With his "identity" finally established, they eventually moved their discussion to the Hokage's office and settled in to discuss the fine details of his continued stay in Konoha. Since neither of them had any idea what had happened, how to undo it, or if such a thing was even possible, moving forward was the only option left.
They were just beginning to discuss his graduation and future as a genin when the door opened and three people walked in unannounced. Kuushou's eyebrows rose in surprise when none of the ANBU so much as twitched in reaction; even the Hokage seemed more resigned than annoyed.
All of them were old, probably as old as the Hokage. The two in front, one male and one female, wore quality robes of simple design and walked with straight backs and stern expressions. There were followed by another male, this one swathed in bandages and walking with the aid of a cane. Even more curiously, Kuushou had never seen any of them.
"This is the boy, Hiruzen?" the female asked, her tone neutral.
"Yes, Koharu, this is Naruto," the Hokage replied.
Kuushou blinked. He may not have have recognized them on first sight, but the name had pulled up distant memories from his study of Konoha's history. "Koharu Utatane? Homura Mitokado?"
All four of the adults paused and turned to look at him. Koharu and Homura actually looked surprised, while the Hokage merely appeared curious. The fourth man... well, he was impossible to read, even for him. Calling his expression "blank" didn't do it justice.
"It's quite an honor," Kuushou continued, "to meet two of the heroes of Konoha. Well, you were heroes in my world, anyway; you gave your lives to delay the beast long enough for the Fourth Hokage's plan to work. Obviously you didn't do that here."
Their expressions twisted oddly, as if they were trying to figure out if they had just been complimented or insulted as well as absorbing the fact that they had apparently died twelve years ago in another world.
Moving on, Kuushou turned to the fourth man in the room, pausing dramatically before stating, "And I have no idea who you are."
"I'm not surprised," came the flat reply from the bandaged man.
"That is Danzo Shimura," the Hokage supplied, "one of the elders of Konoha."
"I see," Kuushou said, turning his attention back to the Hokage.
"Now that the boy's interruption is over," Homura said, his voice laced with annoyance, "what do you plan to do with him, Hiruzen?"
"Nothing at all," the Hokage replied simply.
"Preposterous," Koharu snapped. "You can't just let a potential infiltrator wander about. He needs to be evaluated and watched!"
"He has been evaluated, by Inoichi," the Hokage replied calmly. "As far as I am concerned he is Naruto."
"That's all well and good, Hiruzen," Homura began, "but as you know a single evaluation, even performed by someone as skilled as Inoichi, can miss things."
The three began to argue back and forth, the apparent sticking point not so much his identity as how much he should be trusted. While they bickered, Kuushou watched Danzo, who was in turn watching the proceedings silently.
Then one particular tidbit caught Kuushou's attention.
"Excuse me?" he interrupted. "Did you just say I failed the graduation test? Twice?" He wasn't entirely certain why that was brought up – something about his attitude and competence – but it had nonetheless been stated.
The adults in the room turned to him once again.
"Yes, you did – well, our Naruto did," the Hokage answered.
"That graduation exam. He failed that."
The Hokage nodded silently.
"Was he retarded? Suffered brain damage as a child? Lobotomized, perhaps?"
The Hokage, along with Homura and Koharu, just stared at him. Then he heard a small, rusty chuckle coming from Danzo. The man was shaking, his one remaining hand covering his mouth as he choked out his laughter. Kuushou got the impression that this man didn't laugh much. Or at all.
"Tell me, boy," Danzo said after a moment, his voice back to the monotone he had used earlier, "what makes you say that?"
"You mean besides the fact that I could have answered every single one of the questions on the written exam before the end of my first year? How about the ridiculously low standards for the strength portion? People were shocked that I could lift fifty kilograms, and apart from Chouji I didn't see a single person lift more than half that much!
"How about the speed trial, where twenty seconds was considered a good time? Kami, you didn't even ask me to demonstrate a jutsu apart from the Basic Three! For a while there I honestly thought it was the exams to move into second year!"
