"Another successful mission from Team Anko, Lord Hokage," Anko smiled as they handed in another mission report. The three on the team absolutely despised D-Rank missions, but they had the most successful record by far. Even Kurenai's team had a few complaints that came with the missions as Kiba tried to assert his dominance repeatedly and was an idiot while doing so.
"Ah, good, good," Hiruzen said as he passed the report to Iruka who had volunteered to help with mission reports while the Academy had been let out for break. "It seems you have reached the number required before moving onto C-rank missions. Is that your plan Anko?"
With a nod, Anko answered, "Yes Lord Hokage, I was hoping that you would have a low ranked C mission that I could leave the village with."
The Hokage hummed in thought as he tried to remember the many requests that Konoha had received in the last few weeks. "Off the top of my head, I cannot remember any C's that are not borderline B's, but I will have my staff to check. Come back tomorrow and we will look for something that suits your team. If we cannot find any then you will have first chance at any new C-rank that is given to the village."
The Third Hokage watched as his three subordinates bowed and left the office, his eyes lingering on the form of his grandson. It hurt, seeing the boy nearly every day and not being able to interact with him like he did Konohamaru. Plus, he seemed to always hear about the boy's training and how he progressed so quickly from Yugao. Of course she wasn't telling him that, but AnBU members liked to share stories that didn't involve blood and death and Hiruzen was the one that chose to listen to them. He wanted to celebrate with the boy, congratulate him, teach him a few of the Sarutobi clan moves, but because of his past decisions and his cowardice he did not. It was a miserable existence to see so many of his failures stare at him every day. He was tired of it all and suddenly a flame was lit under the Professor once again. He was going to fix at least one of his mistakes soon.
Isamu found himself wandering the outskirts of the town where he passed many of the training grounds after Anko had dismissed them for the day. It was one of those rare days that Isamu had come to enjoy in the last two months where Anko had barely pushed them beyond the morning warm-ups and mission. She was a hard task master and what most people seemed to forget about her, she was a former apprentice of a Sanin. It didn't matter that her master was a traitor, Orichmaru was a member of the Sanin. Jiraya's apprentice had taken the Hokage's position away from him and his pride would never have let him undertrain someone after that perceived insult. So, with all that in mind, she was a harsh task master, but if one thought about it getting to the level of Kakashi Hatake wasn't a bad thing to get bruised up over.
Speaking of Kakashi, Isamu's wanderings had led him to the Memorial Stone and Team Seven's training ground. Isamu wasn't a regular attendant to the stone there were a few names he liked to find when he passed by. The annoying sounds of Naruto training distracted him from enjoying the peace that any that came to the stone sought out. He watched the orange wearing genin train for a moment and the only thing positive that he could say was that Naruto was determined. He could see traces of a style that would be something frightening to go against with all those clones of his, but that was a long ways away and right now a fast moving target could handle his fellow genin. Knowing that it was his duty as a fellow shinobi, Isamu sighed and moved to speak.
"You know, you can only get so much better from sparring before you hit a wall," Isamu said, gaining the attention of about half the clones and the original.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as he prepared himself for a rant at another person who tried to make fun of his dreams.
"Let me spell it out for you, go to the shinobi library and check out some scrolls to help you. It would be a lot better than hoping to find something out."
"Shinobi library? What's that?"
Isamu stared hard at his classmate and tried to figure out if his fellow fourteen year old was actually serious in his questioning. Seeing that the blonde was indeed clueless, Isamu shook his head and sighed. "Look, I don't really want to deal with this, but go to your sensei and ask about the shinobi library. Since you are a genin you won't get a lot, but I'm sure there's something that can help you."
Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that there was someplace else he could get training from. He probably thought about getting new jutsu and the like, but perhaps his sensei would lead him to what he needed to know. Either way, Naruto left with a quick thanks and a race to find either Iruka or Kakashi.
With Naruto gone, peace and quiet descended on the training ground and Isamu turned back to the memorial stone. The first name he sought out was Kushina Uzumaki, the Habanero of Konoha. Isamu had read about the red head that died the night of the Kyubi attack and she was actually the inspiration for him taking up the sword. While most of the other genin focused solely on the early successes of the Yondaime, there were others in the Third War that had as big an impact as Minato, but people seemed to forget that due to the two battles he singlehandedly won with a flashy jutsu.
His next name was a bit more personal to him, Biwako Sarutobi. Like Kushina she had died on October 10th fourteen years ago, though he could never find the reason why. Softly he traced the name of his grandmother and thought how different things would be if she was still alive.
"She would have murdered me if she was still around for the things I did. Me and Asuma," The elderly voice of the Hokage broke across Isamu's thoughts. "Your grandmother was a spitfire that was never afraid to call me out on any bad decision that I had made or was about to make." Hiruzen sighed, "Perhaps that the reason why I keep screwing up."
Isamu stayed silent, not daring to speak and ruin the moment as it was. His grandfather was actually speaking to him, speaking to him outside of official shinobi work. While he despised what his grandfather and father did to his younger self, he would not deny that if they apologized and were willing to show effort he would refuse a relationship with them. He had researched the law that kept him from a last name and knew that there was no reversing it, but that did not mean the clan could not act friendly with him. Despite everything, he had been on his own for three years now.
"That was a good thing you did for Naruto there, pointing him to extra training. Not many people think about the library until they hit chunin level."
Isamu flushed with a little bit of pride and shrugged his shoulders, "He's a fellow shinobi that has had a shit hand dealt to him so far. We're probably the class with the most potential and I refuse to let any of it be wasted." He may have hated how much attention Naruto received from his grandfather, but he was a fellow shinobi and more importantly orphan.
