The Wood Release Boy Joins the Ranks, and the Anbu Captain Gets a Splitting Headache

Konoha.

Inside the spacious Hokage office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned through the documents in his hands, page after page.

Kakashi led several people upstairs.

As the door opened, Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head, his gaze lingering on the unfamiliar face.

"Lord Hokage, this is A. He used to be in Root."

Kakashi's tone was level.

"Root?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow twitched.

How had they gone out on a mission and come back with someone from Root?

He felt something was off.

His expression darkened, and he listened carefully as Kakashi recounted the entire mission from beginning to end.

"..."

"That's everything."

Kakashi laid out each incident without rushing.

"I see."

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a while before speaking.

"I had no idea you'd run into so much trouble along the way."

How much had that rascal Danzo kept from him over the past few years?

Light and darkness had always grown side by side.

He had always thought that arrangement worked well enough, turning a blind eye.

After all, both of them worked for Konoha's sake.

But lately, Danzo had been overreaching.

Having made up his mind, Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly turned his gaze toward A.

So this was the child who had been hidden away?

A Wood Release ninja.

The village needed precisely that kind of power right now.

Naruto was six, and the risk of the Nine-Tails going berserk would only increase as he grew older.

Wood Release happened to be capable of suppressing the Nine-Tails.

"A?"

"Child, from today onward, you will be one of Konoha's roots."

"And that means you ought to have a name."

"'Wa' means peace, harmony, and freedom from discord. On a small scale, it means peace. On a broader scale, harmony. At its greatest, it is the way all things ought to be."

"Yamato. What do you think of that name?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face glowed with warmth.

Yamato.

Once A understood where the name came from, an indescribable feeling welled up in his chest.

He nodded gently, the corners of his mouth lifting a little.

Arms folded across his chest, Uchiha Satoru leaned against the wall and shook his head as he watched A's expression shift several times.

This old man really knew his stuff.

No wonder he could hold the Hokage's seat.

He had the art of talking down pat.

A few days later.

Uchiha Satoru wandered over to the rendezvous point, munching on Three-Color Dango.

"Hey, rookie! What are you, a snail?"

The man in ninja gear with a head full of tight curls was fuming.

He was Naoya Kuchiki, the captain for this mission.

He had disliked this new ANBU recruit from the very start.

Since when had the ANBU become so lax that they would let an eight-year-old kid in?

At eight, even making Genin would be quite an achievement.

What gave an eight-year-old the right to walk through these doors?

This wasn't a bunch of children playing in the mud. People could actually die here.

He had hoped the boy would have enough sense not to hold everyone back.

Instead, Uchiha Satoru was late for his very first mission.

Naoya Kuchiki had little patience to begin with, and that sent him straight over the edge.

"What's the rush? I'm right on time, aren't I?"

Uchiha Satoru yawned, his words coming out just as slowly.

What a pain. Wasn't getting promoted supposed to mean not having to work anymore?

Who knew he'd end up with even more work instead?

Had he played himself?

As he pondered that, he popped the last dango into his mouth.

Seeing his behavior, Naoya Kuchiki's face turned black as the bottom of a pot.

"We're on a mission! At least look alive!"

He had never seen anyone like this in the ANBU.

Displeasure radiated from Naoya Kuchiki.

"All right, Captain."

Beside him, Kiyota Sato grinned.

"You haven't gone over the details of this mission yet."

In truth, everyone already knew what they were supposed to do, even without the captain explaining it.

But to keep Naoya Kuchiki from getting any angrier, they might as well let him go through it again.

Naoya Kuchiki pressed a hand to his forehead and reined in his temper.

"Our assignment this time..."

"In any case, it's not particularly difficult. Just stay alert."

He added that last remark to give everyone a little encouragement.

As he finished speaking, everyone nodded in unison.

This time, Uchiha Satoru also fell into formation properly.

But when Naoya Kuchiki looked at how much shorter he was than the other ANBU members, and how completely out of place he looked, his head started buzzing again.

He had a feeling this kid was going to be trouble.

Hopefully nothing would go wrong on this mission!