Homura and Koharu were making offended noises while the Hokage looked oddly thoughtful, but Danzo just stared at him. Kuushou stared back, wondering what was going on behind that expressionless mask.
Finally, Danzo smirked slightly, the expression looking every bit as odd and rusty as his laugh had sounded.
"I like him," he said, and left the office.
Koharu and Homura left shortly afterwards, scurrying out of the office with annoyed expressions. With that interruption taken care of, the Hokage once more turned his attention to his young guest.
"Now then, I believe we were about to discuss your graduation. Since you obviously have the skills to pass the exam and we have established that you are in fact Naruto, if not our Naruto, I see no problem with allowing you to become an official genin here."
Kuushou nodded silently.
"As for the team placements, we've built all of the teams according to class rankings, so you'll be placed on a squad with the Rookie of the Year and the Kunoichi of the Year."
Kuushou's face twitched.
"Meaning I was the..."
"Er, well, yes," the Hokage said, looking apologetic.
"Did my performance during the final exam not factor in?"
"It did, yes, and you scored the highest overall on that particular test; congratulations, by the way, as that is no mean feat. Unfortunately, even with that, you were still ranked the lowest among those who managed to graduate."
Kuushou dropped his face into his hands, shaking his head. "Fine, whatever. So I'm on a team with Ino and... who?"
The Hokage's eyebrow raised. "Ino? Why would you be on a team with Ino?"
"You said the Kunoichi of the Year," Kuushou pointed out, wondering if the old man was senile.
"Ino's grades placed her in the middle of the pack. Besides, she has been placed on a team with Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi."
Kuushou sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on.
"... alright, Hinata then. Who else?"
"Hinata Hyuuga's overall grades were also middle of the pack. A little below average, actually."
"... what the fuck is wrong with this world? Who the hell is on my team?"
"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."
Kuushou relaxed a little. "Alright, I can work with that. Sasuke at least has his sharingan and should be able to keep up. I can help out with Sakura's medic training while she focuses on genjutsu. I can see that."
"Sasuke has not activated his sharingan yet, and Sakura has not received any medical training. Such skills are restricted to genin and above."
"... you didn't give the Clan Kids exemptions for that? Please tell me they've at least started learning C-rank skills."
"The Clan Kids? What do you mean?"
Kuushou dropped his head against the desk with a loud thud. He banged it several times before raising his gaze to meet the Hokage's confused expression.
"No."
"No? No what?"
"I am not playing babysitter to some fresh genin who haven't even begun learning C-rank skills. I will quit before I waste my time any further."
"I know you are much more skilled than our own Naruto, but that doesn't mean-"
"Obviously Inoichi didn't explain everything in detail," Kuushou interrupted, "so let me clear things up for you.
"I was ready to graduate the Academy after a single year. I was trained personally by Itachi Uchiha for two years before he went batshit crazy. My chakra control is S-rank, my personal chakra reserves are S-rank, and my effective chakra reserves don't have a rank, because no one can actually measure them. I studied under Shizune-sama for five years and am a fully accredited medic-nin, lacking only the experience to reach S-rank in that category.
"I received an exemption that allowed me to study all skills available to a genin after my first year in the Academy, which I used to great effect. I know literally every fuinjutsu I was allowed access to, and can produce them on command. I know a multitude of C-rank jutsu with an emphasis on wind and earth, and I can pump enough chakra into those jutsu to make them effective A-rank techniques if need be.
"In my own world, there was a group known as the Clan Kids, consisting of Ino, Hinata, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura, and myself. For everything I accomplished, they were only one or two steps behind me. Ino in particular was in the top three in every category among our year. All of them were well-versed in their clan jutsu, and in Sakura's case she had been studying medical jutsu for two years; Hinata has been studying them for one. Sasuke has a fully matured sharingan. Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba were already working on their clans' B-rank techniques before they even graduated.
"Does any of that apply in this world?"
Mutely, the Hokage shook his head.
