A few things to note before we start. First, I am pushing the graduation age to 14. Why? Because throwing 12-year-olds into battle is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Sure, start training early to get the discipline down, but don't throw them out into the world at freaking 12. 14 isn't that much older, true, but it's two more years of physical and mental change a fair bit in those years.
Second, Naruto's timeline is vague and confusing at times, so forgive me if I screw it up later on.
Third, if you're looking for character bashing, this is not the fic for you.
Fourth, English is not my native language. While I like to think I'm not too bad at it, I will make mistakes at some point...Partially because I'm lazy and often don't pre-read well. If you spot one, point it out to me so I can learn from it, but try not to start raging at me alright? Nobody's gonna get anything out of that.
Fifth, it should be blindingly obvious that I do not own Naruto as I am not swimming in a golden pool filled with money and more gold.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, looked out over his village through the massive window in his office. 'Some day I really need to figure out a way to arrange the office that doesn't place this sight at my back.' He thought as he admired the view.
From up here he could see all the way to the walls, looking down on all the houses, shops and training fields. Even late in the afternoon the streets were still fairly crowded, people moving through the streets like leaves floating on a river.
The setting sun dyed everything from the flat-roofed buildings to Hokage momument depicting hokage that came before (And after) and the foliage of the massive trees the village was known for a warm orange not unlike that of a fire's glow. It was almost as if it was a representation of the very will of fire itself. Yes, Konoha truly was beautiful.
At least it was when one side of the Hokage monument wasn't coated in paint in all sorts of colours.
Both the first and second Hokage had been drenched in an interesting mix of orange, purple and green, with large orange swirls drawn on their foreheads. His own monument had barely escaped harm and the fourth, being the furthest away, didn't even have a drop on him. If that wasn't enough of a clue as to who had vandalised the village's most valued monument, the fact that orange was the most prevalent colour left little doubt. "You certainly know how to keep busy, Naruto." Hiruzen muttered with a weary smile.
As if in on cue someone shunshined into the office in a swirl of leaves. Immediately the ANBU hidden in the shadows tensed, but they relaxed just as quickly when they felt the tattoo on their right shoulder pulse to announce the arrival of one of their own. Once the leaves settled an ANBU with a hare mask appeared, carrying a squirming blonde boy. "Thank you, Nousagi. Only two hours this time, hm?" The hokage asked, not turning away from the window.
"I'm getting better at catching him, m'lord." The ANBU said, lowering Naruto to the floor. "But he's still a pain to chase."
Hiruzen nodded in understanding. Nousagi certainly still sounded a bit winded. "You know Naruto, if this wasn't so childish it would almost be impressive."
Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching a fleck of dried orange paint on his cheek. The shirt he wore had once been black with a red flame symbol, but now it was splattered with dozens of little drops of paint and one massive orange stain on his left side. "Hey, come on Ojisan. That's a lot of paint to lug all the way up there. That's impressive right there."
Hiruzen chuckled softly and finally turned from the window. "That much is true, I suppose." He nodded to Nousagi and the hare-masked ANBU bowed and vanished in another shunshin. Hiruzen sank down into the chair behind his desk and settled in comfortably before he turned his attention back to the 6-year old standing in the middle of his office, trying his best to look innocent.
In moments like this, it was all too easy to forget that the boy contained a creature that could easily destroy this village and everything around it in a 50 miles radius, and had in fact tried to do so. "So, what is it this time, Naruto?" He asked, resting his elbows on his desk and lacing his fingers together.
As much as it seemed the boy acted out just for attention, there was a method and reason behind his pranks. He would go for weeks, sometimes months, at a time without doing anything at all and then something happened to set him off and Hiruzen had to send people to chase him down again.
More often than not his actions were some form of retribution. In fact, Naruto went out of his way not to involve innocent bystanders in his pranks, but that was hard to tell if you didn't pay close attention. The boy had a long memory and most people had long since forgotten that they had treated him poorly when he finally struck.
The worst part about the situation was that Hiruzen couldn't really blame him. He was all too aware how many of the villagers treated Naruto, but all he could do was prevent the worst. He could not always be there. His shinobi could not always be there and, even if they could, he wasn't always certain he could just trust any shinobi around the boy. Besides, if yet another mob formed to hunt the boy, any decent shinobi would respond with force. That would no doubt result in quite the situation with the civilian council.
This was different, though. A stunt on this scale without any immediately clear target meant that Naruto was certainly upset, but not with anyone in the village. "It's nothing much, Ojiisan." Naruto said, plastering on a fake smile. The hokage didn't respond for a moment, aside from slowly raising an eyebrow and shifting his weight. Even at 6 years old, Naruto understood that this was the old man's own way of calling him on his bullshit.
A shame, because he'd worked hard on that smile too. Clearly it wasn't happy enough yet. Said smile faltered for a moment and the whisker-marked blonde shrugged. "Got a test back today and…Well…You know how I am with those. So I figured I'd get my mind off of it by redecorating the monument a bit." He scuffed his feet dejectedly and very pointedly turned his attention to the floor, as if he had found the meaning of life there.
'And there we have it.' Hiruzen thought as he watched the blonde. He certainly was aware of how the boy was with tests. He'd only recently started at the shinobi academy, but it was quickly apparent that the boy was certainly no model student.
