[Flashback – Naruto: Age 5]
Danzo walked with young Naruto through the underground hideout of Root, Konoha's secret organization.
"Naruto, you must remain inconspicuous in the village. Don't let anyone know you're receiving training from me. Understood?" Naruto nodded silently and continued walking beside him. "I personally oversee your training, but an essential part of being a ninja is teamwork. This is where you'll learn how to work with others."
"Yes, Grandpa Danzo." Naruto replied firmly.
Danzo looked at Naruto, hiding his irritation at the familiar title. He understood that Naruto used it to express affection, yet he remained conflicted—was it better for the boy to see him as family, ensuring loyalty, or to maintain the distance and respect other subordinates showed him? For now, he'd just have to accept it.
"Need I repeat myself?"
"No, Lord Danzo." Naruto responded without expression. Danzo could tell how reluctant Naruto was to attach that honorific to anyone's name, but such things could not be changed overnight. Eventually, Naruto would grow accustomed to calling him Lord Danzo—or so he believed.
Danzo led Naruto into a room that looked like a training hall. A boy about his age sat cross-legged in the center.
The boy had short black hair and wore a loose black long-sleeved shirt and pants. He also wore a plain white mask, prompting Naruto to wonder if he, too, would need one.
Before Naruto could ask about a mask, Danzo barked, "Begin!"
Before Naruto could react, his similarly sized opponent launched a sudden attack from their sitting position and sent him crashing to the floor.
After the brief but intense taijutsu exchange between the two children, Danzo commanded harshly, "Enough!"
He stepped between them.
"Naruto, this is Maki. You will work with her. Train, eat, and complete missions together. Do you understand?" Naruto nodded. "Maki, do you understand? You will work with Naruto as your sole partner." She nodded, looking at Naruto through the eye holes of her mask. "Good."
[End Flashback]
Now he finally remembered. Maki was the only person in Root he considered even vaguely familiar.
He said "vaguely familiar" rather than "friend" because Maki had barely spoken to him at all.
He'd never seen Maki outside the hideout except during missions, and even then she always spoke in brief, hushed tones.
He'd never seen what she looked like beneath her mask.
But Danzo never reused codenames. If this girl was truly the same Maki from his childhood, then her name had been chosen deliberately.
This Maki was his age but considerably shorter, barely reaching five feet tall while he already stood at five feet eleven inches.
She had certainly grown—she no longer wore the oversized clothes of her youth.
She wore tight black pants, black sandals, and a black high-collared shirt identical to Sai's. One sleeve was long, while the other had been completely removed, with the zipper running from her shoulder down to her abdomen, revealing the mesh vest underneath and part of her chest.
Her dark gray eyes were quite sharp—hardly surprising, given she was the same girl who had trained alongside him in their childhood.
Her once-short black hair had grown out, reaching down her neck and braided into two long plaits trailing behind her back.
There was no doubt about it—she was definitely a girl, and rather than wear a mask, she wore it tied around her waist.
"Hello, Maki," Naruto said, trying to push himself off the ground, though he now fully felt the pain from his wounds. "How have you been lately?" he added.
The girl helped him to his feet and gently guided him back to the bed.
"I've always been well, Senior," she replied, pushing him gently back onto the mattress. "Since your capture and subsequent sealing, Danzo-sama saw no need for me to complete the final stage of emotional conditioning."
"What stage is that?" Naruto asked, trying to sit up but being pressed back down by Maki's delicate hand.
Her piercing gray eyes met his blue ones.
"The life-or-death battle between us."
Wait—would he really have fought Maki back then? An eight-year-old Naruto would've killed an eight-year-old Maki.
She was indeed exceptional, keeping pace with his training, but every fight between them ended with him victorious.
He was the jinchuriki personally mentored by the Hokage, while she was merely a well-trained little girl—still nothing more than a child.
"I wasn't given that part of the training either because Danzo-sama wanted someone who wouldn't form a deep bond with me, even if some connection existed. The same approach was taken when Sai's senior partner, Shin, passed away from illness before their evaluation began."
Naruto nodded, wondering why Maki refused to let him sit up, when suddenly he felt blood rising in his throat.
Maki shook her head, molded several hand seals, and a soft green glow emanated from her hands. [Mystical Palm Technique]... Honestly, Senior, you're just as stubborn as ever."
Lying still on the bed, Naruto remained motionless as Maki treated his injured organs.
"You still haven't answered my question, Maki. How exactly did you manage to rescue us from there?"
A smile appeared on Maki's face, unusual against her normally serious expression.
"We were never far from your side, Senior." Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "Sai Senior and I, along with a Root ninja squad. Did you truly believe Amegakure's army attacked you at full strength? That's because we were already in position, neutralizing most of their forces the moment you were identified. The fight you caused inside the village with that Akatsuki member caused significant chaos."
Naruto coughed out some remaining blood.
"Danzo-sama dispatched a squad? He actually deployed fifty shinobi to Amegakure just to extract me?" Maki shook her head. "Then what was their mission?"
Maki wiped away the blood from his lips.
"We weren't sent there for you in the first place. Danzo dispatched a team to exploit the internal conflict in Amegakure with orders to assassinate Hanzo… but he was already dead. We only found out the war had ended once we arrived—killed by the one who defeated you and Master Jiraiya: Pain. As we were preparing to withdraw, you were found. Senior Sai made the call on the spot to rescue you. In every aspect, this mission was actually a success; even if we hadn't rescued you, Hanzo was already dead, and we only lost thirteen of the fifty-five dispatched."
"You retreated with me," Naruto said. "But what about that old toad who was with Ero-Sennin?"
Maki placed the promised syringe beside Naruto's bed and stood up.
"He's been keeping vigil at Master Jiraiya's bedside. He said he wants to wait until you wake up. And he's not the only one waiting to see you. Still, you can go see him first." She walked toward the door and pointed at a rack in the corner of the room. "There are some clean clothes over there; your old ones were completely destroyed. Also..." She paused and smiled at Naruto. "It's really good to see you again, Senior. I missed you."
Naruto blinked, caught off guard.
"She missed me? How was that even possible? They barely talked, and weren't especially close—at least, not from his perspective. Hell, he hadn't even realized she was a girl until much later."
"So you do have feelings then? You're not like Sai, who used to act like a wall... Well, back before I started interacting with him. That must be Root's issue—we don't get much time to interact with others, so the few we do spend time with become people we form attachments to… until Danzo orders us to eliminate each other."
"I never completed my emotional conditioning," Maki said, slipping out the door and closing it behind her. "Remember, Root is always by your side, Naruto Senior," she added simply before shutting the door.
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