"Give me an alternative then. Promote me to chuunin immediately; I can pass any test you care to throw at me. Hell, you can apprentice me to someone who can actually teach me something useful. I don't care, as long as it isn't fucking D-ranks while my team perfects their water-walking."
"Water-walking isn't taught until-"
"For fuck's sake! How in Kami's name did you let those kids graduate?"
"I'm beginning to wonder that myself," the Hokage replied candidly. Then he grimaced. "No, I know exactly why. One thing Inoichi did mention is that the Kyuubi's attack in your world was thwarted much more quickly, and without any significant damage to the village itself. The loss of life also seems to have been significantly less.
"I don't know the current state of affairs in your own world, but in this one we haven't recovered even half of the losses we incurred that day. In order to remain functional we have had to significantly relax our standards in regards to graduates and allow them to learn in the field."
Kuushou sat back in his chair, shrugging. "That may be," he said, "but that doesn't change my position. Placing me on a genin team would be a waste of my talents. I want to be in the field, but I could just as easily become a seal master or enter the med-nin corps." Or leave.
The Hokage shook his head. "Both would be valuable, but I agree that your particular talents would be best utilized in the field." He sighed, flipping through the papers on his desk. "I'll consider your request," he finally said.
Kuushou frowned, but decided not to push the point any further at the moment. If the old man ended up trying to put him on a genin team anyway, he'd probably just leave Konoha entirely. He had some concerns about his circumstances in this world as well; it might prove prohibitively difficult to regain the reputation he had cultivated, especially if everyone in the village already hated him. This situation had even more restrictions than his old one, with none of the benefits or reasons to remain in the village.
"In the meantime," Kuushou said, "what do I need to know about this world's Naruto?"
"Well..."
Leaving was looking more and more attractive, Kuushou thought as he left the Hokage's office. He had quickly vetoed any suggestion that he pretend to be the old Naruto. Even if he could manage it – and he wasn't entirely sure he could, given how different Naruto was – the stigma this world's Naruto carried would interfere with his plans considerably. He needed to be taken seriously if he was going to accomplish anything, and acting like an idiot wasn't going to help. At the Hokage's insistence, he had agreed to at least try to make the transition from the old Naruto to his own personality gradual. He personally estimated that his efforts would last about a week, or until he was sufficiently annoyed.
And now he had to eat dinner at some food stand. How such a random thing could be a vital part of his cover he would never know.
"Hey, Teuchi-jiji," he called out, managing to make the unfamiliar name sound mostly natural.
"Naruto! I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up," the old man replied, smiling widely. "How did the exam go?"
"I passed, of course!" he stated, settling into a seat.
"Congratulations, Naruto-kun!" a girl called out.
"Thanks, Ayame-nee-chan!" he replied. He hoped this girl was Ayame, anyway. She was wearing an apron and was the only other person in the shop, so it seemed like a reasonable assumption.
"First round of ramen is free for our newly-minted Konoha ninja!" Teuchi proclaimed.
"Awesome!" Kuushou said, smiling, and began eating the bowl of food placed before him. He ate quickly, noting that the chef had another bowl ready the moment he finished one.
"Are you feeling alright, Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked after a few minutes. "You seem a little... subdued."
Kuushou felt like banging his head on the table again. He had a big fake smile plastered on his face and was eating quickly – he didn't have to fake that part at all, as the food was damn good – but he still wasn't managing to behave like they expected Naruto to. According to the Hokage these two knew Naruto about as well as anyone - another oddity he was having trouble understanding - so they were the most likely to see through any deception.
He placed the chopsticks down on top of the bowl and sighed. "It's just... I'm a ninja now, you know? It's been my dream for so long, but now that I've actually managed it... I guess... I guess I just realized that I needed to grow up."
Teuchi looked both proud and wistful, and Ayame bustled around the counter before pulling him into a tight hug. "Our very own ninja," she sighed, clutching him tighter.
Well, that seemed to have worked well enough.