He would have blamed it on genetics, as Naruto certainly shared his mother Kushina's boundless energy and subsequent lack of an attention span. However while Kushina had not been easy to teach, she had admitted as much herself, she was still an intelligent woman.
Plus, there was his father. Minato Namikaze was still arguably the greatest shinobi Konoha had ever seen and, while his academy career had not been particularly noteworthy, his intelligence and skill were very clear even at a young age. Hell, the man had developed techniques and seals even his sensei Jiraya couldn't begin to figure out.
When Naruto started at the academy Hiruzen had asked to be kept up to date on his progress and while he had figured sitting in class for hours would be hard for the hyperactive blonde, he hadn't expected him to do quite so poorly. Copies of his tests were passed on to Hiruzen moments after they were graded and it was clear that either Naruto just didn't read the questions closely enough, or some basic elements of shinobi life continued to elude him.
The hokage shuddered to think what his grades would be like when chakra exercises started. "This seems like a lot of effort just for that, Naruto. You're still allowed to resit the test once, right? Perhaps you should have spent this time studying to do better instead." He chided, but Naruto just seemed confused.
"What are you talking about, Ojiisan?" The blonde asked. "It's only certain tests that can be retaken, right? That's what the teachers tell me each time I ask."
Hiruzen blinked in confusion and slowly a deep frown appeared on his face. 'Do they now? I certainly haven't approved that changed to the system.' This was very strange, to put it mildly. It could just be a matter of a confused teacher or someone who had recently started and didn't know, but…"Naruto, did you ask multiple times? And multiple teachers?" He asked, voice stern.
Naruto thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Not each time…and not all of them. I don't think I've ever asked Iruka-sensei, since I pass his tests most of the time, but I've asked most of the other sensei at least twice. Why? Did I do something wrong?"
When he heard Naruto's hesitant tone, Hiruzen sighed and leaned back in his seat. He didn't want the boy to think he was mad. At least, not at him. "No, Naruto, don't worry. You just reminded me that I need to check on something regarding the academy." Thankfully the blonde seemed to buy the excuse and Hiruzen quickly searched for a different topic. "Well, regardless, I hope you understand you will still be punished for this little stunt." The blonde pouted defiantly and crossed his arms, drawing a chuckle from the old man as he gestured for Naruto to take a seat. "But first, how about you tell me how you did it?"
That seemed to lighten Naruto's spirits a little. For the next 15 minutes he went into great detail on his latest prank. There was almost always some form of construction going on in various places around Konoha and Naruto had used it to his advantage, swiping cans of paint from the various sites and lugging them over to the monument.
"After that I just needed to look like this was what I was supposed to be doing, though I still avoided the main streets. Pretty good, hm?" The blonde student grinned at the aging hokage. "There was this really cool jumpsuit I wanted to buy, so people would think I was a painter anyway, but the man at the counter gave me a really high price and I couldn't afford it. That really sucked because it was cool and orange and now I'm gonna have to save up for it. Anyway, come on, Ojiisan. You know you're impressed."
Hiruzen was, a little, but Naruto would never stop gloating if he admitted that. Still, to know the location of all the building sites in the village and plan an effective route to and from them to the monument, through the village's winding back alleys and lugging heavy buckets of paint...Well...It was hardly ANBU worthy, but for an academy student it was a lot of work.
Sure, the boy had always been a little ball of energy, so the fact that he wasn't tired after carrying all that paint wasn't strange, but it certainly seemed like Naruto had done more planning than the hokage had given him credit for. "It's not the worst plan I've heard, considering you can't use jutsu or travel over the roofs to make things easier."
He conceded after a few minutes. Naruto's grin was nearly blinding and Hiruzen quickly matched it with his own. "You do, of course, realise that I should make you pay the construction workers for the paint you took." The boy's grin was replaced by a look of horror and the old man chuckled. "Relax, Naruto. I imagine if I did that, you wouldn't eat for a week. No, we'll find some other way to punish you for that." The hokage gave the young blonde a serious and appraising look. "However, I will be lenient if you promise me that you will not let this side of yourself slip."
Naruto's face twisted in confusion again and he scratched the back of his head. "Ojiisan, are you alright? It sounds like you want me to keep pranking people…"
Hiruzen quickly held up a hand. "No!...Well, sort of. Naruto, the way you approach pranking is a good way to approach missions if you graduate. You thought about this. You planned this. Did you have an escape plan if you were stopped with the paint?"
Naruto nodded slowly. "Throw paint in their face and run." He muttered, miming the motion of throwing paint from a bucket.
Hiruzen gave him an encouraging smile and reached in his drawer for his pipe. "See? Unrefined, but at least you had one. Planning and thinking about your actions are important. You don't need to be the strongest shinobi, Naruto. Sometimes it pays to be the smartest."
The blonde jinchuriki still seemed rather confused, but the old man could see the gears spinning in his mind as he turned his attention to the window and the monument behind it. "But…All the hokage were really strong. Like you, Ojiisan. If I want to be hokage, I need to be even stronger than you."