"And yet not all would see it that way. After all, did you see his teammates around trying to point out these things? I am glad you are more like your grandmother than me and Asuma in that aspect at least." Without actually saying anything the Sandaime had moved to the one bridge in the training ground and both he and Isamu were looking into the slow moving stream.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my tenure as Hokage, but it was my second term that everything started to fall apart. It started the very night of the Kyubi attack and seems to be every other day. The biggest mistake I think I've made though is casting out my own family for simply being born at the wrong time."
"But why now?" Isamu asked the all-important question. "Why now after fourteen years when you probably could have waited another ten and I most likely wouldn't have been inside the village anymore? Is it because you have to see me every day?"
"Yes," The elderly Sarutobi let out with a sigh, "It shames me to admit it, but yes. I've seen you almost every day since Anko has allowed your team to take missions and now I hear about you almost every day as Yugao praises your dedication and growing skill and I can no longer simply ignore a problem that is easily fixed. You are the only one that I can fix my mistake on and before I die I am going to be damned if I leave this within my reach."
Isamu stared at the Hokage through the reflection of the stream and could see the emotion behind his words. Nodding, he spoke, "Well thanks for the honesty. Of course you can't just wash away fourteen years of selective ignorance, especially the last three years with being alone, and I highly doubt we will ever have a grandfather type relationship like what you have with Konohamaru… or Naruto."
The Sandaime had been a shinobi for a long time and had many injuries that could have ended his career if he had been unprepared and now he knew how one would have felt if it had landed. Hiruzen Sarutobi should have known Isamu would have pointed out the two boys, especially his cousin who had everything that should have been Isamu's. He didn't let it show on his face, but internally he was doubled over. "I see," He said, his tone a touch more clipped than it was previously, but it was the only sign that he had been affected by Isamu's words. "I can't say I'm disappointed, but it was to be expected and I'm glad you haven't immediately dismissed me. I'm also a ninja, so I brought bribes to show that I at least want to see you grow." Hiruzen pulled out three scrolls that were labeled with a different discipline of the Shinobi life. "You may choose one, after all I have to have something for later bribes and yes these are my personal notes."
Isamu was shocked at the gift and pleasantly surprised. The Sandaime was known as the professor off the battlefield for a reason and people would kill to have a chance to study them. It was rumored that that was another reason why Asuma left the village in the first place as his father hadn't shared all his notes with the young jonin. It was an honor to see the notes and he was even more surprised when the three scrolls were on disciplines he hadn't studied before. It was obvious that the Hokage had at least done his research on what Isamu was learning. Taking a look, Isamu smiled as he plucked the smallest scroll from Hiruzen's grasp.
The Sandaime let one of his eyebrows rise, "Seals? I did not know anyone in your age group had an interest in seals."
"I maintain a healthy curiosity in them," Isamu answered, ignoring the chance to twist the knife in his grandfather's gut more. He didn't enjoy learning that his family didn't want him and wasn't over it, but he could wait until the bastard before him did something else. "I have no aspirations in being a master, but knowing what I may face one day and perhaps create a few of my own is something that I can strive for. There are just so few books that can set you on the path and the only known seal user of this village is never here."
"That is true enough," The Sandaime said as he tucked the other two scroll back into his robe. "As much as I want to continue this, I do know that pushing too hard and too quickly would make it awkward for the both of us. I will see you again Isamu," He said before performing the shunshin and leaving the training ground.
"And how long before you speak to me rather than at me like a Hokage to his soldier?" Isamu muttered under his breath. It was only guilt that had brought his grandfather to him, so Isamu believed and the Hokage had admitted, but now that the Hokage had talked to him, what would happen? Isamu had been scorned too many times by a Sarutobi to hold any hope for them. He also found it sad that his grandfather was the one to approach him and not his father who only complimented him and Yakumo when they had easily subdued his team. He hadn't even picked up his team's training like he had heard Kakashi had. It was actually disappointing to know that the crazy Snake Bitch of Konoha was the only one that seemed to care about her student's advancements in this graduating class. He had heard about Gai's training method and definitely did not want to experience it full time. Perhaps when he freed up a bit of his day he would approach Gai for help with his Taijutsu. He knew where he was lacking even before Anko beat it into his head, but there were only so many hours in the day and he needed time to rest and recover.
In his wanderings, Isamu passed by a rather popular barbeque restaurant and noticed that all of Team Ten was currently inside. Shaking his head in wonderment, Isamu quickly passed before he grew contemplative or angry. They weren't the worst team of rookies, that honor belonged to Team Seven, but they certainly didn't act like shinobi. When he and Yakumo had been assigned to attack their team, they had watched as Ino had practically begged Asuma for training for an hour, granted for the wrong reasons, while Asuma continued to play shogi with Shikamaru and Choji continued to stuff his face with tons of junk food. It was disheartening to say the least and Isamu had to wonder how Asuma hadn't been reported and how they had all passed their genin exam.
In truth, he wondered how any of them had passed the genin exam when Anko had gotten ahold of him that first month. Anko had bluntly stated that his training was pathetic and while he was physically stronger than Yakumo and had more stamina that was about all he had going for him. The academy had fallen a lot from when Anko was a student there and there seemed to be no end in sight for the decline. If Kurenai's team was anything like the other two, he felt for Hinata and Shino and feared for the future of the village.
A/N: Well that's that. I had four chapters ready to post when I started the rewrite, so most of the updates will now come every 1-2 weeks. Sorry about that. This is also about as close as Isamu will get to the Hokage as Hiruzen won't do anything to show he is serious before his death. I'll leave the poll up for another few days, but at the moment Temari is winning the voting. If there's anything you want to see happen in this story, then leave a review. If you have a question about something specific that I have already posted then I'd rather you send a PM.
