Chapter 4

(Hokage Office)

Iruka took the appointment to meet Hokage.

And he was granted a meeting...

"So I understand that you have some concerns about Shiro," the Hokage said after the preamble. "I know he has quite the reputation as a bad Kid, is he making trouble again?"

Iruka shook his head. "I'm not here to complain about Shiro, Hokage-sama. I'm here to know why have you fill his form in the guardian's place.

Hokage smiled, "That's not for you to know Iruka. Anything else"

"Please sir, It's very important. Is there something I don't know about Shiro"

"Iruka--

"Naruto I understand. Considering he is Jin... anyway, Shiro, I need to know about him, What makes his twisted mentality towards trusting people"

"Iruka Listen---

"Sir, If something happe---

"Do not interrupt me when I am talking"

"S-Sorry"

"As I said, There is nothing you need to know about Shiro's past... You can leave if that's all you wanted to say"

Iruka took a deep breath

"I have been quite concerned about him. He's very bright, and, despite his grades, seems to be well ahead of most of the rest of the class. I don't know how smart he is, because he refuses to show it, though he doesn't fake being stupid with me anymore. I know he could be one of the best students in the class if he'd just try, but no matter what I say, he won't."

Iruka took a moment to calm himself down, his voice was rising, and he did not dare to shout at the Hokage, no matter how frustrated he was.

Hokage Just sat there puffing his smoke pipe listening to someone who said he cared about Shiro despite his foul mouth sure is something

"From things he's said and my observations, I think he's holding back so that his classmates will underestimate him, and he's put an incredible amount of work into it. And it's working. I've asked a few of his classmates what they think of him, and the general opinion is that he's really rude, and not very bright, and he'll never amount to much. The only thing Shiro seems to be good at is telling lies to people. Just from one real conversation with him, I can tell that he's serious to a fault and smarter that most, if not all, of his classmates".

"I... I don't want to say it, but I am forced to, I think Shiro is the spy of another village, a plant maybe"

Hokage tapped the table with his fingers while intently listening to Iruka

"Is that all?"

"w-what"

"Shiro is not a plant of another Nation, Nor is he ever going to betray his Home, Iruka, Shiro despite his attitude and short-comings is the most gentle soul you could ever know, and He cares for his friends"

"Shiro has no friends"

"Not, in the traditional sense of words"

"What?"

Hokage chuckled at Iruka confused face

"Leave Iruka, I have some work to do"

"Sir, Can't you tell me please tell me why is he like this?"

"Well, things happened, some messed up things, in his childhood days, and If I am allowed to say one thing, then I would say, he is in Pain Iruka... he is always in pain"

"What do you mean?"

-------

(At Orphanage)

Shiro was tossing around in his bed grinding his teeth and tightly clenching the bed sheet

"I can't sleep like this damn it"

Shiro was in constant pain ever since his life was saved by turning him into a snow zombie

"At least the Ice inside of me keeps rejuvenating my energy"

He picked up the Book on the side of the bed, Since He can't sleep now, maybe he will be more efficient in reading.

Next Day, Iruka Called Shiro in his office

"What have I done now?", he asked feeling wrong

"When have I said that you did something wrong... today"

"B-But you always call me to give me punishment"

Iruka Chuckle at that

"Well, Congrats, Shiro I never really thought you'd be breaking that record"

Grrr...

Iruka Giggled

'He is in Pain Iruka, He is always in pain'

Iruka Decided he needs to add more people into Shiro's zone... and He started with his Friend Mizuki

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Just Like that 2 Years Have been Passed by and he was 12

The Year of Graduation

-------

(2 Days before graduation)

Mizuki was thinking for who to dupe for the mission of getting the scroll, there were two options, one is Naruto, the boy is an idiot and he can be duped easily but there are slight chances that the boy could never complete the mission, another person was Shiro although tough to dupe but there was a slightly more chance that he will complete the mission

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"You wanted to speak with me, Mizuki-sensei?" Shiro asked, using his public voice. They were in the teacher's office after school, and Iruka wasn't present, having other business elsewhere.

He looked at the older man, interested in what's going on.

Mizuki was one of the people who knew he hid his true skill and had been present for some of Iruka's informal tutoring sessions where he tried to gauge Shiro's abilities.

