There weren't many things that could shake Sarutobi Hiruzen to his core.

At eighty years old, he'd seen Konoha being built from the ground up.

He was part of the first generation of Konoha shinobi, honored to serve under both the First and Second Hokage, who had trained him personally.

Eventually, he became the Third Hokage.

Hiruzen had lived through the First, Second, and Third Shinobi Wars, leading Konoha for decades since taking over after the deaths of the First and Second Hokage.

He thought he'd seen it all.

But yesterday, Dragon's—no, Kagami's—repetition of Iruka's words was something else entirely.

The idea that the most secure place in Konoha had been compromised was indeed concerning.

But what truly unsettled Hiruzen was Kagami's inability to speak about it, not even resorting to genjutsu if a traitor was nearby.

Why?

Hiruzen couldn't sleep last night, his mind consumed by these thoughts alongside the anxiety about how Naruto would be with him.

The Hokage sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping.

He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the tension that had settled there.

Hiruzen had lied for so long, justifying the secret with increasingly flimsy reasons.

He knew the truth would one day be revealed to the boy, but he had hoped... for something.

Maybe his old masked friend was right. Maybe age had made him cowardly. Hiruzen sighed again.

No, not age.

Age was an excuse.

A part of him had always been like this.

He could lead and fight a war, slaughter countless souls, but when it came to people he was attached to, he couldn't face his mistakes.

Tsunade, Orochimaru, his son, and now Naruto.

A growing list of people he had been too afraid to face, for various reasons.

He just hoped Naruto would only be angry with him.

He couldn't take it if the boy decided to hate him.

Hiruzen leveled a glare at the dragon-masked shadow standing in the corner of his office.

All because some rowdy subordinate had seen fit to talk. Despite the mask, the Hokage could feel the commander glaring back.

The two old men locked eyes in a staring contest.

It was heavily in favor of the cloaked man, as glaring at a blank mask was incredibly jarring.

Hiruzen averted his gaze first and sighed.

"I would like to apologize for earlier," the old man breathed out, like someone had ripped a tooth out of his mouth.

"I was—"

"Tired, worried, and not thinking clearly," completed the masked commander.

"There is not much to forgive. I will not retract my words, though, if that is what you are counting on."

"The boy will hate me now," Hiruzen almost whined.

Dragon shrugged.

"You should've listened. Let Naruto know the truth from someone he trusts rather than someone who doesn't have the best intentions for him."

Hiruzen immediately noted the undertone from Dragon.

He was going to talk using coded messages in this conversation due to the compromise that had happened.

Hiruzen looked down as a signal that he understood Dragon's message.

"If that is the extent of your trust in him, then he would be right to do so," Dragon answered in a scathing monotone.

The Hokage winced and palmed his face. "You are right, of course."

Silence fell on the two ninja.

Dragon was perfectly still while the Hokage fidgeted with increasing intensity.

"What will you tell him?" the ANBU asked suddenly, stopping Hiruzen's flailing.

"What?"

"The boy will need answers, Hiruzen," chided the ANBU in a vaguely impatient tone. "The only questions are, what answers and who will give them."

"His father's name is a secret. That is non-negotiable," Hiruzen said.

"Why?" Dragon asked.

Hiruzen took a deep breath. "Jiraiya wanted to tell him about his father and mother, but someone took that mother spot, so Jiraiya is going to settle with telling Naruto about his father."

Hiruzen could practically feel the deadpan look from Dragon.

"You are afraid that the boy will hate you, yet you choose to keep the biggest secret of his life from him."

"Jiraiya begged for this," Hiruzen said.

"I know the logic behind that, and it is erroneous by now. It will do much more harm when the truth eventually comes out—"

"I said non-negotiable!" The Hokage boomed, his fist impacting his desk.

"Are your eyes still seeing straight, Hiruzen?" roared the ANBU in response, his own intent crashing against the Hokage's. "You're pushing the dirt under the carpet, hoping it won't explode in your face! In all of our faces!"

"He will hate us. He will hate me if I tell him this. Jiraiya... I..."

"Do you think so little of Naruto? And are you willing to risk his loyalty for personal feelings?"

The Hokage deflated.

"Hiruzen, don't tell me you aren't going to tell Naruto because you feel like you failed Jiraiya?"

"Did I not?" Hiruzen said, guilt-ridden. "I neglected Jiraiya when he was a Genin, giving my full attention to Orochimaru... Yet... Yet..." Hiruzen felt tears fill his eyes. The old man's list of failures was vast, but the guilt of each failure weighed heavily on his shoulders, especially this one. After everything, Jiraiya remained loyal while Orochimaru betrayed them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Jiraiya never held it over your head," Dragon said.

"Jiraiya wasn't the type of person to do that. But that doesn't change my wrongdoings. I like to at least give Jiraiya his wish."

