"Mom is the captain?"

"Yes, she is incredibly good at her job. She can finish multiple days of work in a couple of hours. Most of my work gets funnelled through her before getting to me for final authorization. Enough about that now, you need to go to your new posts." Said the Hokage while waving us off.

We exited the office and went to speak with my mom.

When she noticed us walking out of the office, she said "Sooo... what did you say?"

"Oh, so you already knew?" I asked.

"Of course. What? Did you think the Hokage would offer you such a job without me knowing about it? Besides I do most of his work anyway, so nothing happens without me knowing about it." She said, smiling while resting her head on her palm.

"Yeah, he already told us. You're a much bigger deal than I thought. Anyways, what do we do now?"

Mom had the widest gloating smile I've ever seen her make. "Okay, okay, can you just tell me what we'll be doing already."

Mom finally cleared her throat and got serious. "Okay, memorize the location on this map and burn it then go there to receive your uniforms and training. You need to know the scope of the job before you're allowed to work." She handed me a scroll.

I opened the scroll and memorized the location on the map. It seems to be on top of the Hokage mountain, in a round white building with a red roof. There was a description of how to get inside the building in the scroll and what to do.

We ran to that location and made it there in 5 minutes. Once inside, I gave the code phrase and a secret entrance opened up. There we were guided by an Anbu in an animal mask. He directed us to a door, he instructed us to go inside where we saw someone sitting behind a desk. Most of his features were hidden, he wore a big white cloak to cover his body and a white dog mask with 3 purple triangles. One on each side of the mask, and one on the forehead of the mask all pointing towards the center of the mask.

We simply waited for attention in front of his desk while he continued to work. We stayed like that for 6 hours before he finally said anything.

"Good, you guys passed the first test. Anbu is all about discipline, loyalty, and following orders. Your loyalty has already been proven by the Hokage, otherwise, he would not have recommended you to join the Anbu and to protect him no less. We'll see how well you do at following orders on the job. Discipline was the last thing left to test before I allowed you to join. Welcome to the Anbu Black Ops, your instructor will be waiting outside."

"Thank you, sir." We all said simultaneously and walked out.

Once we were outside we saw a man with a dog mask that had two red whisker marks and eye holes outlined in red as well. He had silver hair and was wearing the Anbu uniform. All he said was, "Follow me."

We followed him through an extensive maze-like system. We saw multiple training centers and administration buildings, cafeterias and arsenals. But only in passing not enough to completely take it in. We finally stopped at what looked to be changing rooms.

"Your uniforms are inside, get changed." Was all he said, before Aiko could voice her complaints he sent her a glare that shut her up. Inside there was a curtain to separate the room in two, we got changed quickly and went outside. We followed the man again to wide open space. There were 3 other people waiting there, a big burly man, a man with brown hair, and a boy my height. I only recognized Itachi and Kakashi, the man who was showing us around.

"You will train here, and once I've determined that you are competent enough to protect the Hokage will you get your tattoo and mask."

"Yes sir." We said.

__________

Haruki POV

Shin should be going through the Anbu initiation, maybe I should go and meet Mikoto? We have quite a bit in common and Naruto can be friends with her child. YES! I'll finally have a friend the same age as me! I should call Naruto and we'll go right now! Wait, no! I have to let her know first.

Should I send a letter? What if she thinks I'm weird? You know what? I'll take Naruto to the park and see if I can see her.

"NARUTO! Let's go, we're going to the park!" I yelled to get the boy's attention, whenever he's training it's like he enters his own world.

He walked out of his room with a find in his ear saying, "Yeah, yeah, I get already. Do you have to scream every day?"

I grabbed him by the ear and said, "Okay you brat, do I have to teach you about manners again?" Naruto is a very outgoing child, very bright and cheerful. But he's also really... how should I put this lightly? Unpredictable? Straightforward? He doesn't bother with anything that doesn't interest him.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, I get it, I'm sorry!"

"Go get changed," I said.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" He said.

"It's cold and those are home clothes, now come on, chop chop." I've had a tough time raising Naruto, he never listens to what I say. That's why I'm more physical with him. Shin was really mature and well-mannered so I never really had to punish him or teach him about how to behave in public. He just knew. I'm sure everything will work out and I'm overthinking things, he looks up to Shin after all. But I can't help but worry, and he has this way of pushing my buttons.

Once he finished changing, we headed out to the park. Once we entered the park Naruto immediately started running to play. While I sat down on an empty bench.

Someone then approached me and asked, "Can I sit here?" I looked up and saw a woman my age with black hair and eyes.

"Sure thing," I replied.

"My name is Mikato, nice to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Haruki," I said. "So which one is yours?"

"He's the boy with black hair on the slide. Yours?"

"Mine is, the blonde on the slide as well."

I waited a bit before asking.

"Do you have other children perchance?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you look like my son's friend Itachi."

"Oh, you're Shin's mother? My son has talked about him. He mentioned how strong he is and that he understands him." She said.

"Well he's always been too smart for his own good, but a few years ago he just became really mature. I think it was after Itachi and Shisui came to his birthday party."

"Is that so? By the way, I've been meaning to ask, where did you get that dress? It looks gorgeous!"

We started talking about anything and everything after and she invited me to her house and she told me to bring Naruto as well. She told me that she wanted to adopt him and was glad that someone did. It turns out that we both were friends with Kushina but we never got to meet before she passed, unfortunately.