Kuushou was heading back to the apartment where he had first arrived when he heard a shrill whistle cut through the quiet night. His four ANBU stalkers – who had been following him ever since he left the Hokage's office – immediately broke off and headed towards the Hokage Tower at a furious pace.
Now that his attention had been drawn to it, he could sense a lot of ninja moving rapidly all over the village, most of them converging towards the Hokage Tower. There were a few isolated signatures moving about randomly, including one vaguely familiar one that seemed to be headed in his direction.
Shrugging, he continued walking towards his apartment. Until he had decided to actually leave the village, it was in his best interests to continue playing the loyal ninja; loyal ninja didn't take the first opportunity to sneak off to parts unknown in the middle of the night. They stayed right where their watchers expected them to be, looking normal and innocent.
That plan went out the window when the nearby chakra signature landed in front of him; it was Mizuki, the taijutsu instructor from the Academy. The man was panting lightly, and was carrying a very large scroll in a harness across his back, with several smaller ones shoved randomly into his pockets and pouches.
"Naruto!" the man called out, an obviously fake smile twisting across his face. "Just the happy graduate I wanted to see!"
"Hello, sensei," Kuushou replied.
"I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier, but there's a special post-graduation test for promising graduates. If you perform well enough, ANBU may even take an interest in you! And everyone knows that ANBU are some of the best ninja in the village, right? That would be a major boon to anyone who wants to become Hokage!"
Kuushou just stared at the teacher before him.
Mizuki continued quickly, looking nervously around at the rooftops and shadows. "All you have to do to participate," he said, "is take one of these scrolls, find a test proctor wearing a white mask, and then keep the scroll away from them for as long as possible."
Here Mizuki pulled out a smaller scroll and tossed it towards him. Kuushou caught it reflexively, his eyes narrowing as he took in the incredibly complex security seal that kept the scroll closed. The security seal alone was far more advanced than anything he had ever been allowed access to before, which meant that the contents of the scroll were either even more advanced or highly sensitive.
Which implied that the large scroll Mizuki was carrying was even more important.
It was also rather obvious that the man was lying through his teeth. He had stolen important documents and was now apparently trying to either pin the blame on Naruto or at least have him implicated as an accomplice. Kuushou didn't know how he had done it, but all of the rapidly moving signatures he could sense were heading in another direction entirely, which meant that as things stood Mizuki would likely make a clean getaway.
With the absence of his ANBU stalkers, it also meant that they were completely alone.
Kuushou's face lit up with an eager grin as he stepped forward. "Really, Mizuki-sensei?" he said excitedly. The teacher was only two meters away now, the perfect range for what he had in mind.
The only potential problem Kuushou saw was their current location. It was very close to the apartment and only two blocks from where the ANBU had last seen him. Then again, he didn't plan to leave any evidence after he was done.
Mizuki's grin widened, and he opened his mouth to reply.
Then two large stone hands burst out of the ground, one gripping his torso and pinning his arms to his sides while the other wrapped around his head, completely covering his mouth and nose.
Mizuki's eyes widened and his legs began to kick frantically, before another stone hand emerged to capture them as well.
"Really, Mizuki-sensei?" Kuushou said again, this time his voice mocking. "You honestly thought I would fall for that? No- don't answer," he said quickly, holding up one hand.
Mizuki's eyes widened even more as his oxygen began to run out and panic set in.
"Given everything I've heard about Naruto, he probably would have," Kuushou concluded disgustedly.
As Kuushou continued speaking, he quickly divested Mizuki of everything he was carrying, starting with the large scroll on his back. Now that he had a closer look, he could see the scroll was clearly labeled as the "Scroll of Forbidden Seals."
Kuushou whistled lowly.
"Impressive," he said. "How did you manage to get ahold of something like this?" He waited a moment, head cocked to the side curiously. "Fine then, don't say anything. Doesn't really matter anyway."
By the time Kuushou had removed all the pouches and scrolls from Mizuki's person, the teacher had lost consciousness. He reached into his pouch to pull out one of his empty sealing scrolls, only to curse when he realized he didn't actually have one with him. He was used to his own clothing and supplies, not the incredibly limited selection this world's Naruto kept at hand.