Hiruzen chuckled and nodded as he stuffed his pipe. "Well, you're not wrong. A kage has to protect everyone in the village, so they have to be strong. I like to think I'm a fairly dangerous opponent, but I've encountered people who hit harder or had more chakra than me. Yet, I'm alive and they are not. Do you want to know the secret as to how I beat them?"Naruto's attention snapped back to him and he nodded eagerly. "I had a plan." Hiruzen said simply.
Naruto's reaction that simple statement did not disappoint. For a few seconds his face remained frozen in barely restrained anticipation, clearly still awaiting some grand tale. Then a frown of confusion. Surely there was still another part of this answer. Finally he settled on an unimpressed glare and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's it?"
Hiruzen lit his pipe and nodded with a bright grin. "That is it." He had to try his hardest to resist laughing as the young blonde kept glaring at him while he puffed on his pipe. "Had I tried to match them in ninjutsu or taijutsu, I would not be here today." He said after a few minutes, figuring that he'd tortured Naruto for long enough. "So I planned. I used my mind and found their weaknesses, lured them into traps, used strategies. In fact with one of them it went so well I managed to bring down a rockslide on him, using the remains of a powerful earth jutsu he himself had used earlier."
That put the exited smile back on the jinchiruki's face and it only grew wider when Hiruzen continued. "And you know what? I think you have great potential for this as well. A shinobi's greatest weapon is often his mind and, judging by the pranks my boy, yours can be a really scary place sometimes."
Naruto was all but bouncing in his seat now. "Really, Ojiisan?! Can you teach me? You gotta teach me!" Who better to learn from than 'the god of shinobi' after all. Naruto just hoped it didn't involve lectures, like in the academy.
The old man rolled his eyes and gently pushed tapped Naruto on the forehead. "I can't, Naruto. This is something you need to do yourself. Keep your mind sharp. Think. Maybe visit the library for a bit every day or so."
Clearly the hyperactive blond wasn't too thrilled about the idea of spending time in the library, but when Hiruzen assured him that he'd developed many of this own techniques by basing them on things he'd read about, he opened up to the idea. "Alright then, but don't expect me to start liking reading. Books are boring."
"You want boring? Try paperwork." The hokage grumbled, looking at the towering stack of forms on the corner of his desk. He'd gladly go back to the days of taking an squads of Iwagakure ANBU so long as he didn't have to sign a form for it afterwards. With a sigh he looked from the papers to the clock above the door. "Well Naruto, I've still got a lot to do today so I think it's time for you to run along." He pulled a paper off of the top of the stack and waved the blonde to the door. "Don't think I won't find time to imagine a suitable punishment, though."
Naruto sighed but obediently hopped off the chair and headed for the door. "Yeah, yeah. I know." He paused just before the door, shifting hesitantly in place for a moment before he turned and looked at the hokage over his shoulder. "Hey, Ojiisan? I'm sorry to give you more work. I know you're really busy and I don't mean to make it worse."
Hiruzen looked up from the paper he was signing with a small smile. "Naruto, even under these circumstances, meeting with you is something I enjoy. It is not work. Now when you graduate and report to me on your missions, then it will be work, but enjoyable work. Get home safe…And send my secretary in, could you?"
The little blonde nodded happily and stepped stepped out. Hiruzen waited for about half a minute, before he leaned back in his seat and sighed deeply. "Hokage-sama?" A young woman with long, brown hair that tumbled down her back in a thick wave of curls poked her head into the office. "Naruto-kun said you needed me? I take it I should arrange for cleaners to visit the monument?"
Hiruzen nodded and took a deep puff on his pipe. "Yes, Yumi, to both of those. As always, tell them to leave at least a bit for Naruto to clean up himself. However, first please send someone to the academy. Tell them to find Umino Iruka."
Yumi nodded and pulled out a pen. "Hokage-sama, if you intend to meet with Umino-san, you should remember Mitarashi's team will be in sometime late this evening to debrief." Hiruzen nodded, glancing at much smaller pile next to the paperwork.
"Yes, I haven't forgotten, Yumi. Thank you. I should have their mission file here." He tapped the file in question and once more bent over his paperwork. "At any rate, Iruka is to report in and bring Naruto's official school records, without telling any of the other instructors."
The brunette quickly scribbled a few things down on a notepad. "The official ones? Are you sure?"
Official records included nearly everything a student had ever done in the academy. Every test, every assignment. In fact, the only way to get to the original test made by a student as opposed to a specially marked copy, you needed access to their records.
To prevent tampering, they were rarely taken out of the records room even by the instructors. Any records that were taken out actually needed to be signed out to keep track of them.
"Quite certain." Hiruzen answered. "And it is a matter of some urgency." Yumi nodded and stepped out again without another word, her sensible grey skirt fluttering behind her as she went.
About an hour later, Iruka arrived with the records.
Another hour later he was still sat in front of the hokage's desk, while the old man browsed throught the tests, essays and assignments with extraordinary care. Hiruzen liked the dark-haired instructor. The man made a fair shinobi with a good grasp on the lifestyle and a caring personality, but he possessed enough self-awareness to realize he was not cut out for field work.
The hokage was growing less and less pleased, though, with what he had found so far in the records Iruka had brought with him. "How is Naruto in class, Iruka-kun?" He asked, pulling another test out of the file.
