, and Naruto was forced to spend the next two hours recounting his past movements to a squad of very tough-looking interrogators. As much his recent training was classified, it hadn't really been helping his case. Nonetheless, there were some perks to being the Hokage's personal aide, and the Third Hokage himself had come down for a brief moment and released him.

Then he had left just as quick as he had come, citing an emergency meeting with the Fourth Kazekage.

Naruto had gone home and crashed down on his bed as soon as he could. He enjoyed his slumber, and arose at six in the morning. He quietly dressed and checked the Hokage's Master Bedroom. The old man had been punctual that day- Naruto would have been quite surprised if Sarutobi had gotten up to his regular antics given the high number of VIPs visiting Konoha- so the blond ANBU was free to make his way into the kitchen.

He paused at the doorway. Sitting at the table, staring blankly down at his food, was Konohamaru. Naruto watched the despondent boy for a few moments, and then deliberately let his feet scuff on the floor as he entered. Konohamaru jerked his head up as Naruto entered, the Jinchuuriki ignoring the young Sarutobi as he organised his own breakfast. Then, Naruto took a seat at the table opposite of the boy.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked quietly.

Konohamaru gave half a shrug. "Alright," he mumbled. He toyed with his food.

"You did well yesterday," Naruto praised. Konohamaru snorted, and Naruto raised an eyebrow. "No, really, you did."

"It was stupid," Konohamaru whispered. He clenched his fists, his knuckles white. "The strategy with the monkey- that was just stupid. No wonder I didn't win. I'm an idiot. I'm good at nothing."

Naruto was biting into an apple, and he toyed with it for a few moments. Then, he chucked it at Konohamaru's head. The boy reacted quickly, jerking his head to the side and letting the piece of fruit whiz past, slamming on the sink with a loud thud. Konohamaru turned back to Naruto, an indignant look on his face, but the ANBU was already biting into a second piece of fruit.

"For somebody who says they're not good at anything, you've got some pretty good reflexes," Naruto said from around his apple. "And I can't think of many eight-year-olds that could have done what you did at the exams. I wouldn't have been able to."

"Please," Konohamaru scoffed, and there was a touch of bitterness in his voice. "You're Uzumaki Naruto. You can do anything. No wonder the old man..." he trailed off.

"I couldn't have done what you did at your age," Naruto repeated quietly. He put his apple down on the table, and stared intently at Konohamaru. "Take the compliment, you brat." Then, standing, he began to leave the table.

He paused at the doorway and spoke without turning.

"Besides, it's obvious that the old man favours you the most," he said quietly.

Konohamaru jerked at that. "What?" he asked stupidly.

"If he didn't, he wouldn't let you enjoy your childhood," Naruto continued. He turned his head, smiling politely. "If he really didn't favour you, you'd have ended up like me. Think about that."

"But I want to be strong like you!" Konohamaru protested, jumping to his feet.

"No," Naruto whispered. The sound of rattling chains filled his ears. "You really don't."

Naruto spent most of his morning at the office. Despite the Chunin Exams, business had continued to run as usual in the village of Konoha. The Missions Assignments desk continued to pick up clients and send out teams of shinobi, however, without a senior official from the Hokage's office there, a lot of paperwork had built up. Naruto had the clearance needed to sort through a lot of the nonsense, and he did so. As the Chunin around him worked busily, and amidst the chatter and laughter of the clientele, Naruto tuned them all out as he signed through wads of paperwork.