2 2. Meeting Kabuto and Fox-masked ANBU

As the first rays of sunlight hit the window, Aiko opened his eyes still feeling a little sleepy as he rubbed his eyes and yawned taking stock of his surroundings and got out of his bed and went downstairs, where the woman who he met yesterday with two other people discussing something.

All three of them wore similar clothes and he thought that they must also be the caretakers of the orphanage.

Hearing his footsteps all of them turned around and focused their gazes on him.

"He is the kid I was talking about, some jounins on mission brought him in yesterday, and they will handle the procedures today as he was injured and it got late yesterday," she said as if explaining about the circumstances to her colleagues.

The two others had a troubled expression on their face but, looking at him they did not say anything and Aiko noticed that his mapping skill had picked up on their chakra and two more dots were present with pale green colour.

'The colour seems to indicate their feelings for me.' he thought and he also had a feeling that the woman he met yesterday was stronger than the two of them combined.

"Good morning, Aiko-kun, come here let me check on your wounds." said the emerald eyed woman beckoning him with a smile on her face.

Once Aiko was seated on the table of the dining room, his bandage was slowly removed from his head and he saw that she was surprised looking at his face.

It was then he noticed in the reflection of her glasses that there wasn't even a mark on his face.

"You have very good regeneration ability" she said looking at his face and hair colour as if thinking about something.

'It must be the system' thought Aiko asking "what is your name?" to the woman as he realised that he did not know anything about the woman,who had taken care of him.

While he was indulging in his flights of fancy, the woman opposite to him was surprised for a second before answering "my name is nono yakushi, you can call me aunt nano" she said smiling.

Hearing the name, he nodded and repeated "aunt nono" causing the woman to smile.

"So let's get you ready before shinobis come to pick you up" she said pulling him towards the bathroom.

As they reached the bathroom, Aiko came out of his thoughts and a sense of embarrassment hit him as she tried removing his clothes to help him take a bath.

"I..I can do it myself" he said, a little embarrassed and entered the bathroom alone, closing the door.

Nono smiled a little looking at his pink face and thought he was at least acting his age as children mature faster during hard times but it also means that they lose their naivety and innocence of heart to the cruelty of the world and the shinobi world was undoubtedly a cruel one.

After having a light breakfast, nono explained that every person has to undergo some background check and test before they are allowed to stay in konoha, if they weren't born here and that he had nothing to worry as children are usually accepted without much scrutiny.

Aiko was also a bit worried as he did not have any memories about himself nor his family, listening to her explain also calmed him down and he felt gratitude in his heart.

As they were waiting for the person that was supposed to pick him up the other kids in the orphanage started showing up for breakfast and Aiko too observed the situation around him, even though wearing what seemed to be old clothes the kids looked healthy and cheerful and most of them had a good amount of chakra.

The one who caught Aiko's attention the most was a boy who looked a year older than him with ash-gray coloured hair tied in a ponytail with onyx eyes wearing glasses similar to nono with a smile on his, what attracted Aiko was the aura the boy exuded, which was very pure and content

The boy also seemed to have noticed nono sitting in front of him and walked over to greet them. Aiko learned that his name was Kabuto.

All the children seemed to be respectful to the caretakers, but it can be seen that nono's popularity was quite high due to her gentle smile and behaviour.

Akio was observing the children seeking if he could recognise any others, the front door of the orphanage opened and he saw a person wearing a fox mask with red and black markings around his eyes, sides and mouth and standard ANBU uniform moving towards him.

As Aiko focused on him,he felt an aura of guilt and loneliness, and also felt the chakra covering his form to be very calm, which proved his chakra control prowess.

Nono stood up as she the figure, prompting Aiko to stand up and follow after Nono as she walked towards the entrance.

"I am here to take the boy under Hokage's orders," said the young ANBU member pointing at Aiko.

Nono wordlessly nodded, but she was shocked inside as the ANBU coming to pick him up meant the boy was that important and she also realised the source of the vague chakra that has been surrounding the orphanage since yesterday.

"Follow him, he will instruct you about the procedures" she said to the red haired boy as a smile returned to her face.

Aiko nodded his head and followed after ANBU member curious about the other's identity.

"Hey, what's your name?" asked Aiko as they walked in the streets of konoha towards the hokages building from the orphanage which was located at the outskirts of konoha.

"Fox" answered the ANBU member as he continued walking.

"Oh," said the boy, not pursuing it further, " what are we going to do in the hokage's office?" he added, keeping pace.

"You will know once we reach there" replied the other with a stoic tone.

Aiko just shrugged, looking around the streets filled with people and sensing the chakras around him, he noticed that most of the people had a decent amount of chakra while people dressed in shinobi gear had a greater amount. Aiko tried expanding his range of sensation and found out that it covered a radius of 300 m around him.

While they continued walking Aiko suddenly noticed a few auras focused on him and he saw two yellow dots at the edge of his mapping range maintaining the same distance.

"Do you know that we are being followed right?" The fox masked man heard a barely audible sound beside him and a look of surprise flashed past his eyes as he too had detected the tail as soon as they left the orphanage.

"We are going to meet the fourth hokage who is one of the strongest men in the whole shinobi world, he will decide about the situation" replied Anbu as if continuing the previous conversation.

Aiko nodded his head and kept walking, understanding the meaning behind the masked man's words.

Soon they reached the entrance of the hokage's office building and Aiko noticed the presence that had tailed him till now faded away.