The Chunin seemed almost surprised at finally being addressed again, but straightened in his seat and answered. "Well, Hokage-sama…Naruto is…Energetic, loud and kind of unruly. He does his homework as often as he doesn't and every now and then he skips out with the other boys. He's a bit of a slacker and a loudmouth at times. At times I wonder if the academy is the best place for him."
Hiruzen looked up at that, just in time to see the instructor hide a frown. "Iruka." He sighed. "Are you certain it is the teacher in you saying that, or the part that knows of Naruto's burden?"
Iruka looked highly offended for a moment, but Hiruzen gave him a hard look and continued before he could speak. "He is just a boy, Iruka. Despite what he holds or rather because of it actually, Naruto is just a lonely boy. I would think you would sympathise with that feeling." With a guilty look the scarred Chunin bowed his head and Hiruzen went back to inspecting the test he was holding. It was a low blow and he felt no joy in dealing it, but sometimes you needed to go low for something to sink in.
For a while after that things were silent again, but this time Iruka was the one to break it. "Teaching Naruto is difficult…But I am not blameless. I try to see a boy, Hokage-sama, but sometimes I see…my mother. A burning village. I know that there is more than to him than what is sealed inside of Naruto and I will work harder to see that more often." He looked up again, determination burning in his eyes. "I hope you will understand that it will take time, hokage-sama, but I will try not to fail again."
"There was no failure, you simply stumbled at hurdle. We all do at times. All we can do is what you have stated you plan to do and try. Nobody can ask more." The old man answered with a kind smile. He blew out a ring of smoke and held out one of the tests to Iruka. "Channel chakra through that, could you?"
Confused, the Chunin accepted the paper and concentrated for a moment. To his surprise, the entire test burst into flames and quickly burned up. "Hokage-sama! I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean…" He stammered incredulously as he brushed the smouldering ashes off his legs. "I don't know what happened."
Hiruzen frowned at the ashes and began to separate Naruto's test into two piles. "Sadly, you proved my theory Iruka-kun. The test I just handed you was made out of chakra paper. In fact, it appears all of these are too." He tapped the larger of the two piles.
Iruka shook his head quickly, as if literally trying to shake off the confusion. "What? That doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone print a test on to chakra paper? Determining charka nature isn't even in the curriculum."
Hiruzen frowned and held up one of the tests. "While it is rarely employed, chakra paper has another use. We use it to test what chakra natures we have affinity for, but this only possible because the paper in question is very easy to channel chakra into. This very fact also makes it so that any jutsu placed on it that does not damage the paper remains for much longer than on other material. This makes it very suitable for-"
"Genjutsu." Iruka muttered with a look of dawning horror. "But…Surely the instructors…Oh…" He grit his teeth and tried to reign in his anger. "We don't teach much genjutsu beyond dispelling it and, even if we did, nobody in Naruto's class is anywhere near that age. That only leaves the instructors."
Hiruzen nodded sadly and handed Iruka the test at the top of the larger pile. "The technique itself has worn off, but you can still feel a bit of it. Complex, subtle. Beyond an academy student, no matter the age." While Iruka glared down at the paper, Hiruzen leaned back in his seat with a contemplative look. He took a puff and then glanced at the corner of the room. "Inu!"
Without a sound, a dog-masked ANBU dropped down from the ceiling. "Hokage-sama?" He asked, brushing back spiky white hair. The man was dressed no differently from the other ANBU and only a small mark on the left side of his mask denoted his rank as Captain.
"I want you to send people to gather up the academy's instructors. Pull them out of their beds if you must. Force is authorized if you are met with resistance." If Hiruzen hadn't worked with the ANBU captain for so long, he would have thought his orders had gone unheard as the man didn't so much as twitch to acknowledge them. As it was, he knew the shinobi was simply going over every single aspect of his orders as fast as he could. Looking underneath the underneath, as he liked to put it.
"Ibiki, then?" The captain finally drawled.
Hiruzen considered it for a moment, puffing on his pipe and drawing the smoke deep into his lungs. "No…That's a bit much, I think. Wake up one of the Yamanaka interrogators." Being hokage came with a lot of unpleasant duties, so he would rather not add to them by sending Konoha shinobi to be tortured by their comrades. Besides, while their actions were awful and he would see them pay, he could hardly call it treason.
Inu nodded his understanding and signalled two more ANBU down before they all vanished. 'This day did not seem as long just a little while ago.' Hiruzen mused as he dragged his hand down his face. When he turned his attention back to Iruka, he found the instructor still trapped somewhere between outrage and shock.
"What now?" Iruka muttered. "How are we supposed to fix this? The damage this could have done to his education…..I mean, it's a good thing we caught it fairly early, but this will still have messed up Naruto's understanding of the basics."
The hokage nodded and put down his pipe. "If we are to fire instructors after this whole fiasco, I cannot ask you or any of the innocent instructors to split your time between classes and helping Naruto catch up. You'll all be busy enough. Do not fret, Iruka-kun. I will find someone. The question is just who would be best."
Iruka nodded, not entirely satisfied with that. In a way, he would have liked to be the one to do it. It could be a good way to learn to see Naruto as his own person and he felt like, by not noticing this, he had failed the boy as his sensei in a big way.