He also didn't have time to track down sealing paper and ink. He could already sense the ninja searching the village starting to spread out in a more thorough search pattern. Whatever diversion Mizuki had arranged had played out, it seemed.
He piled the scrolls up on the ground and created a bubble of earth around them; this way he could at least carry them with him while he took care of the evidence.
Stepping forward, he placed a hand on Mizuki's shoulder and then submerged into earth, taking his now deceased prisoner with him. After he had completely submerged, the street looked empty and entirely undisturbed, with no evidence that anything out of the ordinary had happened there at all.
Underneath the earth, Kuushou moved down at an angle, going deeper and deeper underground while moving away from his apartment. Once he estimated he was roughly under the middle of Konoha, he shifted his course until he was going straight down.
For anyone else, with the densely packed earth and rock and the complete lack of breathable air, such a journey would be impossible. Kuushou, however, could easily correct whatever damage his body suffered during his time beneath the surface. Even if the other ninja thought to look underground, they would never consider going deeper than a few dozen feet at most.
Roughly three minutes later, he was nearly a mile underground. He released Mizuki's body, satisfied that no one would ever find it this far underground and surrounded by solid rock. Evidence disposed of, he began moving back towards the surface and the street he had recently vacated. The only angle he had left uncovered would be the Inuzuka and their ability to track by scent – and for that, he had planned to return to the surface a block further back and resume his walk to his apartment. With his scent stronger by several minutes than Mizuki's, it should appear as though they moved through the area at different times.
He stopped moving, frowning, as he realized there was another problem – he still had the scrolls with him, and he wasn't certain he would be able to seal them away before someone came looking for him or his ANBU stalkers returned.
He shook his head in exasperation as the solution came to him, and quickly fashioned a small, reinforced hollow in the earth nearby. Once he was satisfied that the small structure wouldn't collapse, he shoved the scrolls into it and headed straight up towards the surface. He cautiously poked his head out, quickly memorizing the area and his position so that he could return later, then resumed his underground trek.
Fifteen minutes later he had covered his tracks as thoroughly as he could and was lying in the shitty bed in his shitty apartment, "asleep". Tomorrow would see if he had actually gotten away with it or not, but even if his cover was blown it would be no great loss.
The next day dawned bright and clear, and Kuushou was up and out of bed the moment the sun peeked over the horizon. He detested the time he was forced to spend pretending to sleep, but even in his own world no one was prepared to believe that he didn't require any rest at all.
Knowing that he wasn't expected to perform any duties until the Hokage made up his mind about his placement, he made his way to the Konoha library, his ANBU stalkers in tow - they had returned roughly an hour after he entered the apartment, and a different team had taken over a few hours later.
"Out!" the librarian snapped the moment he walked in the door.
"What?" he asked, startled. His gaze focused on the older woman sitting behind the counter near the entrance of the library.
"I won't have any of your nonsense in here," the librarian said forcefully, moving out from behind her desk. She closed in, one hand pointing imperiously towards the exit and the other settling on his shoulder. "It took days to straighten everything out the last time you were allowed in. Pranks? Ha! More like vandalism," the old woman muttered angrily. "The things they let you get away with... honestly, in my day..."
It was a close thing, but Kuushou allowed himself to be escorted out of the library, as he was not yet prepared to make a scene. That said, the prospect of staying in this village was looking more and more uninviting.
Wandering the village as he pondered his situation, he idly made note of the changes from his own world. Some of the buildings were the same, but then there would be entire sections of different ones. The different buildings were always much newer, though, and housed mostly unfamiliar businesses. It took nearly an hour before he realized that the newer buildings were concentrated in the middle of the village, with small, seemingly random offshoots in all directions.
He frowned thoughtfully, trying to imagine the scenario that would have led to him attacking the middle of the village rather than the places ninja were likely to gather, such as the Hokage Tower or the large evacuation shelters in the Hokage Monument. It was possible that the portal from Makai just happened to open there, but he was close enough to sense it if that was the case, and he felt nothing.
