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Time skip, one year later;
A year has passed since Naruto joined the Anbu force under the code name Ryuu. A lot has happened since then. He had gone on patrols in the village, outside it, and on the border. Stopped illegal entries to the land of fire and eliminated those who tried to infiltrate it.
Naruto, along with Team Ro, were assigned various tasks, such as finding spies, tracking them, and either questioning them or outright assassinating them.
Outside the Anbu, Naruto's life remained as usual, training hard, learning and mastering justu, and spending time with his mother and little sister.
Another thing that happened in the past year is that Naruto was able to have another summoning animal from the summoning scroll of the Shikkotsu Forest.
He had summoned Katsuyu and asked her for which animal clan to approach that could help him in his Anbu duties. Duties that consist of and are not limited to high-risk missions, assassinations, espionage, tracking, surveillance, and protecting the village from threats. And Katsuyu recommended one fearsome animal clan.
The Dire wolves.
A species so fearsome in the summoning world, for their intelligence, fearlessness, ferocity, loyalty, and intimidating size. A regular young dire wolf is at least two to three times the size of a regular wolf. The older and stronger they get, the larger their bodies get.
Flashback;
When Naruto had time to go meet the dire wolves for the first time, Katsuyu reverse summoned him into the Shikkotsu Forest before giving him a miniature version of herself that led him towards where the Dire wolves were.
Naruto has underestimated how big the Shikkotsu Forest is, as after jumping through trees for what felt like hours, Naruto reached a sort of border in the forest, where it started to get covered by snow. Katsuyu said that they have entered the dire wolves' territory.
The snow thickened the deeper they traveled into the wolves' territory, and there seemed to be a heavy snowstorm going on as the visibility was very bad due to the heavy snowfall and the screaming fast winds. The cold didn't discomfort Naruto as he jumped from tree to tree.
Suddenly, Naruto heard a faint sound through the roars of the cold, freezing winds, making him stop.
Naruto looked around him, eyeing the tall, snow-covered tree and white ground, looking for the source of the sound. Seeing nothing, Naruto was about to concentrate on sensing chakra when he heard the sound again. A faint, weak howl echoed weakly through the snow-covered forest. As Naruto concentrated his senses on where the sound originated, he could sense a small chakra signature that felt so small and weak that Naruto needed to concentrate to find it. That is how faint the chakra signature is.
Following the location of the chakra signature, Naruto reached an open space between the trees that was covered in snow. His eyes fell on a patch of black fur that was almost completely covered with snow. The contrast between the black fur and the white snow made it easy to spot.
He could hear whimpering coming from beneath the snow that was followed by a weak howl, significantly weaker than the last one.
Reaching into the snow, Naruto dug out an unconscious wolf pup with fur darker than a moonless night.
"That is a dire wolf pup. What is he doing here?" Katsuyu said with worry in her tone
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked
"This pup looks to be between 3 and 5 weeks old, so he should be with his mother. Dire wolf females are very protective of their pups, so finding one alone in the middle of a snowstorm is unthinkable." Katsuyu said
"Maybe this little one wandered off alone before getting lost. And looking at how strong this snowstorm is, I think it would be hard for his mother to find him." Naruto said
"That seems to be the case. But for now, Naruto, you need to help this little one as his condition is bad." Katsuyu said, to which Naruto nodded before putting the little one inside his vest to introduce warmth before he stood up and started looking for a place to take shelter from the snowstorm.
He knows that the pup is in a bad condition as his body temperature is low, along with his deteriorating biometrics.
A few minutes later, in a large hollow tree;
Naruto sat in the warmth of a fire that he made with some dead wood logs and a small fire release jutsu. In front of him was the little dire wolf pup wrapped in a warm blanket, which was put near the fire at a comfortable distance. Naruto had dried the little pup's fur and warmed him up until he was no longer in danger.
"What should we do now?" Naruto asked Katsuyu, who was on his shoulder.
"We should wait until the storm passes and the pup wakes up. Then we can make our way to where the dire wolves live." Katsuyu said
"That sounds good," Naruto said.
After a couple of minutes of silence and the sound of the fire crackling, the little pup started to wake up. He raised his head and started looking around before his eyes fell on Naruto.
Blue sapphire eyes looked into two curious and uncertain orange-red eyes.
"Hey there, little guy. You almost didn't make it." Naruto said as he reached for the little pup.
The pup whimpered slightly as Naruto held him up to check on him. He moved around weakly, trying to make Naruto let go of him, as he didn't see someone like Naruto in his life and was afraid that Naruto was going to hurt him. But he soon calmed down when he felt Naruto's tender care and the warm feeling Naruto radiated.
But soon he started to whiper again as his little stomach started to make some sounds.