The hokage was right, though. He was certain they would be out a few instructors after the investigation and that meant the remaining ones would have to divide the unattended classes between them. Odds were they would be rather busy for a while. 'Still…' He thought, as he straightened in his seat. 'If I can't help, I can do my best to find someone who can.' He rubbed his chin. "I think it would be best to pick someone who's not too fond of traditional teaching. Naruto's good at the physical stuff, but put him in a lecture and only Shikamaru Nara will fall asleep more quickly."
Hiruzen nodded, lost in thought. "I agree. It also needs to be someone who he can look up to. He's got a role model in the fourth hokage, considering he tends to go on about him, but a living one would be good too. Perhaps someone with a connection to him…or who can easily make one." He reached for his pipe again and his finger brushed against the mission folders, bringing them to his attention once more. 'A connection…Of course! How could I have forgotten? It's not a direct one, but that might be even better. Yes…Yes, she would be good. They would both benefit from that, I believe.'
The return of Inu snapped both men out of their thoughts. "Mission in progress, Hokage-sama. They are being rounded up and a few Yamanaka interrogators have been woken up and told mind walking is restricted during the interrogations, for now." The captain stated in an emotionless drawl.
The hokage nodded. "Thank you, Inu." He said, without turning to address the ANBU captain as he took up his position in the shadows once more. "Well, Iruka-kun, I think we've had quite the talk, all things considered. At least I have someone in mind for Naruto now." Iruka opened his mouth to ask who, but a soft knock cut him off.
"Hokage-sama." Yumi said as she stepped into the office. "Outpost 3 has just sent a report saying Mitarashi's team passed them not too long ago."
The hokage brightened at the little bit of good news. It had been quite the heavy evening, so far. "Ah, thank you Yumi. Their status?"
"A bit banged up, but fine, apparently."
Hiruzen nodded and turned an apologetic smile on Iruka. "I'm sorry, Iruka-kun, I don't mean to throw you out…" Iruka chuckled softly and stood up out of the chair.
"No worries, Hokage-sama. I doubt Anko would be happy if she had to wait to debrief." He had absolutely no desire to be in the same room as the unstable Tokubetsu Jounin. That woman scared the crap out of him.
Hiruzen waited until the scar-faced Chunin pulled the door shut behind him before turning to his secretary again. "Yumi, could you please grab Hoshiko-san's file for me? I want to check something before they arrive."
The slender brunette nodded and made a small note on her clipboard. "Of course, sir." She'd long ago learned not to bother asking why the hokage needed things. Half of his reasons she barely understood and the others he wouldn't tell her about to minimize safety risks.
She walked out and came back after only a few minutes with a simple brown folder with the kanji for fire and an ID number on the front. Hiruzen immediately opened it and began to read, flipping through the Shinobi's accomplishments. What he planned to ask was something most would consider a chore, so he had to make sure it had a clear benefit. It wasn't long before his reading was interrupted when someone literally threw his door open.
"Anko Mitarashi and team return!" A husky female voice announced obnoxiously loudly. Hiruzen sighed and slid the folder into a drawer. He'd found what he was looking for, but meetings with Anko tended to be a bit draining.
The grinning woman strode purposely into his office, tossing a sealing scroll up and down in her hand. Her violet hair was done up in a spiky, fanned ponytail and her bangs framed her face. She wore…Very little, in fact. A trenchcoat a shade of brown lighter than her eyes, a mesh bodysuit that reached from her neck to her thighs, an orange miniskirt and grey shin guards. If not for the shallow cut on her left cheek, it would've been impossible to determine she'd just returned from a mission
Behind her followed two men, both wearing Chunin flak jackets and appearing slightly singed. Both had long hair, but the first man's hair was spiky and black while the second had dark hair that covered his right eye. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the two and laced his fingers together. "Izumo….Kotetsu…What happened this time?"
Izumo looked away sheepishly while Kotetsu grumbled under his breath and pulled on his black spikes. Hiruzen had to bite back a laugh as he watched the pair. The two always seemed to come back from their missions with some sort of hilariously embarrassing injuries. Hiruzen had come dangerously close to losing his cool when Guy had briefed him on how Kotetsu had tripped in a battle with an enemy shinobi and taken a rather literal buttload of senbon.
"I did warn them, Hokage-sama." The last person to enter the room said. Her voice was soft and low and laced with a hint of amusement. The girl was very tall for her age, standing at a few inches over the rest of her team. Beyond that, it was hard to determine much about her.
She seemed to have a nice body, but it was hard to be sure, because she literally covered up from head to toe. The girl wore a Chunin flak jacket, but a modified one with attached long, grey sleeves and a hood of the same color. Underneath the hood he could see the edge of a black headband with silver flames and the plate of her hitai-ate had been sown into her left sleeve. Loose blue pants, bound at ankles, covered her legs. A blade with a guard-less black hilt was strapped to her back
She wore a pauldron on her right shoulder and bracers on both arms, all of which were dark green and bore a golden, burning crown. Fingerless gloves covered her hand and the lower half of her face went hidden behind a face mask. Between the mask and her headband, only a thin strip of skin around her bright red eyes was visible. Only if you looked there or at her bare fingers could you see that her skin was darker than any of the other shinobi's in the room.
