Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Secret Among Friends

Naruto was inside the training hall of the Sarutobi compound, going through some katas with his tanto. He might be a civilian, but he was still an ANBU- level ninja. If he let himself fall complacent, then he would grow weaker, and get killed in the field. That would be counter-productive to his purposes. So, he trained.

He fluidly shifted from one stance to the next, his eyes closed, as he learned to manipulate his nature chakra to tell him his surroundings. Having a strong wind affinity had advantages, one being that he could vibrate the air around him to act as a sort of echolocation. For this reason, he noticed when the door slid open and a small group of people entered. He froze in shock and snapped his eyes open.

Sasuke, Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Iruka were in the training room, looking at him with confusion as he held his tanto horizontally. Naruto began to sweat lightly from the nerves.

"Naruto, why do you have a tanto?" Iruka asked. Naruto stayed mute, having not expected this visit, considering what day it was. October tenth, Naruto's birthday. He always stayed in on this day, or went on a mission, because if he went out in public, people started to riot. The Kyuubi festival always ensured people were drunk, and drunks tended to be more violent with what they perceived as the Kyuubi reincarnated.

"It...was a gift from Jiji a few years ago." it wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth.

Shikamaru looked skeptical, Choji nodded, Iruka frowned slightly, Kiba cocked his head, Akamaru did the same, and Sasuke crossed his arms.

Sasuke finally said something.

"Happy birthday, Naruto."

Naruto, who had turned around to put away his tanto, froze. He heard a few steps, and a small smack, then a grunt form Sasuke.

"Sasuke," Iruka said to the boy. "I thought we weren't going to breach the subject. Hokage-sama told us it was a sensitive subject for him."

"Hn. I felt he needed to hear it. He's my best friend, sensei. I'm not going to ignore his birthday." Naruto started shaking slightly, and he felt Sasuke walk up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, happy birthday. I couldn't get you much, but here you go." Sasuke's hand came around the side to reveal a limited-edition Ramen cup with a bow on it. Naruto felt tears sliding silently down his cheeks as he shakily took the gift. The first he had ever gotten on his birthday. He never told Asuma his birthday, and the Hokage was always busy.

"Thank you..." he whispered. Sasuke patted his arm softly.

"Why don't you put your stuff away and we can hang out?" Naruto nodded and did just that. While he was out of the dojo, he wiped his eyes free of tears. When he returned he found Asuma standing with his friends, looking stern.

"Naru, why didn't you ever tell me what your birthday was?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal. The most I've ever gotten for my birthday was beatings. Well... right before you adopted me, I did get this anonymously..." he said as he pulled out his renowned Gama-chan. His toad-themed wallet was about half-full of Ryo. Iruka quickly turned the subject back to his original question.

"Naruto, why do you have a tanto? You handle it too well for an academy student with no previous training." Asuma and Naruto both started sweating, seeing Iruka's no-nonesense look. A look shot between them, and they seemed to hold a silent conversation. After several moments, Naruto sighed dejectedly. The Hokage chose that moment to walk in smiling. It quickly fell from his face.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

"Jiji, they," he pointed at his friends and sensei, "got in while I was training. They saw my tanto." the Hokage sighed explosively and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Go get it. No point in hiding it now, from them at least." a quick salute and a shunshin later had Naruto re-appear in the dojo with a mask in his hand. His friends were amazed that he could do the shunshin no jutsu, while Iruka was sweating at the implications of the pattern of the mask he saw in Naruto's hand. His fears were confirmed when Naruto donned the mask, and his hair changed from bright golden blond, to a more average brown color akin to Kiba's. The mask itself had black swirls on a white background, spreading from the right side to the left. The mask was almost completely flat, and showed no design other than the swirls.

"Shadow-san..." Iruka said just loud enough to be heard. Naruto nodded and touched a tattoo on his shoulder, instantly wearing his old ANBU uniform, his second tanto strapped to his shoulder. Iruka quickly thought of all the times he had tried to be mean and vicious to Naruto, and gulped audibly. He paled and sat down, near to hyperventilating.

"Shadow..." Shika said thoughtfully. "My dad mentioned a shadow outside of our clan jutsu... I think he said something about an...ANBU..." he snapped his gaze to Shadow, along with the other boys. Sasuke's mouth dropped open in shock, and Choji dropped his bag of chips. Naruto dipped his head slightly and stood at a parade rest, his legs shoulder width apart and his hands clasped right above his butt.

"Naruto-kun, I think that will be fine. You can remove the mask now." Shadow nodded and reached up, removing his mask and placing it on his hair, which had changed back to it's bright yellow color.

"I was an ANBU Black-Ops member before jiji sent me to the academy. He felt I needed to take a break from the life of a Shinobi, and socialize with kids my own age." a straight up lie, but if Sasuke knew that their friendship had been based on a mission, he might turn against the village. "So I was officially demoted to academy student and told to tell no-one." Iruka curled into the fetal position and rocked back and forth, sucking his thumb. Shikamaru rubbed his head, obviously finally figuring out why the blond seemed better at Shinobi skills when outside of class. Kiba face-faulted and groaned loudly. Choji ssimply shrugged and kept eating. Sasuke looked lost for a few moments, then apparently decided something, and he smirked.

"Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do, huh Naruto?" Naruto merely nodded and smiled.

"That you do, Sasuke. And Iruka-sensei," the chuunin looked up from his break down and focused on the boy. "I would appreciate if you graded me on how I perform during class, not on what you know. I chose to be the dead-last so people wouldn't really focus on me, seeing me as not a threat." Iruka nodded dumbly, then went back to his rocking. Naruto touched his ANBU tattoo again, changing back to his outfit of a gray zip-up hoodie, dark orange shorts, and a bair of blue shinobi sandals. Then he handed the mask to Hiruzen, who stowed it away.

"Now that you all know that little bit, I must ask you to keep it a secret. It was not common knowledge that Naruto-kun was even a Shinobi, let alone an ANBU." the boys nodded, Shika a bit sowly, and Iruka made an affirming whimper.

"So, this whole time, you were closer to being hokage than I would even hope to be for the next eight years?" Kiba asked sullenly. Naruto chuckled and nodded. Kiba cried anime tears while Akamaru barked in laughter.

"Why don't we go get Naru some cake and Ramen for his birthday?" Asuma piped up. Everyone quickly nodded, Iruka coming out of his near-catatonic state. Naruto's eyes widened before he shuffled his feet and looked at the ground.

"That might not be a good idea..."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm... the villagers don't really like me... so they get mad if I come out during the Kyuubi festival..."

"Naru, I doubt they'll do anything with the Hokage, and an elite jounin, along with a Chuunin, and their beloved Uchiha-sama accompanying you," Asuma said with a chuckle. Sasuke frowned, but even he couldn't deny that's what he was viewed as. Little by little, the group managed to coax Naruto out of the compound, with promises of massive amounts of Ramen, threats of grounding, and pleas of friendship. As soon as he was outside the walls, he bolted for the Ichiraku stand, taking the rooftops to avoid the villagers. When he got there, he sat in the corner least visible, and waited for the rest of the group, most of whom were smiling in amusement or frowning in concern when they walked in. Naruto ordered a mere two bowls of shrimp with miso, shocking everyone.

"Naruto, what's wrong? You aren't hungry?" Teuchi sounded genuinely concerned. Naruto mumbled something into his bowl, before Ayame bopped him on the head with a ladel.

"Birthday boy, stop being gloomy and eat your ramen. If you don't you get no cake."

Naruto's eyes shot up to see her smiling and holding out more ramen. He smiled softly.

The Ramen was gone in moments.