Behind the Waterfall

#8 Waterfall

"How was your training?" Akaru asked, as Naruto and he walked towards their stall to set up for the day.

"It was alright, I did some cardio and a bit of chakra practice. Also I met Fuu again." Naruto summarized, a small smile on his lips as he watched the sun rise.

"Fuu?"

"The green haired girl that almost ran us over at the gates. She was also in the village leader's office when we brought him his order." Naruto elaborated, as they pulled the front of the stall up, opening up the counter and giving it a bit of shade.

"Ah, yeah, I know who you mean. How did you meet?" Akaru asked, putting some of the herbs on the countertop.

"She came to the training ground I was using. We talked for a bit, before she left again." Naruto didn't want to tell his friend that she had been spying on him. He didn't want to cause any trouble for the girl, if Akaru decided to tell the village leader about it.

"That sounds nice. She seemed nice as well." The black haired man stated.

Naruto was just packing in an order when he saw the two masked shinobi walk up to the stall. Looking at Akaru, he saw that the man was busy talking with another customer. Handing the order to the elderly man, he smiled as he turned to the two ninja.

"What can I get you?" He asked, feeling both of their stares on him.

"Are you Naruto?" The taller of the two asked, their hands resting seemingly calm on the hilts of their tantos.

"Yes..." Naruto answered, not really feeling comfortable. How did they even know his name?

"You need to come with us. The village leader would like to speak with you."

"What is the problem?" Akaru intervened, looking at the two Anbu.

"The village leader wants to talk with your assistant." Akaru was silent for a few moments, thinking.

"Best go with them. I don't think that he wants anything bad, he would have sent more shinobi in that case." The old man reasoned. He smiled, somehow making Naruto not comfortable with the amount of trust he put into his evaluation of the young leader.

Walking out of the stall, the blonde nodded, as the two masked shinobi flanked him.

"Hello Naruto, come in, take a seat." The village leader greeted him, as Naruto stepped into his office. The two Anbu stayed outside for the time being.

"You wanted to see me?" The blonde asked, sitting down in front of the large desk.

"Yes. I was notified that you are a trained shinobi. Is that true?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. Fuu was the only one that could have reported it to the man in front of him. The two guards only knew that he used to go to Konoha's academy, but they didn't know if he had passed or not.

"Yes, it is." Naruto answered carefully.

"Well, as you can see, my village is relatively small. That means that there aren't a lot of children born each year, of which not all want to become shinobi. This means that we have to rely on traveling, trained men or women to fill up our ranks, so that we can protect our village." The Kage explained, standing up and looking over the village. Naruto didn't really react, listening quietly already guessing where this was going.

"So I wanted to ask you if you want to join our forces.I heard a lot about your talents and skills and a shinobi with your capabilities would be very welcome here." The man suggested, turning around and looking at Naruto with a smile.

"What if I refuse?" Naruto asked, hoping to get a bit more information about the person that had betrayed him.

"I won't force you to stay." Was the black haired man's only response.