The shadows

ch2

One year later

Naruto knew something was wrong when he was given to Danzo after his first few weeks in hospital. He didn't remember much from that time since he did his best to sleep as possible. When he wasn't sleeping, he would often meditate and spend time with sleeping Kurama.

The fox spent most of his energy keeping Naruto's body intact, so he was always tired and asleep. Naruto would mostly lean against his sides, trying to plan for the future. He knew that being with ROOT was a massive opportunity for him.

While he had to be careful with his skills and knowledge, he knew that he could pass himself as a prodigy by learning skills at an extraordinary rate once he began training.

All he had to do was to wait to be shown something once. Plus, when they teach him reading and writing, he could find a library and have a good excuse for his skills. But he also knew that he shouldn't reveal much to Danzo.

All he needed to do was act as an obedient and trustworthy soldier. Once he had Danzo's trust, he could prevent many events such as the Uchiha massacre or all the other plots, such as the attack on chunin exams.

Plus, once he was trusted, his movements wouldn't be monitored as heavily, and he could have the freedom to change things from the shadow. He was already making plans to take over the ROOT, and once everything was over, he could finally disband it.

During his first year of life, there wasn't much he could do. There wasn't much he could do other than learning basic skills faster than any baby should. He first started crawling, and by the time he was eight months old, he could already walk a few steps.

Now that he was one year old, he could walk short distances, and combined with crawling; it was enough to get him to different places. He also started his first words at eight months, and now, even though he was capable, he limited his speech to one to two-word sentences.

He was mostly in a simple white room with a ROOT medic. His crib was on one side, and there were a variety of educational puzzles and toys on the shelves inside. There was also a rug in the middle to play on and a chair for the medic's use. There was also a baby chair for him to eat on, and there was a door leading to a small bathroom.

The medics shift would change every 12 hours. During the day, the medic was also responsible for teaching him. There were various books that they would read to teach him speech, and while playing, they would monitor his progress with different objects.

The medics never showed any emotions. When he was first brought to the room, he could sense their confusion about why he never cried. Naruto was bored and wanted to mess with them, so he didn't show any emotions and always stayed silent unless he needed something or was asked a question.

The only visitors he had were the Hokage and Danzo. The Hokage would visit him weekly and spend some time with him. He would often read him a book or talk to him, Danzo. On the other hand, he would check on him daily.

He would often enter the room and ask the medic for a report, then watch him play or do other activities for a while and leave. When his chakra finally stabilized, they began his training two months ago.

It wasn't anything complex. They would get him to walk for a while and do other small activities to improve mobility. They would also teach him some basic flashcards and other methods to stimulate his memory.

Today was his first birthday, and he was supposed to spend the day with the Hokage. He was currently sitting on a small mat they put there to play with some blocks.

He was bored, but there wasn't anything else to do. The secretary asked the Hokage to step out for a while since he had an important meeting with a client in the other room. The ANBU were currently watching over him from their hiding spots.