6. Old Records

Shikamaru was in a rather troublesome situation. It didn't interest him at all to accompany the Sixth Hokage to the records unit all the way out on the other side of Konoha.

Naruto was an orphan. Orphans were sent to the orphanage. Orphanages were poor due to the number of war orphans. They were a shinobi settlement. It was easy for many kids of shinobi to find themselves parentless.

Would the orphanages even have the funds required to take expensive, random pictures of the residents? Not likely.

The cameras back then were bulky and you needed to book the photographer in advance too.

Shikamaru bet that at most they would find some official size photos of him right after birth for his birth certificate and one on his academy application form.

Wait, why were they even looking for it in the first place? Why do these people always want to do so many troublesome things out of the blue? Was this even necessary? What would they even use the information for?

He envied Naruto who was allowed to have the rest of the day off by Kakashi.

Shikamaru would have started complaining by now. But for some reason, Kakashi's hurried pace made him silently follow.

Kakashi was restless. He didn't know why but it bothered him.

'How was Naruto as a baby?'

There was a blank space there.

He was Kushina's guard when she was pregnant with Naruto. He never saw him after he was born. The Kyuubi attack had taken away his teacher but he couldn't meet their orphan son.

He recalled the personal briefing the Third had given him before he proctored team 7's Genin test.

They were sitting in Naruto's kitchen, trying to learn about his personal habits before he was assigned to him.

The file had mentioned that Naruto joined in directly in the second year of the academy at the age of eight.

The academy had a total of four to five years. The first four years would make them eligible to take up governmental administrative jobs. The fifth year was specially for those who wanted to become Genin.

Most kids would enter the academy at six or seven depending on the month they were born.

Where was Naruto in that twelve year gap before he graduated?

No. Where was Naruto after he was born and before he attended the academy?

That period of eight years was a blank space in his years of knowing Naruto.

He needed to know. There weren't any other adults in Naruto's early life besides Iruka and the late Third Hokage. At least to his knowledge there were no others besides the ANBU.

But he was in the ANBU too so he knew all those who monitored Naruto along with him while he stayed at that old apartment. That apartment was one thing that tied Naruto to his father and it was Lord Third who granted Naruto the right to stay there again.

It might just be his burning curiosity that was ignited after years of relative peace that made him act like so.

Information was a ninja's bread and butter. That was the whole reason shinobis came into existence in the first place.

Shinobi were needed to procure information from enemies for the Fedual Lord they served. All the jutsus they invented were a by-product of that need. They had a completely different role from warriors before the advent of jutsus made them take more versatile roles.

And so, Kakashi had to know.

The record units was like a library of scrolls but it was built underground. There were four basement levels each classified into grades.

Grade One was the closest to the surface and had records of matters related to civilians like land ownerships and court cases. Grades Two to Three contained matters of government and census.

Grade Four had more confidential files and had restricted access.

  None of Naruto's similar aged peers had access here besides Nara Shikamaru since being Hokage's assistant was close enough to being Hokage himself. Also, he was a part of the Intelligence division along with Yamanaka Ino so that too played a part on how he easily had most information right at his fingertips.

They went to the aisles where the Index birth records were kept. Each scroll recorded five years of births.

Scroll No.10, October 10th, Year of Sorrow, the day of the Kyuubi attack.

Shikamaru nimbly pulled out the scroll and instantly unrolled and unsealed the component with the birth indexes. There it was:

Namikaze Naruto

Father's Name: Namikaze Minato

Mother's Name: Uzumaki Kushina.

Date of Birth: 10/10

Witness: Sarutobi Biwako, Taji

Place of Birth: Cave of...

...

...

..

Attached: Certificate for Change Of Name...

There were just three panels. A birth record signed by the Third Hokage, a name change document stating Namikaze Naruto to have changed to Uzumaki Naruto, and a Proof of Guardianship with a red stamp saying 'REVOKED'.

The guardian named was Sarutobi Hiruzen.