AN - Hello everyone Shadowfox here, to those who are new to the story I'd like to mention that these earlier chapters are not very good as they were written years ago when I had just started out. I assure you though that if you power through the earlier chapters that the quality will go up as you go, though I have decided not to alter these earlier chaps so as to remind myself just how far I've come in these last couple of years. Cheers, have a good read and leave me a review!

Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto.

"Normal speech"

'Quotes or emphasis'

Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change

Thoughts

Codename: ShadowFox - I

It was a routine mission for him sneak in,kill the target, and get out undetected. Assassination was his specialty after all.

It's been two years since he's joined ANBU and already he's made a name for himself. A name spoken in hushed and frightened tones from his enemies and said in high regards and respect from his colleagues.

It was said he was a prodigy on par if not greater than Itachi Uchiha. He graduated from the ninja academy at the age of 7, was promoted to chuunin at 8, became a jounin at 9 and joined ANBU at 10.

But when your personally trained by the clan heads for 6 years I suppose anyone would turn out great...

xXx

(Flashback)

Konoha's outskirts

the Sandaime looked at the grim scene before him. A land scarred from a great battle with the body of the fourth now lying lifeless on the ground. Minato's last words still ringing in his ears.

"Please, Hiruzen make sure naruto is seen as the hero he is and not as the demon sealed within him." But he was broken from his thoughts by the sound of a child crying.

"Naruto!" The third ran towards the new-born to check on him. Sarutobi found the child next to his mother,a faint seal lingering on his stomach. He quickly wrapped the child in a blanket and ran back to Konoha.

Council Room

"He has the demon sealed in him! We should kill him now and rid the world of it!" Yelled a councilman. The sounds of several voices both agreeing and disagreeing roared throughout the room.

"No. We cannot kill him. Do you not see the potential this boy has with the power of a demon backing him? He shall be one of Konoha's greatest assets." Said the Third's former teammate Danzo.

"Dammit, Danzo he's a child not a weapon!" Proclaimed the Inuzuka head Tsume. Sounds of agreement being heard from all the clan heads save one. The Hyuga clan head Hiashi studied the child carefully.

Sarutobi was massaging his temples thoroughly as the argument raged on. Both sides not giving an inch and he was ready to just show the boy's heritage in hopes of quieting the side in favor of his death.

Hiashi continued to study the child in the middle of the room. He had golden hair as well as three distinct whisker like markings on either cheek. It intrigued him how the child could sleep with all the commotion going on but he merely chalked up to fatigue from having a demon sealed in you.

"Silence!" Everyone quickly shut up and looked up at the Sandaime."Naruto will not be killed for two reasons. For one he is the savior of our village...Minato was unable to defeat the Kyuubi so he sealed it inside of this child in hopes that he would eventually be able to control its power." "And the second reason being...that Minato wouldn't just seal the Kyuubi in some random child he...Needed someone who he knew could handle the burden...Naruto is Kushina Uzumaki's... And Minato Namikaze's...son."

An explosion of voices could be heard inside the council room. To Sarutobi it all just seemed like mindless rambling now but while he glanced around the room he noticed the Hyuga head deep in thought. Once the argument was down to a loud roar Sarutobi spoke once again.

"Just as Minato wanted we shall train Naruto to control the demon inside him and mold him into a great shinobi" Danzo smirked slightly at this. "BUT he shall be treated as a shinobi of Konoha and not as a weapon." Danzo's smirk quickly dropped.

"And just who would be crazy enough to be willing to train a demon?" A civilian councilman said. And at that moment the young naruto opened his eyes. A brilliant pool of blue shown to all present. Hiashi saw all the proof he needed that this was indeed Minato's heir then and there. He quickly stood and walked over to his best friend's son. "I shall train him" Hiashi said in his usual stoic tone.

"Ha! And allow the Hyuugas to turn him into a puppet like the rest of your clan?" Tsume stated.

While Hiashi calmly looked at her and answered "I have no qualms with you training him as well Tsume. I know Kushina was your friend like Minato was mine." Tsume was stunned for a moment then looked down at the once again sleeping form of her friend's son and smirked.

"The Inuzuka will also train naruto. " Tsume said proudly.

"And the Akimichi" Stated a rather large man know as Choza and the head of the Akimichi clan.

"So too, will the Aburame" Was stated flatly by Shibi the Aburame clan head.

"And the Yamanaka!" Announced the blond man know as Inoichi the Yamanaka head.

*sigh*" Troublesome...but i suppose the Nara can pitch in." Murmured the Nara clan head Shikaku.

"I too would like to train Naruto. I believe he would become an excellent shinobi under my guidance." Danzo said in a low voice.

"Bullshit. Knowing you, you would probably try to brainwash him and turn him into your own personal weapon!" Yelled an irritated Tsume. The rest of the clan heads agreed with this. As did Sarutobi. While all Danzo could do at the woman's was glare and return to this thoughts. "I will have my weapon. One way or another, and when I do then I shall lead the village into a new future as the Hokage."