"You are hungry, aren't you? What should I feed you?" Naruto asked as he looked at the little pup
"He should be old enough to eat meat, but not old enough to eat it on his own," Katsuyu said
"Got it," Naruto said
Naruto then unseals a piece of raw meat that makes the little pup excited. Naruto then used a Kunai to cut the meat into very small pieces before feeding them to the little pup, who ate them vigorously.
After the little pup had his fill, he climbed on Naruto's lap before falling asleep. And for the next hour or so, Naruto sat there in the warmth of the fire, stroking the little one's fur softly while waiting for the storm to pass.
After the storm passed, Naruto carried the little one in a blanket before leaving the hollow tree and made his way towards the den of the dire wolves.
Flashback end;
This is how Naruto met the Dire wolves and their leader, Hikaru. Hikaru, a gigantic dire wolf with snow-white fur, and his mate, Yukio, were extremely thankful to Naruto for helping the little pup, Kagehisa, as he was their child who had wandered off before the snowstorm hit. Yukio was even more grateful that Naruto took care of her child and fed him. She was devastated to find out her child was missing and had spent the entire time looking for him in the snowstorm, with her heart breaking every minute she couldn't find him, as she feared she would never see her child again.
After, Naruto was able to get the Dire wolves to agree easily to be his summons without even needing Katsuyu to vouch for him, saying that he is now part of the pack since he helped one of them.
Present time, The Hokage's office;
Hiruzen sat behind his office desk, smoking his pipe while looking at what was in front of him.
In front of the Hokage, Team Ro stood shoulder to shoulder with two people bound with ninja wire, and kneeling in front of the team while facing Hiruzen.
Aoi Rokushō and Idate Morino. These two were hunted down and captured by Team Ro for stealing and leaving the village, effectively becoming deserters.
What they stole was the Sword of the thunder god. A sword made by the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
The two would have gone away with it and escaped if not for Naruto's sensory abilities and the two pack that were hunting them. Ryuu's dire wolves and Inu's dogs.
Idate sat there looking, sad, lost and defeated while staring at the ground, while Aoi had a look of false parvo on his face that would have been believable to regular people if not for him shaking and looking burned with lightning.
Let's just say that his decision to pick a fight with the Ryuu and Inu was a bad idea. Even with the second Hokage's sword with him.
Nothing comes from a good sword if it's welder is inadequate.
"Good job, Team Ro," Hiruzen said, confirming the completion of another A-rank mission.
"Where is the Sword?" Hiruzen asked
Ryuu walked forward before giving a sealing scroll to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen opened the scroll before unsealing the Sword and holding it. He looked at it for a moment with nostalgia in his eyes before sealing it back in the scroll and handing the scroll back to Ryuu.
"Be sure to deliver it to Tsunade for safekeeping. It is her family's heirloom, and it was stolen from the Hokage building once already." Hiruzen said, to which Ryuu nodded
"You are dismissed, and be sure to send these two to Ibiki," Hiruzen said
Upon hearing this, Idate's face filled with more sadness while Aoi's face turned white.
"NO, NO. Anyone but Ibiki." Aoi screamed with a fear-filled voice, but fell on deaf ears as the two prisoners and Team Ro disappeared from the Hokage's office.
Ten minutes later, in front of the Hospital director;
Ryu appeared in a swirl of leaves right in front of the door.
Something has changed in him for the past year. He is now ten years old. His body grew taller, needing to change his Anbu uniform twice, and a lethal Katana now rested on his back.
The Yamato.
He had made quite a reputation for himself in the Anbu, being known for his efficiency, speed, power, and vast skill set.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
"Come in." A familiar female voice came from inside the room
Ryuu pushed the door open before walking inside and closing it.
"Evening Tsunade-sama. Hokage-sama wanted me to deliver this to you." Ryuu said in a flat tone, looking at Tsunade with Shizune standing beside her.
Ryuu handed her the storage scroll before disappearing in a body flicker.
Tsunade looked at where Ryuu was standing before turning her attention towards the storage scroll. She smiled slightly after unsealing its contents and seeing it.
"Isn't that Nidaime-sama's sword?" Shizune asked with fascination.
"Yes, it is," Tsunade said before putting the sword away.
She rested her back on the seat and looked at the ceiling. She smiled softly as her fingers played with the Emerald pendant necklace around her neck.
She knew exactly who that Anbu operative was; she had known for a long time. The same person who gave her this pendant around her neck on her last birthday.
A good mother would always know her child, no matter what he wore or how much he changed.
To be continued.
Guys and Gals, show me those powerstones.
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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
'200 power stones if you want an additional chapter with next week's release.'
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Thank you all for your support.
2053 words
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