"Even if Naruto comes to hate you?" Dragon asked as Hiruzen didn't respond.

"Did I not sacrifice enough?" Hiruzen pleaded.

"And maybe Naruto didn't? Maybe I didn't? Maybe Jiraiya didn't? But that's the responsibility that comes with that hat. Tobirama-sensei knew that you could bear it, I know you can bear it. So, Hiruzen, do you still have the strength to bear the responsibilities of that hat?"

The Hokage chuckled humorlessly.

"I sometimes want to put the hat down, but who will replace me, huh? Tsunade, the wrecked drunk? Jiraiya, a man running from his problems from one brothel to the next? Kakashi, lost in his grief? Tell me, Dragon, who is strong enough to wear this hat?" Hiruzen spat.

"Groom him," said the ANBU slowly.

Hiruzen focused his eyes on the mask.

"I'm sorry?"

"Groom Naruto."

The Hokage's left eyebrow rose, but that was the extent of his surprise.

"I thought you wanted him?"

Dragon shrugged.

"I am just giving you a lifeline. Naruto is going to hate you, or maybe he already does, considering 'Jiji' is now 'Hokage-sama.'"

Hiruzen winced at that.

"While Naruto is in the ANBU, he can do a cover job here at the tower, and you now have time to sort your differences out. And maybe you can see there are people in the next generation that can handle the mantle of the Hokage since clearly you couldn't even listen to Iruka's suggestions."

"You want Naruto to be the Fifth Hokage," Hiruzen snorted, but deep down he understood Dragon's code.

It was unconventional, really. The entire conversation was just an opportunity for the coded message to finally be delivered. With the cue about Iruka, Hiruzen understood that Dragon wanted Naruto to be the means of communication between them. If the Hokage office was compromised, then Dragon frequently coming would alert them.

Hiruzen still wondered why Dragon was doing all of this and not just directly telling him via genjutsu or capturing the criminal since clearly Dragon knew more.

But he trusted his friend.

Hiruzen sighed, his shoulders heavy with the weight of his responsibilities and the knowledge he carried.

"Sometimes, Dragon, I wonder if anyone truly understands the burden of this hat."

Dragon didn't respond, his silence speaking volumes.

Hiruzen knew what he had to do.

"So, what will you tell him?" the ANBU asked, his monotone back.

The Hokage rubbed his eyes. "About his mother, everything I can. I do not know how he will take the news of his father."

"As well as we could reasonably hope he does."

"Meaning bad."

"Yes. Probably. But that's for Jiraya to deal with."

A knock on the door interrupted the two. Hiruzen sighed but nodded slightly, and another ANBU appeared from the shadows to open the armored panel of fake wood. The Hokage's secretary, a petite brunette woman, stood in the frame.

"You summoned Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage-sama?"

"Indeed, Miki, thank you."

The woman nodded once and allowed a blond-haired, blue-eyed, whiskered boy to enter the office. The armored door was closed immediately.

"You asked for me, Hokage-sama," Naruto said in his best monotone.

Hiruzen felt his heart tighten at the address. Yesterday, the boy would have said a sonorous "What's up, Jiji?" and Hiruzen would have smiled at the blond's brightness. Today, the usual sunny disposition of the boy was subdued, hidden by a veil of clouds. A veil of deceit.

'Much like I veiled the truths of his life,' thought Hiruzen sadly.

"Yes, Naruto, I did," answered the Kage eventually. "You are here to discuss your ninja career. Sit down, please."

Naruto nodded and took the offered seat, and had to reign in a jump when an ANBU, the same dragon-masked one as yesterday, as far as he could tell, spoke.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san."

The risk of cardiac arrest averted and after some choice curse words about sneaky cloaked freaks muttered under his breath, Naruto chose to answer.

"Hello, ANBU-sama."

"Dragon, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto nodded. "Hai, Dragon-sama."

"Dragon here has a proposal for you, Naruto. I want to be clear that you are in no way forced to accept. Am I clear?" asked Hiruzen.

It was the deal the Hokage and Dragon had agreed on, which pretty much amounted to following the normal rule of ANBU: potential recruits were scouted by the corps but only those who volunteered could be considered for enrollment.

Naruto nodded. "Clear, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen observed Naruto closely, trying to gauge his feelings. The boy was doing his best to mask his emotions, but the Hokage could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands gripped the armrests of the chair just a little too tightly.

"Naruto Uzumaki, born October tenth, year one thousand two hundred and fifty-three of the Fire Country calendar. Made genin yesterday by standard graduation. Failed the classic graduation process three times," the masked shadow enumerated.

Hiruzen paused as he saw Naruto lower his head in shame.

"Naruto, the academy only allowed you to take the exam for fun. It wasn't anything official because I have already banned early graduations."