Coming out of his musings, he was surprised to find himself standing outside the Yamanaka residence. This, at least, appeared unchanged from his own world, as the color scheme was the same and he could see the well-maintained flowerbeds that Kiku Yamanaka spent so much of her time and energy caring for.
While he was examining the yard, the front door opened and Inoichi Yamanaka exited the house. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn't slept at all, but he was freshly bathed and had on clean clothing. He closed the door quietly behind him, then turned and caught sight of the boy standing in front of his house.
His expression was surprised and confused for a moment, but that quickly gave way to recognition and understanding.
"Ah, Naruto," he called out as he moved closer. "That's right, you were- um… yeah," he finished awkwardly.
"Hello, Yamanaka-san," Kuushou replied, his voice neutral.
Inoichi fidgeted for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the next and looking at his watch. "I don't have a lot of time," he said finally, "but… do you want to come in?"
Kuushou shrugged and nodded. He didn't have anything specific in mind yet, and Inoichi might prove a valuable resource in gaining information.
They settled down at the kitchen table after Inoichi poured them each a cup of lukewarm coffee. Kuushou could hear the shower running upstairs, which given the hour likely meant that Kiku was getting ready for the day; Ino had never been much of a morning person.
"I'm sorry about all this," Inoichi said suddenly. "After looking through your memories, I know how different things are here and how hard it must be to have everything taken away from you like that. When I saw how your life went in the other world… it makes me wonder… sorry," he said again, staring at his coffee.
Kuushou just shrugged, remaining silent. The silence continued for nearly a minute while Kuushou watched Inoichi start to say something several times only to end up stopping and looking frustrated. He himself was wondering how to turn this conversation in a more useful direction. The man had started things off in highly emotional territory, and he saw no benefit to continuing that sort of discussion; he'd had enough therapy sessions already.
Then Ino entered the room.
"Naruto?" Ino asked, shocked. The blonde girl was currently wearing light purple pajama pants and a loose white shirt. She had clearly just woken up, since she was still rubbing her eyes and her hair was sticking up on one side of her head. "What are you doing here?" she asked, somehow managing to fill her voice with equal parts curiosity and annoyance.
After the reception he had received yesterday at the Academy, he wasn't at all surprised that he was unwelcome now. He had already mentally separated his own world's Ino from this poor mockery, noting the weaker, lethargic feeling of this girl's chakra compared to the real Ino's. Their signatures were still very similar, but this girl lacked the finely honed edge and larger - much larger, Kuushou noted wryly - reserves that Ino had acquired over the years.
Inoichi jerked in his seat, his eyes widening slightly before he turned to face his daughter. "Ino!" he barked, his voice harsh.
She recoiled, stunned at her father's tone. "What?" she asked quietly.
"Don't talk like that!" he reprimanded, though his tone had softened somewhat.
Ino looked confused, however. "It's just Naruto," she said, as if that explained everything. "What is he doing in our house so early, anyway? Did he prank you or something?"
Kuushou stood, tired of dealing with this crude imitation of his sister. "Thank you for the coffee," he said politely, then turned and headed for the door.
"Naruto…," Inoichi said, his voice soft.
Kuushou just waved his hand dismissively. "Like you said, it's different." He hid a small smirk as he left the room – given how Inoichi was behaving the man would likely seek him out to apologize again at some point relatively soon, which would be the perfect opportunity to extract something useful out of him. The man was highly placed in Konoha's ninja forces, after all, as well as a member of the Council.
Besides, his time with Inoichi had reminded him of when they first met, and the method by which he had been transferred from ANBU HQ to the Yamanaka residence following the first attack: the henge no jutsu.
If the people of this village didn't like Naruto, then let them deal with a complete stranger.
Kuushou, disguised as a brown-haired brown-eyed fifteen year old, continued flipping through the book on Konoha's history. On first examination the overall history of the village had seemed similar to his own world, until he stumbled across the chapter titled, "The Valley of the End".