"Ah, of course. Members of your clan are always a bit of a friendly fire hazard, Hoshiko-san." Hiruzen said with a wry grin.
"It's not Hikari's fault." Anko protested, gesturing at Izumo and Kotetsu. "She tolds us the reach of her jutsu, tweedle dumb and tweedle moron just found shelter on a building where they stored explosives."
"Hey!" Both of the scorched Chunin cried as they turned to glare at her, but Anko did her best to look innocent and ignored them.
Of course, Anko trying to seem innocent just made her look more devious and Hiruzen couldn't quite keep in a laugh this time. "My that certainly is unfortunate. I take it everything else went well?"
Anko beamed and put the scroll she'd been playing with down on the desk. "As ordered, a bunch of dead bandits in a scroll. Want fries with that?"
He ignored the last part and inspected the scroll for a moment. "Very good. The camp?"
Hikari shrugged and chuckled under her breath. "Probably still on fire. Should stay that way for a day or two."
The hokage asked a few more questions about the mission, before he decided to move on. "Well then, I imagine anything else will probably be in your report Anko. You all probably want to head home for the night." Izumo looked immensely relieved at that and mumbled something about guard duty, earning him an elbow to the ribs from his friend. "You all did good. Go get some rest. Oh, not you, Hikari. I'd like to speak to you for a moment."
The dusky-skinned Chunin paused on her way to the door and nodded slowly. "…Alright. Goodnight, guys."
"Good working with you, Hoshiko." Izumo said with a small wave. "We didn't get much chance, so come slack off with me at the gate some time, yeah? It gets bor-urk!" Kotetsu added, before his partner dragged him out by the back of his shirt, lecturing him all the way out of the office and down the stairs.
Anko lingered for a moment, uncertainly glancing between the hokage and Hikari. "Was there something you wanted to ask Hikari about the mission, sir?"
Hiruzen shook his head and smiled calmly at her. "No, no, just something I would like her help with if possible."
Anko still looked a bit uncertain and Hikari looked back at her, facemask twitching in a way Hiruzen had quickly learned meant that she was smiling. "Anko, it's fine. Go home, yeah? Don't you have children to eat in the morning?"
"They are the tastiest when they're still groggy…" Anko mused with a wide grin. She walked out with a wave, calling back over her shoulder. "Still on for lunch, right?"
"Yes, so long as you realize I'm not making fucking dango again, Anko!"
"Learn to appreciate the food of the gods, you heathen!"
She threw the door shut behind her and Hiruzen laughed as he gestured for Hikari to take a seat. "My apologies. I didn't realize you were together. I won't keep you from each other long."
The covered-up Chunin choked on her own spit and nearly fell out of her seat, coughing loudly. "I-It's not like that! Anko's a friend. She just comes over a lot." Hiruzen gave her a bemused look and what little of Hikari's face turned red as she blushed. "N-Not like that, I have a boyfriend!…I like to cook. Apparently I make 'ungodly awesome' dango."
Hiruzen made a noise of understanding and pulled out the file. It was probably best not to embarrass the girl too much, though poking the more serious shinobi until they reacted was always fun. The fact that he was the hokage and, therefore, nobody would call him on it just made it better.
"I would like you to read this, please." He said, handing her Naruto's records. She gave the file a confused look, but dutifully accepted it and began reading over the various papers inside. Meanwhile, Hiruzen took the time to study the kunoichi before him. Up close he could see her face mask had darkened with blood in a way that suggested the took a mean punch to the mouth and a thin rivulet of blood down her arm, over her gloved right hand.
Mostly he focussed on her eyes. Red, piercing, and seemingly capable of looking deep inside whoever they looked at, now narrowed in determined concentration. He could still remember them big and filled with angry tears, not all that long ago. He always felt a strange mix of pride and sadness when he looked at the girl.
Konoha really seemed to produce young prodigies that would go far as shinobi. In recent years he'd caught himself thinking the word got thrown around a bit too freely at times, but with Hikari he couldn't deny it was fitting. Despite not graduating the academy early, largely because her father had intended to keep further pressure off of her in school, she had been the rookie of the year by a mile.
Even before that she'd shown remarkable skill with her clan's specialty and kekkei genkai at a very early age and the fact that she made Chunin less than four months after leaving the academy only served to prove that her skill wasn't restricted to the classroom. Still, he had to pity the girl at times.
She was so young and yet she was trying to prove so much. The situation she found herself in with her clan was a truly terrible one, and it didn't seem to be one that would resolve itself quickly. Of course there was also the fact that her family situation meant quite a few shinobi were uncomfortable working with her and that she ran a lot of solo missions. Too many, he felt. 'When I think about it, I suppose it's not strange that she bonded with Anko.'
Hikari reached up to run a hand through her hair as she read, pushing back her hood in the process. Her hair was dark green and short, littered with red highlights which matched her eyes. She kept it styled into a pixie cut and it spilled over her headband slightly on the right. Without the shadows of her hood, it became clear she had a scar running from somewhere at the centre of her forehead to her nose. "Is there a reason you're making me…." She paused when she reached the last test and eyed it quizzically. "Sir? I think this might have been tampered with."
Hiruzen nodded. "Indeed it has. In fact quite a few have been." He settled into his chair and began to explain the day's events, watching the girl's eyes narrow as she learned of the very deliberate sabotage by the instructors.