"So be it. Naruto Uzumaki shall be personally trained by the clan heads and by Jiraiya once he learns to tap into the Kyuubi's power." The clan heads looked at their Hokage with a puzzled look on their faces.

Inoichi was the first to speak up."Wait...Uzumaki? Shouldn't he take his place as the Namikaze heir?"

"Normally yes and his true heritage will be revealed to him when he is older but for now he will take his mother's surname to protect him from his father's enemy's." Sarutobi explained. The heads nodded in agreement.

"And I assume he will be trained by Jiraiya when he finally taps into the Kyuubi's power because he's also a master of seals?" asked Shikaku

"That and Minato entrusted him with the key to the seal should it ever need to be tightened." Stated Sarutobi.

"Troublesome..." Shikaku muttered in response.

"And what of you Fugaku? You have yet to say anything during the meeting." Sarutobi asked.

"If you wish it I could show the boy some fire jutsu when he is older but my attention at the moment is solely on Itachi." Fugaku replied.

The Hokage simply nodded in understanding.

(End Flashback)

xXx

"We there yet Kakashi?"

"Soon... the target's town is about 2 more miles off."

"God finally! We've been running non-stop for hours!"

"Can't you keep it down for 5 minutes? For a stealth specialist you're still absurdly loud."

"Pfft. I'll show you keeping it down. I'll be in and out in 2 minutes flat without anyone knowing."

"That's what you said last time and you still managed to alert the whole town..."

"Heh I didn't mean to set the place on fire...I kinda just let the wind jutsu get a little too big. And it wasn't my fault! I mean honestly who has so many low hanging drapes near an open flame and not expect them to catch fire?"

"It was a candle...But thanks to you it was immediately turned into a fireball."

"Jealous?"

"Me? jealous? Nah"

"Pfft. Whatever. So who's the poor sap who pissed off Konoha enough to send me all the way out here?"

"One Shima Honoki. They gave us a description and address but no reason as to why they want him assassinated."

"Honestly I don't even care at this point I just want to kill him and head home to get some ramen."

"Have you really sunk so low that you would kill someone faster to just to go eat ramen?"

"No. As a matter of fact if a certain senpai of mine didn't obliterate the ramen I brought with me I wouldn't be so irritated."

"I told you it was an accident..."

"Yeah. I bet."

"It was!"

"Whatever Kakashi you're still paying for my entire meal when we get home."

"Hey look were at the town!"

"Don't change the subject!"

xXx

A few hours later the two ANBU-nin were jumping through the trees in an awkward silence, on their way back from another successful mission. "So Naruto which one did you use this time?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Well yeah. I need to write-up the report since I know you wont."

"I decided on a hidden blade through the heart."

"No flashy assassination jutsu this time?"

"Nah like I said I want to get home and eat and I really didn't feel like waiting around and using the shadow strangle and a mind explosion jutsu would have made quite the mess."

"That one still haunts my dreams."

"Pfft. At least you didn't get brain goo all over you." Kakashi shuddered at the thought

"Anyway It's starting to get dark want to set up camp here to keep going a while longer?" Naruto asked as he looked at the sky.

"Up to you. You said you were hungry but we can keep moving if you want to." Kakashi offered.

"Yeah lets just cover a little more ground I want to make it to fire country by tomorrow." Naruto said.

"You're really eager to get home aren't you? Could there be an ulterior motive apart from ramen?" Naruto froze for a second which didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi.

"Hehe...There is isn't there?"

"W-What? Pfft. Nah. I just...Really want to get home is all."

"Suuuuure. But just out of curiosity what's going on tomorrow?"

"N-Nothing!"

"It wouldn't...Oh I don't know...Have something to do with the reviewing of jounin to see who would become jounin sensei would it?"

"Maybe..."

"So you want your own team, eh?"

"Nah, But I still want to be present seeing as this graduating class would have probably been the one I would have been in under...normal circumstances."

"Ah, So that's it."

"Yeah I was just a little curious about who passed from my age group." They left it at that and subconsciously increased their pace.

xXx

Kakashi took a quick glance at his companion before speaking. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"So you really don't want a genin team?"

"Pfft. Hell no! Why would I want to babysit a bunch of genin when I could be living the ANBU life? Live fast and die young!" Naruto shouted his motto with a victory stance.

"You know that's not a joke Naruto ANBU do have a much shorter life expectancy than that of any other ninja."

"Oh boy here it comes." He said knowing the speech that he was about to get.

"I'm serious Naruto maybe you should think about retiring your mask and becoming a regular jounin again. I know I am."

It took the smaller ANBU a few seconds to process what the other had just said."WHAT! Dammit Kakashi don't you dare break-up the dynamic-duo!"

Kakashi just gave him his trademark eyesmile and said. "Oh im sure the great and powerful ShadowFox doesn't need a partner."

