Chapter 25 : Unmasked(2)

He chuckled a bit. His shadow outshined him. That wasn't very shadow-like. It didn't matter though, the boy was definitely becoming Hokage soon, and when he did, he would change the village for the better. Even more, he would change the world. Hiruzen knew it, could feel it in his old bones.

It was strange. His shadow was running a little late. That was not like him at all. As soon as he had thought that, the blond-haired Nezumi flickered into existence behind him, kneeling and bowing his head to his leader, as was protocol for all ANBU.

"Nezumi, you're late." Hiruzen decided to tease him a bit. "I was hoping Kakashi-kun wouldn't rub off on you." He pushed down the need to chuckle. "It is a very bad habit."

Like every other time when someone tried to tease him, the blond saw it coming miles away with his abilities. "I think you're a little early, Jiji." Nezumi replied, standing from his kneeling position. "You may have forgotten the correct time you wanted to see me." He continued. "Old age seems to be catching up to you." He finished with a satisfied smirk under his mask. He was top dog when it came to pranks.

"Careful Nezumi, you're awfully close to insubordination." Hiruzen joked back. He may not be the greatest, but he had learned a thing or two while playing these games with his surrogate grandson.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The blond intoned. He had been out of the village for a month with the last mission and hadn't seen his Jiji or Nee-chan the entire time. He missed them and was happy to be back for a while. He didn't know what was about to come though.

The Lord Third cleared his throat before he spoke. "I have called you here to give you your next orders, but before I do, have a look at this." Nezumi accepted the little black book his Jiji handed him, recognizing it as a Bingo Book. You weren't considered a dangerous shinobi unless you had a bounty on your head in one of these little books. "Page thirty-three." He added.

Nezumi turned to the correct page and read.

Name: Nezumi (Kamikage, Bringer of Hope)

'FLEE ON SIGHT!'

Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato

Clan: Unknown

Family: Unknown

Age: Thought to be between the ages of fifteen and sixteen.

Height: 170.2 cm

Hair Color: Blond

Rank: SS-class

Classification: Sage, Sensor, Jinchuuriki (Kyuubi no Kitsune)

Notes: First shinobi to gain the SS-class rank since Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. More data required.

Recommendation for approach: N/A.

Bounty: None has yet to be posted.

If Nezumi wasn't so upset about someone having enough information on him to put him in the Bingo Book, he would have found his first entry into the 'big leagues' amusing. Apparently he was the boogeyman.

And the fact he had a 'FLEE ON SIGHT!' order attached to him outside of wartime confused him.

"This has too much information for it to be an outside source." Nezumi said a little bitterly. That meant they had someone inside Konoha, who had high enough clearance to have all that knowledge, giving the other nations the confidential information.

"My thoughts exactly." Hiruzen replied. It was much too detailed not to originate from the inside. There was even a picture of him – with his mask on of course – and it was the very same picture he had for his top secret profile.

There was a traitor amongst his forces.

"I understand, Hokage-sama." Nezumi said, Hiruzen not even having to say what was on his mind.

"Take your mask off, Nezumi." The Lord Third ordered in a hard tone. The blond complied immediately. He knew this was necessary. His identity was compromised, even if it was only Konoha who knew it.

The village knew that the child Uzumaki Naruto was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and if they had a mole, it wouldn't take very long for other nations to know as well.

Sarutobi took the ANBU mask. "As of this moment, you are no longer a member of the ANBU." The blond nodded. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are now an official jonin of Konoha. Report to my office first thing in the morning."

Naruto nodded, and then frowned in thought. "Hokage-sama, what about my living arrangements?" It saddened Naruto that he had to leave the Black Ops so suddenly, but he could think about that later. Right now he had more important things to get done, like finding a place to live.

He felt her before his Jiji said anything.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." The God of Shinobi said with a smirk. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun." He finished, and then Shunshined (Body Flickered) away, done with what he needed to do.

Yugao was in her civilian clothes, denoting her off duty status. "Nee-chan." Naruto greeted his sister figure. "It's good to see you!" He said happily, giving the moonflower a smile he reserved for her.

He could act his age a little when in her presence, and now that he was no longer an operative, he could act any way he wanted. All jonin were a little strange, each having something that helped them cope with the job, so he thought he might as well act a little more himself and he'd fit right in.

"I heard you were looking for a place to stay." Yugao said with a smile of her own. She hugged him before saying, "Hayate-kun said you can stay at our place." ANBU were supposed to live only in the Black Ops HQ, but Yugao stayed in her boyfriend's apartment when she was off duty, and finally moved all of her personal things there. It was now Hayate and Yugao's apartment, and apparently Naruto was going to live there now too. He didn't mind it though. He loved Yugao and he had become good friends with Hayate.

"Sounds good." Naruto said as he hugged his nee-chan back. She was one of the only people he could just be himself with. She knew all of his secrets and feelings, and he trusted her with his whole being. "I need to get my things from HQ." He said. All of his stuff, what little he had, was still in the Black Ops building.

Yugao shook her head. "Already done, little brother." She said while leading him off somewhere. "All of your personal belongings are at our place." She smiled. "I had Saru help me." Naruto sighed in exasperation. Yugao had made Saru her personal slave when he lost a bet the two had made a year ago.

The monkey-faced Nara should have learned that there was nothing Naruto couldn't do. For someone like him, training the Daimyo's wife's demon cat Tora was a walk in the park. That damn hellcat didn't stand a chance against the Kamikage.

"Of course you did." Naruto laughed. "By the way…" He started, looking around him in confusion. "Where are we going?"

"First, we're going home so you can change your clothes." There was her motherly feelings again. Yugao and Naruto had a brother-sister relationship, but there were times when Naruto thought Yugao felt more like a mother than anything. When she was like that, Naruto had no chance in winning an argument with the woman. Right now was one of those times. "Then we're going to have some lunch with some of my friends. I can finally introduce you to everyone." She finished with a smile.

Naruto smiled at his best friend. "Sounds fun." He said. He didn't really care what they were doing, as long as he could spend some time with his sister then he was fine. It would be weird to do it in public though. He didn't have too much experience with this kind of thing.

He really hoped her friends didn't dislike him. Not many adults liked hanging around with people his age, so he was nervous. It was ridiculous, he had completed more S-rank missions than all of the past Hokage combined, and yet he was afraid of what a couple of women thought about him. It wasn't what they thought personally, he just hoped that his sister's friends didn't mind being around him.

He decided to suck it up and just be himself. There was nothing the Kamikage couldn't do.

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