Hiruzen felt Naruto's glare piercing through him, making him wish he could dig a hole and bury his head in it.

"What if I passed?" Naruto whispered, and Hiruzen felt a lump in his throat.

Dragon answered.

"Hypothetically speaking, you would have been given a test to see if you had the skills of a genin."

"Considering the sabotage by the teachers, I doubt it," Naruto said.

"Let me guess, I would have been sent back."

"Indeed," Dragon said slowly as he turned to Hiruzen, who had his jaw dropped.

"You knew," Hiruzen said, looking at Naruto.

"Hokage-sama, I noticed that my tests were sabotaged, and now I know why they did it." Naruto motioned to his stomach, and Hiruzen winced.

"I assure you that every teacher involved will get their due punishments for conspiring against Konoha," Dragon said.

"Against Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, you are the future of Konoha and..." Hiruzen stopped when he saw that Naruto was barely listening.

"Maintain the dignity of a shinobi, Uzumaki-san," Dragon said, motioning Naruto to listen to Hiruzen, who looked grateful as he said, "Naruto, you are important to Konoha."

"May I ask something, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked.

"You may," Hiruzen replied.

"Is it me that's important to Konoha or the fox?" Naruto asked, looking directly into Hiruzen's eyes.

"You, always you," Hiruzen said.

"Then..." Naruto was about to ask something when Dragon interrupted.

"Excuse me, but let's push the questions until after I am done."

Hiruzen glared at his friend while Naruto nodded.

"Frequently prank the villagers with harmless stunts and outrun the ensuing chase party of chunin easily, often leading them into traps of his own making," Dragon continued.

The boy had honestly no idea if he was supposed to be proud or ashamed, so he settled for rubbing the back of his head.

Dragon looked at Naruto and said, "A few weeks back, a rumor started that you weren't attending the academy for some time."

Naruto nodded.

"Yes, I was kinda training with my friend Tenten, and since the academy wasn't going to give me the proper training, Tenten was a good way to make myself stronger."

"A sensible call, but your disappearance caused an investigation to be done by the ANBU," Dragon said as Naruto slowly nodded.

"Because of the Kuyubi."

"Well, that's one of the reasons. There are many more, but they are irrelevant to the conversation. Your disappearance caused an ANBU investigation where a couple of your skills caught the eye of the ANBU," Dragon said.

Hiruzen's jaw tightened.

While Inoichi had requested an ANBU investigation, he had given no such orders. Did Dragon order the investigation, or someone else?

What are you trying to tell me here, Kagami?

"Wait, what?!" Naruto's brain did a double-take as he processed Dragon's words.

ANBU agents spying on me? How much do they know about my skills?

Naruto thought, his mind racing.

His eyes then landed on Dragon's mask. The thing was, you could never read an ANBU mask.

It could be thinking, "Wow, impressive skills," or "What a show-off," and you'd never know.

"If I told you I could find you a team who would trust you with their life, would you be interested?" Dragon asked.

Naruto's jaw went slack.

"If I told you, you could be away from the villagers, hidden from their view, would you be interested?"

"Yeah, but I doubt any of that is possible."

"A fair sentiment. That is why I would like to offer you a trial run."

"A trial run?"

"A trial run in ANBU."

Naruto's mind raced as he thought of Hinata and Tenten.

"Can I tell my friends about this?"

Hiruzen sighed in relief.

No one was ever allowed to tell anyone that they were in the ANBU.

That was a rule that was never to be broken. Which means Naruto isn't going to join the ANBU.

Hiruzen felt his heart relax as if a weight was displaced off it.

"You can tell Hinata Hyuga and Tenten Higurashi of your recruitment in the ANBU," Dragon said.

Hiruzen felt his heart skip a beat.

Why was Dragon breaking such an important rule of the ANBU?

The rule was vital because ANBU operatives operated in secrecy to protect their identities and ensure the success of their covert missions.

If the identities of ANBU members were known, it could compromise their missions and endanger their lives.

Suddenly, Hiruzen felt his mind connect the dots.

Kagami's coded messages.

The ANBU investigation on Naruto.

Dragon accepting such a blatant disregard for the rigid rules of the ANBU.

It was as if someone was ordering Dragon to recruit Naruto into the ANBU.

Someone ordering Dragon...

That line of thought seemed so improbable that Hiruzen pinched himself.

Dragon was loyal to Konoha; there was no doubt about it, especially with those coded messages.

So does that mean Dragon is in a position where he has to follow the orders of this mysterious person?

Who is even strong enough to make Kagami take such measures in the first place?

Hiruzen felt his mind blank.

Minato, Tobirama, Hashirama and himself in his prime.

Those were the only people he could even think had a chance against Kagami.

Hiruzen felt his throat go dry as he looked at Naruto and thought.

I am sorry, Naruto, but it looks like you have now been roped into a dangerous game.