"Hokage-sama, that's terrible and all but I'm not sure why I'm here if all of this has been found out already." She muttered, glancing down at the test again.
Hiruzen grinned and put her file on the desk. "Well, the academy will clearly be going through a bit of a….reorganization soon, so I can't ask one of the instructors to take time out to help Naruto catch up. Therefore I would like you to tutor him for a while."
Her body language all but screamed surprise and Hikari's jaw worked under her mask. "Eh, sir? You want me to tutor Uzumaki Naruto? I'm no instructor."
Hiruzen stood up out of his seat and walked over to the window. "I am aware of this. While I would expect you to at least help him with the more theoretical class work, I think Naruto will always be better at the practical side of things, so you'd best focus on that. Chakra control in particular, I would imagine." He folded his hands at his back, watching the lights in the village go out one by one as people went to bed. "Hikari, you are an amazing kunoichi for your age. Do you realize how quickly you secured your promotion?"
The green-haired teenager crossed her arms under her chest and shrugged. "People were promoted when they were younger than me. Hell, people graduated when they were younger than me."
Hiruzen looked at her reflection in the window and shook his head. "Many of the cases you are referring to occurred in less than peaceful times. War has a way of fast-tracking the promising students, Hikari. Don't compare apples with oranges."
He turned back to her and gave the kunoichi a stern look. "Like many of your clan members, the amount of chakra you have is astounding and you have learned to use it effectively. Your skill with your clan's jutsu and kekkei genkai is truly admirable and you have exceeded many older shinobi at your area of expertise." He counted his points off on his fingers as he listed them. "Naruto looks up to strong people, so that will appeal to him. Furthermore you are responsible, punctual and professional, which I hope will rub off on him a little."
With each of her better attributes the hokage listed, the girl seemed to sit up a little straighter. "That is kind of you to say, hokage-sama. However, with all due respect, but I think I would be wasting my time helping this kid. Being a tutor is hardly part of the plan." She said, shaking her head. "Besides, maybe this is better suited to someone who actually wants to be an instructor later. Like I said, it's just not in my plan."
Hiruzen chuckled and stroked his beard. "Ah, yes, your plan. Jounin at 18 in 2 years, ANBU at 19 and then on to Jounin commander eventually, right?" He couldn't say he was entirely surprised that she'd responded like that. Hikari valued her career, perhaps a bit more than was healthy. Still, he'd prepared for this.
"Well, I suppose it was a good thing I wasn't done then. Inu!" The dog masked ANBU appeared once more and Hiruzen beckoned him over to the desk. "Inu, I'm certain you remember operation Wildfire. Please recount the last part of your report to me."
The ANBU nodded and clasped his hands at his back as he began to speak. "Due to poor intelligence we were unprepared for the sheer range and speed of the target's kinjutsu and lost Kaeru and Raion in the first minutes of contact. We changed tactics and kept the target occupied until we were joined by Mitarashi Anko, Gekko Hayate and Hoshiko Hikari."
He paused and turned so he was looking directly at Hikari when he continued. "Hoshiko-san's excellently executed, large scale techniques, speed and improvisation wound up saving more than of us and made her instrumental in taking down the target. Given her mission record and her performance on this mission, I highly recommend promoting Hoshiko-san to Tokubetsu Jounin in preparation for an eventual placement in ANBU."
Judging by the way her mask had stretched out and her eyes had widened, Hikari's jaw had all but hit the floor. "But…I…Really?!"
The white haired ANBU shrugged. "Mah, don't think too much of it. I just gave my opinion."
"And I do not agree. Not entirely." Hiruzen added. "Your drive is admirable, but your are too focussed on your career. I can send you on month long missions and you'll be right back here for a new one the day after you return, just to prove you can. Whether you want to prove it to me or your clan is irrelevant. Furthermore you work solo far too much." He flipped her file open and pointed at a list of her completed missions.
"I can't deny that you've mastered some powerful jutsu, but you need to learn to utilize them in a way that leaves your team capable of assisting. At the very least, don't ,make the jutsu a danger to them as they were today." He continued sternly. "While I certainly understand your reasoning behind working alone, nothing will improve if you avoid your allies. My Jounin need to be able to lead. To know the people under their command. Even ANBU's greatest strength is their ability to act as a unit even while apart."
Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. Hikari, meanwhile had stiffened in her seat with her hands curled into fists and her eyes blazing with anger. With their bright red colour it was honestly rather frightening, but Hiruzen had looked into the angry faces of far more terrible opponents.
"You have so much potential." The aging hokage lamented. "But I think you don't even know what you're fighting for at times. There's no passion when you talk about this goal of yours. Just…A drive…Anger…Sometimes it's just like talking to that girl who barged into my office in angry tears only a few years ago. It just makes me wonder…Why do you fight, Hikari? Beyond the anger driving you, why is it so important to keep rushing forward as you have been?"
She continued to glare at the hokage for a few minutes, but she didn't answer. Finally the teenager scoffed loudly, turning her angry gaze to her lap. Either she had no good answer to give, or she didn't feel like sharing the ones she did have. 'A bit of both, probably.' The old man thought as he stood up out his seat again.