… the what?
The chapter had included a map with the eponymous landmark highlighted clearly, but that only served to confuse him even more; there was no such valley in his world. Apparently Hashirama Senju, the only known user of the Wood-Release bloodline and Madara Uchiha, who had obtained the "ultimate form" of the sharingan, had fought over the title of Hokage and control of Konoha, and the Valley of the End marked the site of their battle.
Kuushou wasn't sure what "the ultimate form" referred to, but it seemed to be distinct from a fully matured sharingan. He'd never heard mention of it in his own world, but then Madara Uchiha hadn't fought the Shodaime in his world either. Shrugging, he continued reading.
The battle was so fierce that it literally rent the earth apart, especially when Madara Uchiha summoned and controlled the-
Kuushou snarled, the book twisting in his hands. This book dared claim that he would obey the whims of some insignificant human. The very thought was ludicrous; it was far more likely that he had happened across the battle and decided to attack one of the ninja involved. Then again, if that were the case neither would have survived – it would explain the damage to the landscape, however.
His snarl turned into a frown as he noted the date. The battle had taken place nearly seventy years ago, which did not match up at all with the timing for his banishment and return.
Something was wrong with all of this.
Two days later, days he had spent holed up in the library familiarizing himself with the differences between this world and his own, Kuushou found himself once again in the Hokage's office for another meeting.
"Hello, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said. The old man seemed to have aged several years since they last met. His face was haggard and he looked very pale.
"Hey, Hokage-jiji," Kuushou replied. The Hokage seemed to perk up slightly at that.
"I understand that you have been spending a lot of time in the library," the Hokage began. "Have you found anything interesting?"
Kuushou raised one hand in the air and waved it back and forth slightly. "Somewhat," he replied. "I was rather surprised to find that Madara Uchiha had challenged the Shodaime for control of the village. That didn't happen in my world."
The Hokage just nodded thoughtfully. "His challenge failed in this world, so perhaps he was a little wiser or more cautious in your world."
"Perhaps," Kuushou shrugged. "The book also mentioned an 'ultimate form' of the sharingan... what is that?"
"Ah," the Hokage said, smiling slightly. "Supposedly the sharingan can improve beyond the three tomoe version that most consider the bloodline's fully matured state. No one other than Madara Uchiha has ever been reported to do so, however, so it was likely something unique to him or an exaggeration with no true basis in reality." His expression darkened a little as he spoke, but his tone remained light and conversational.
Kuushou hummed thoughtfully, but made no further comment.
The Hokage sighed, and leaned forward in his seat slightly. "I am told that you have spent the last two days constantly under a henge," the old man said. "May I ask why that is?"
Kuushou just shrugged. "It seemed easier if no one could recognize me as this world's Naruto," he said simply.
The old man sagged, his visage going from old to positively ancient. "I see," was all he said, however.
After a few seconds, the Hokage shook off whatever odd mood he was in and straightened once again. "The reason I asked you to meet with me," he said, "regards your placement within Konoha's forces. I have considered your request and various suggestions, but I feel that I need more information before I can make a final decision. To that end, I have arranged something of an exhibition that will allow me to get a firmer grasp on your skills."
"Alright," Kuushou replied, not really caring one way or another. "When?"
"We can begin in twenty minutes, if you are ready."
A/N: Here be chapter the second!
More minor revisions, the most significant being some changes to Koharu and Homura's depiction. I decided I was falling into the fanon trap of making them outright hate/despise Naruto for no real reason and adjusted the scene. Their overall actions remain the same, but how they are described is more neutral and, hopefully, conveys that they simply have very little respect for him (which I think is easily justified from a canon basis). Their concerns expressed in the scene are - from a certain point of view - entirely valid, after all.
The rest of what I have posted in the Filing Cabinet should break fairly neatly into two chapters, and I already have half of another chapter written. I'll try to get those posted by this weekend at the latest.
As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews!