The Protagonist System-304 Establishing Boundaries

The ANBU Black Ops, or the lesser known Special Assassination and Tactical Squad, were supposed to be the strongest elite ninja the village of Konoha had to offer. That wasn't quite true, since you didn't need to be the best ninja to be an ANBU, you just had to be really good at a particular set of skills, like stealth and sneaking, information gathering, and a willingness to kill anyone when ordered to do so.

It took me several weeks to work out the schedule they had, which was only loosely a schedule at all. I suspected that they were doing it on their off-duty shifts and being paid extra for the mission to watch me. A few mental pokes confirmed my thoughts and I easily figured out who each of the people were behind their supposedly anonymous masks that hid their identity.

The ones that wore the more manly animal masks were the men and the sneakier and smaller animal masks were worn by the women. They did a good job concealing their genders, for the most part, except several of the men were quite muscular and stood out from the women. Mind you, the big guy that wore a bear mask, it fit his body type perfectly.

It was also easy to pick out the women when they didn't try to hide their longer hair with buns or ponytails, not that would have stopped me from poking them mentally. I needed to know their personalities and how they would react to me doing something out of the ordinary. My first test? Calling out to the most receptive one the next time I was near an open window.

Yui was taking a break and had me braced on her hip with one arm as she stood near the open second floor window at the end of the hall near my room. She sipped on a cup of coffee while she showed me the leaves on the nearby trees and explained why they changed colors when the weather turned colder.

“Kitty!” I said with a giggle and reached out with one hand towards the closest tree as I made a grasping motion.

Yui didn't hear the soft intake of breath of surprise from the ANBU agent. “Oh? Did you see a cat out there?” She asked and looked down at the ground, which let her completely miss the slight rustling of leaves on the tree branch as the ANBU wearing a cat mask slipped across the branch to another tree.

“Bye, Kitty!” I said and waved to her.

Yui laughed and shook her head. “You must have better eyes than I do, Naruto. I can't see a cat anywhere.”

I giggled for her and put my arm back around her neck. “Yui.” I said and rested my head on her shoulder. “Pretty.”

Yui looked from me to the trees outside, her thoughts unsure if I meant the colors or her. I didn't want there to be any doubt, so I patted her neck and let out a contented sigh. She blushed, as I knew she would, and she set her nearly empty cup down and closed the window.

“Let's get you back to the playroom and try to tire you out for your afternoon nap.” Yui said and picked up her cup, drank the last of the coffee, and brought me to the break room to drop the empty cup off.

I didn't fuss as she rinsed it off and set it aside to be washed later and I could feel how grateful she was that I never bothered her when she had work to do. It was why she usually took me with her whenever she was doing something, like washing the linens, helping prepare the meals, or picking up after the other kids.

“I see you have the barnacle attached to you again.” A female voice joked from the doorway.

Yui chuckled and turned to look at her friend Akiko. “Are you off already? I wasn't expecting you until later.”

Akiko looked happy as she stood proud. “You are looking at an official medic-nin!”

“You passed!” Yui exclaimed and walked over to hug her.

I was unintentionally squishing me between them and I didn't mind, since both of them had nice chests and I was cushioned well.

“That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you.” Yui said and let her go, then realized what she just did to me. “Oh! I'm sorry, Naruto.” She said and kissed my cheek.

I giggled for her and didn't lift my head from her shoulder. “Soft. Hug.”

Yui blushed again, understanding what I meant.

Akiko laughed. “He's not even a year old yet and he's already enjoying feeling up two women! What's he going to be like when he's older?”

Yui smacked her friend's arm and then laughed, too. “You just volunteered to chase him around the playroom to tire him out for his nap.”

Akiko kept laughing as we went there. Of course, I did my best to pretend to run and laugh as I was chased, easily caught and tickled, and then let go to repeat he process. Yui felt a little jealous that her friend was having all the fun, so she joined in and we had a great time for the next 20 minutes.

I pretended to tire out and dozed off when Yui picked me up, just like she wanted, and she led Akiko to my room and put me to bed in my crib. Surprisingly, they stayed right there in the room and sat on the small bench. I didn't listen as they whispered about everything they did since the last time they saw each other a few days ago.

Since I was pretending to be asleep, I used my clairvoyance power to check in on the Cat ANBU and watched as she reported to her supervisor about me calling out to her. The man chuckled at her being paranoid, congratulated her on being cautious around the dangerous Jinchuriki, and told her to resume her post. Dog would be watching me next and I would completely ignore him.

*

Three days later, it was Cat's turn again and she chose a different tree that could still look in through the window to watch my comings and goings, since my tiny room didn't have a window. Yui was busy today with the other kids, so I was on my own. I took advantage of that and went to the window, opened it up, and climbed up to sit on the windowsill.

“Hi, Kitty!” I said and waved at the Cat ANBU, whom thought she was completely hidden.

She stiffened and stared at me, as if she wasn't sure what to do after being caught a second time. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

“Kitty play?” I asked and leaned out the window with my arms out to her. Being on the second floor and the window being fully open, I intentionally overbalanced and tumbled out the window into open air.

“NO!” Cat gasped and disappeared from the tree in a swirl of leaves and caught me about halfway down, landed with her feet on the building, and kicked off and flipped over to land in a crouching pose on the ground with me cuddled safely in her arms.

I giggled and held my arms up. “Again!”

Cat let out a sigh. She knew if she put me back inside the second floor window, I would jump and fully expect her to catch me a second time. However, she wasn't supposed to let anyone know she was watching me, so she also couldn't knock on the front door and bring me back inside to let the workers know what just happened.

“What am I going to do with you?” Cat asked me.

“Play.” I answered and pointed at the window.

“You can't keep jumping out the window, even if you know I'll save you when I can.” Cat warned me. “I won't always be here.”

I gave her a searching look and then used one hand to fold down two fingers on my other hand. “Fwee.” I said. “One, fwo, fwee.”

Cat caught her breath and her mind whirled as she went over the implications. She now knew that I knew she was there every three days and she thought furiously about how I could know that. Why was she wondering? Because her ability that got her into the ANBU special forces was because she was a sensor. She could detect subtle uses of chakra, by people, items, or traps, and was very good at it.

“How?” Cat asked me.

Just then, a leaf floated over to us and I reached out for it. It flew into my hand and stuck there. She gasped and stared as I put the leaf on my forehead and stuck it there. Since I wasn't using her version of chakra, energy that was native to this universe, she couldn't detect it being used.

I almost laughed at her shocked expression and wanted to tell her that chakra, or chi as most people thought of it, was just an expression of a person's personal energy. Since I was a blend of so many powers that duplicated and copied energy, and since my soul's lifespan could be measured in centuries, the personal chi I had could dwarf all other chi users combined, including the tailed beasts.

If I did adapt myself to the local chakra, which combined spiritual and physical energy, my divine body with Kryptonian properties would propel me leagues higher than I already was. That was why I had no problem selling off Kurama. I didn't need the borrowed energy to make myself powerful. The best part about that? The seal on my belly let me convert that energy for free.

“Again?” I asked and pointed at the window.

Cat shivered slightly and then shook her head. “No, you need to hide that you can do things like that.”

I reached up and touched her mask. “Kitty sad?”

“I don't want you having the same life I had, that others have had, growing up as an ANBU operative.” Cat said and paused for a moment, her thoughts conflicting, then she reached up and lifted her mask to show me her real face. “My name is Yugao Uzuki.”

“Pretty.” I said and reached up to pet her cheek.

Yugao blushed slightly. “You really are going to be a menace when you're older, aren't you?”

I let out a giggle and beamed a smile at her.

She chuckled and pulled her mask back down. “No more jumping out of windows.”

“Aww.” I pouted and she held me tightly as she walked up the side of the building. “Pider!”