He walked around the desk and placed a hand on Hikari's shoulder, prompting her to look up. "You're only young once, Hikari, and shinobi have to grow up so quickly anyway. I can't say I wouldn't be angry in your position, but don't make it all about that. It won't lead anywhere good and you'll miss out on important opportunities." He squeezed her shoulder gently and smiled down at her. "For example, you could miss out on an opportunity to take a tutoring mission and strike a deal concerning your promotion."
Hikari's head snapped up so quickly Hiruzen was almost certain he heard her neck crack. "Don't get too excited. I'll promise you this. You tutor Naruto for two years. Not constantly of course, as you'll probably want to take missions every now and then, but at least in the first year I want you to spend a few days a week with him. At the end of the two years, if Naruto's results are good and I see improvement in you, I will promote you to Tokubetsu Jounin."
Hiruzen smiled as he watched the young kunoichi's eys widen in surprise. "Not quite your plan, but I think it would be good for you to slow down a bit."
The green-haired kunoichi's face kept switching back and between hope and hesitation asshe looked up at the hokage. "That is…" She paused to clear her throat and steady her voice before she started again. "That is quite an offer, hokage-sama. You seem to believe I'll change a lot in 2 years."
Hiruzen chuckled and patted her shoulder before he walked back around to his side of the desk. "I'm always amazed by how young people think they'll never change when they are the most dynamic people around. Besides, I think you'll be amazed by the effect Naruto will have on you." At least he hoped she would, because part of him could see her dropping him from the monument too.
Hikari considered her options for a moment, chewing on an already split lip beneath her mask. On the one hand she still felt she would be wasting her time as a tutor, but it was clear that the hokage badly wanted her to do this. Why she still wasn't sure, because she'd probably make a shit role model, but arguing really hadn't gotten her anywhere.
Besides, she now had a clear chance at promotion. The downside to that being that it went against a plan that had been in place since the very first time she'd activated her kekkei genkai. A plan she'd had for most of her life…But it was only a 2 year delay, and maybe she could cut down on that if she did well. 'Well, there is one more factor.' She thought, glancing at Naruto's file.
Going to such lengths just to sabotage a kid you didn't like was a shit thing to do. Could she really say she was much better when, when presented with the chance-no, directly asked-to help, she decided her own career was more important? The kid was an Uzumaki too. Probably not a direct relation, considering the hair, but he still had the name.
She let out a long, weary sigh and nodded. "I am angry, hokage-sama. In fact I probably won't be done being angry for some time. However...If that anger becomes a hindrance rather than a drive, then what's the point?" She chuckled humourlessly and shook her head. "I still think you're overestimating the effect this kid and I will have on one another, but you know him better than I do. I'll help the kid."
She put the file down on his desk and stood up, stretching. "You'd better be ready to promote me two years from now, though." She decided to leave out the 'if not sooner' for now.
"Wonderful!" Hiruzen beamed. "I'll ensure Naruto comes by tomorrow so you two can meet. Please be here after the academy closes for the day. Oh, and I'm putting a limit of one per month on your solo missions. Consider it my way of helping you deal with teamwork."
Hikari's right eye twitched in annoyance, but she did an admirable job of keeping her tone neutral as she bowed and turned to leave. "Of course, Hokage-sama. Goodnight. To you as well, Inu, and thank you again for the recommendation."
"See you tomorrow, Hikari. I'm sure you'll hit it off well." Hiruzen said.
Hikari paused with her hand on the door and chuckled. "Well, we do have one thing in common." She put her hood up again, revealing a large section of her flak jacket and the dark blue shirt she wore underneath had been cut away to reveal part of her upper back. There, carved directly into her dusky skin, was part of a large, incredibly complex sealing array with a hint of the spiral at the centre that peeked just over the bottom edge of the gap in her jacket and shirt.
"Both of us wouldn't be where we are without the Uzumaki clan."
And there we go, the first chapter.
Writing fanfiction, now there's something I didn't think I'd come back to. Hell, haven't updated my profile in ages, except to delete my old stories. I've kinda been doing my own thing for a few years over on fictionpress with original short stories and stuff like that, but I got this idea one day and it would not leave me alone. I tried making it into an original story, but when I tried to work it out it still felt too close to Naruto and I didn't want to write something that was just a rip-off.
So in the end I decided "Fuck this, let's just make it fanfiction, then."
I'm sure a few of you will have your concerns about Naruto actually being some genius, but don't worry. It's still Naruto. He'll still think and at times act without thinking and he won't suddenly throw world ending jutsu around.
Same goes for the OC, really. I know Hikari got a lot of screen time this chapter, but that was because I had to set a few things up regarding her. Pretty much everything from her wardrobe to her references to her clan will come up again later. What use is it to play with a world if you don't add to it, right? This also made the chapter a bit dialogue heavy, but that's the price you pay. Next chapter will be much more centered around Naruto and how he experiences things. I hope you'll grow to like her in chapters to come.
Now I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out, but I'll try to be quick. I'm certainly not lacking in ideas...Just a proper work ethic. Who knows? Could be next week, could be tomorrow...Though I doubt that
That brings me to my final point: I could use a beta reader! If you're interested, let me know, okay?!
I hope you liked the first chapter. This is Waves, signing out.