Mizuki tapped the edges of a stack of papers until they made a neat pile, then lay them on his desk in a tray. "I have a special assignment for you, Shiro."

Shiro nodded brightly. He liked special assignments. Some of them were hard as hell, but he'd learned valuable information from every special assignment he'd ever been given. And he'd never given up, he'd completed them all.

"Your grades are horrible, Shiro. You know that. I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but grades have a lot to do with your final assignments as a shinobi, not just passing the academy. Students particularly gifted at math are training in business, finance, or cryptography. Students with tracking skills often get assigned to teams designed to make maximum use of those skills. And grades are our way of determining those skills."

"You know I've deliberately failed those tests, though."

Mizuki nodded. "Yes, we're aware that you're much more than you appear to be. If we had a column in our grade books for 'deceiving and manipulating classmates, teachers, and all of Konoha', well, I'd be the first to mark down an 'A'."

Shiro allowed himself a small grin.

Mizuki grinned back, although his grin was a great deal more rueful. "I'll admit it, kid, you're the best I've ever seen at infiltration your age. You even had me fooled for the longest time."

He paused.

"But, you're so good, no one who hasn't seen your abilities wouldn't believe it. And teacher recommendations only go so far. Any jonin looking to take a genin team will look at grades first"

"And yours are so bad most of them are going to just look right over you."

O_O

"Yes, because you deserve better than that, it's been decided to give you a special makeup test, to show what you can do. This will ensure you get picked by a jonin-sensei based on your real skills, so you need to do your best."

He gave Shiro a cryptic smile.

"But you shouldn't have any trouble. After all, this is a solo mission, and your goal is to be unobserved. No one to break cover too."

Shiro frowned. That sounded a bit condescending.

Mizuki noticed his expression, then hastened to explain. "You're getting a mission based on a simple mission type. Locate and retrieve. There is a scroll of powerful jutsu in the Hokage tower, that is your target. Your goal is to sneak in, get the scroll, verify that it does contain jutsu, get out, and return it to me"

"For this mission, I will be a sleeper agent, going about my daily life. Your primary goal is to get the scroll to me without compromising my identity. Your secondary goal is to avoid compromising your identity. Should you be chased, do not lead pursuers to my location until you have avoided them."

Shiro looked eager for the first time Mizuki had ever seen.

"Where should I meet you?"

"I will be waiting for you at training ground six at one in the morning. You have all evening and half of the night to complete your task."

"This is a difficult mission," Shiro said thoughtfully. "What support do I have?"

"It is a difficult mission. You don't think you make up for years of barely passing grades with just an essay, do you?" Mizuki replied sarcastically.

"You have no support. Think of it this way, this mission is the result of a long series of near-failures. Your only hope to make up for it is to complete your mission with distinction. No backup. No support but what you can create on your own." He gave the blond a cruel smile.

"Of course, if you aren't that good, I guess we can-"

"No!" Shiro all but shouted. "I just wanted to be clear on the situation. I can do this." His eyes positively blazed. "I will do this. Now tell me about the scroll. Where is it and what does it look like."

Mizuki smiled

-------

Hinata wandered the streets aimlessly, sticking close to the tower. She was excited, because of Naruto, bored, because of Naruto and happy, because of Naruto. What a great day. (She is a retarded girl in love)

She cheered silently when the tower suddenly burst into a silent buzz of activity, masked ninja flickering in and out so fast she honestly couldn't follow some of them.

Surprisingly, a stern voice ANBU in a frowning lizard mask appeared in front of her almost immediately.

"State your name and affiliation," the cold voice demanded.

Hinata shivered at the restrained killing intent. Whoever this person was behind the mask, they were not happy. "A-ano, Hinata Hyuga. I-I-I'm an a-academy st-Student," she said hesitantly.

"Do know Shiro the orphan from Konoha?"

"Y-yes, I-I k-know S-Shiro-kun," she replied. "W-we're in the same c-class in the academy."

"Have you seen Shiro?"

She nodded, and in an instant a hand as hard as steel gripped her arm.

"Where is he?"

Hinata froze. "I-I-I…"

"Hey, that's one of my students!" came a call from the street behind them.

They both turned to see Mizuki and Iruka running towards them.