Cat gave me a look and then realized what I meant. “I'm much better than a spider, Naruto. I have hands.” She said and slipped through the open window and sat me on the floor. She knelt for a moment and pet my hair, let out a satisfied sound at confirming Yui's reasons for enjoying it, then she bopped me on the nose with a finger. “No showing off.”

“Pider.” I said and pointed at the ceiling.

Cat let out a sigh of agreement and walked up the wall and onto the ceiling, then stood there with her hair hanging down and almost hit me in the face with it. I giggled happily and clapped, as I was supposed to, and she walked over to the window, still upside down, and slid out through the opening.

“Remember what I said.” Cat admonished me.

“Bye, Kitty!” I said and waved as she shut the window. I waited until she was back among the tree branches before I walked up the wall out of sight and down to the window.

She was still watching me, so I poked my head down into view, letting her see I was upside down, and waved to her. She slapped a hand to her forehead over her mask and I could almost hear her groan. I laughed and dropped down to the floor and went back to my room.

Now that I had a set schedule for visitors and watchers, all I needed to do was create a dummy of myself, transfigured to look like me, and then animate it to pretend I was sleeping. Those were fifth year spells from Hogwarts and very easy to do, which meant I could start my search for threats tomorrow night.

Dog was lazy and barely paid me any attention when on duty, and that worked in my favor. The others could be a bit of trouble if they saw me, or suspected I was leaving the orphanage on my own, so I needed to be careful with my movements.

Even silent and invisible, there were still signs of movement, either the environment or flow of energy. Just because I didn't produce it yet, that didn't mean they couldn't detect the absence. In any case, I had some clairvoyance checks to do and a few people to look in on when I was out and about. I wasn't going to waste the opportunity, either.

*

Danzo Shimura sat in his office and fumed over being denied access to the Jinchuriki. His retired Root operative running the orphanage had been disposed of before she could temper the child into being meek and compliant. He had also been denied official access to the child, thanks to his old friend Hiruzen putting his foot down about brainwashing the brat into being loyal to the village.

What was the difference between indoctrination at the academy and his methods of brutality and compliance? The scale and speed, of course. His worked after only 6 months and it took years at the ninja academy to beat the loyalty into the children's heads. They even raised the admittance to 6 years old, the fools. The younger they were when they started, the better it was for everyone.

He would have to hold off on any kidnappings and disappearances for a while, too. The old man had been keeping a closer eye on him than usual lately and he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he had a constantly rotating group of ROOT operatives patrolling the areas around the orphanages to snatch up any wanderers and had them tested for chakra.

He only authorized that operation twice a year, usually during noisy celebrations when no one would notice them going missing. He had only kept a few of them, too. It cost a lot of money to brainwash and house so many kids for enough years to train them up properly.

Each one was a significant investment into the future of Konoha's survival and worth the expense, which was why he was angry at being denied visiting the boy. A word or two in his ear early on, could mean the difference between cannon fodder and an elite ninja that would do anything for the village.

Was it amoral to manipulate a child? Yes, it was. Did it work? Most of the time. Hiruzen was just too stubborn and thought he could do it himself and have someone that was loyal the Konoha, instead of the obedient solder Danzo's methods guaranteed. That was what was wrong with intellectuals. They always thought they were right and you couldn't convince them otherwise.

Danzo pulled out a file on the Uchiha and how their members were starting to complain about being repressed and their authority cut back after they allowed the Kyuubi's rampage in the village, even if they hadn't been responsible. They were a police force, not an army trained to handle things like that.

However, it was something Danzo could use to cause unrest while his operatives kept spreading the rumors about the Kyuubi's container being the beast. With enough animosity, the child should be tormented into lashing out with his powers. If he did, then he became a problem for the civilian administration and they hated all the deaths the Nine-Tails caused during the massacre.

It would be child's play to assume responsibility for the boy and to take him in hand to teach him his proper place... as a weapon for the village to use against their enemies.