Kakashi could see his friend turning red in anger "OF COURSE I DON'T NEED A PARTNER! BUT THE OLD MAN SAID THAT I STICK WITH YOU OR HE THROWS ME ON A TEAM!"

Kakashi chuckled a bit knowing full well the Sandaime's terms for accepting Naruto into the ANBU. "Well then it looks like you have two choices Naruto, One you turn in your mask like me and rejoin the regular ninja force or you join an ANBU team and take orders from some random guy."Kakashi knew his friend's problem with being told what to do and he used it against him.

"Like hell im taking orders from someone else. Plus if anything they would most likely make me team captain due to my experience."

Kakashi also knew that there weren't actual ranks within the ANBU and the most skilled and experienced member would usually lead the group, but that didn't mean he wouldn't at least give it a shot at trying to convince him.

"So you're really going to drop out of ANBU?" Naruto looked slightly saddened.

"Yeah, Hokage-sama asked that I teach the new team 7."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. " Oh I see you're leaving me for some other kids... fine be that way!" The mock look of hurt and the pout on Naruto's face made Kakashi want to bust out laughing.

"Oh stop being so overly dramatic"

"Pfft. What happened to bro's before ho's?" Naruto asked the man he truly considered a brother.

"That would only apply if the whole group was female and even then I probably wouldn't approve of you calling my students ho's."

"You know what I mean. You're pretty much abandoning me to look after some brats."

"Well...Yeah but it's because Hokage-Sama asked me to." Naruto didn't look convinced.

"Sure doesn't look like he had to twist your arm very hard to get you to accept."

"Naruto don't be that way. We can still hang out on our days off."

"Pfft. Like i'd waste my days off hanging around with you while you just read those pervy books of yours."

"You know they actually have a very good storyline."

"Yeah you and the pervy sage just keep telling yourselves that." Nightfall was drawing after a long days run.

"Well its starting to get dark and we'll be able to make it to Konoha if we start early tomorrow so we should just make camp in that clearing up ahead." Kakashi just looked back at him with an eyesmile happy that Naruto let the subject drop for now.

"Sounds good Naruto." Kakashi stated.

xXx

Kakashi awoke the next morning to the smell of cooked fish.

"So whats for breakfast Naruto?" Naruto looked up with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I cooked myself some fish from a river nearby but I don't know what you're going to eat, traitor."

"Still hung-up on that, eh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Kakashi." Naruto then closed him eyes and raised his chin in the air. Not noticing that Kakashi took the fish off the fire for himself.

"Well...mmm...In that case...mmm...we should pack up and head off for home." As soon as Naruto looked down he noticed his breakfast gone and a satisfied looking Kakashi holding a stick in his hand.

"Dick move bro, dick move."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Naruto." Kakashi replied with one of his trademark eyesmiles. Naruto just scowled at Kakashi the entire way home while his stomach occasionally growled.

After a couple of hours of running and a much heated argument which Kakashi sorely lost concerning his debt to Naruto for the ramen he accidentally destroyed while practicing a new lightning jutsu, Said debt made bigger by Naruto after Kakashi had devoured his breakfast earlier today.

"Even though I still say you owe me 30 since I basically went hungry for about 5 days I'll compromise down to 20 bowls."

"Naruto I know you love ramen but isn't 20...a bit much?"

"Would you like it to be raised to 25?"

"20s good..."

"So want them now or after the review?" Naruto pondered this for a moment.

"Well I am still hungry since a certain someone ate my breakfast this morning so 10 now and the other 10 after."

"And we still need to hand in our report."

"Yeah you can do that while I eat just give me the money and ill meet you at the Hokage tower when im done."

"Alright but don't take too long I think the reviews start in 2 hours and I don't really want to be late for it."

"HA! YOU? Actually being on time for something? This might be a first." Kakashi looked a bit dejected at that last comment.

"...I'm not always late." Naruto merely scoffed at this.

"Name one time you've ever been on time since I met you."

"...Umm...well there was that one time."

"Nope that didn't count you were still late just everyone else was also."

"Just take the money and quit hating."

"Heh whatever you say Kakashi." And with that they went their separate ways. One to be debriefed on their mission the other on a mission to inhale some bowls of ramen.

"WOOT! Time to go eat!" Then he suddenly realised something.

"Crap I need to go home and change first I forgot im still in my ANBU uniform." With a groan he quickly made his way to his apartment. Making sure no one saw him he snuck into his apartment and quickly changed into his public appearance of Naruto Uzumaki.

"One of these days im going to convince the old man to let me take my rightful name and move out of this dump and into the Namikaze compound..." Naruto continued talking to himself.

"I mean if his only excuse left is that he wants to protect me from my father's enemy's then I say bring em' on and I'll finish them off once and for all." After some grumbling about old men and their denying him of his inheritance he finished changing and headed off to his favorite ramen stand.

Ichiraku's Ramen.

AN- Hope you enjoyed chapter-1.

~Shadowfox