Chapter Three: Conffesing
Hokage's POV
I was sitting in my chair resting from my work. Ugh! Paperwork can be a real enemy sometimes. My back is so sore. I need a good massage after this day ends. But there is one more of my worries. Naruto. The poor boy was wrecking ruckus in the village again. I can only hope Iruka catches him soon. I was suddenly pulled out from my thoughts by a knock on the door. And so I quickly returned to my old workaholic and authoritative self.
"Come in!" I said as the doors of my office cracked open and inside came three young Gennins with Leaf Village headband's, which I never saw before. Coming to my conclusion I decided to let them speak first. That way I will find out their identities and their purpose for being here as well as their intentions.
"What can I do for you, young ones?" I asked kindly eyeing each one of them warily. The girl which stood in the middle of her teammates had black hair and her headband tied on her left arm, I assume she is their team leader as she decided to speak first.
"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama. We are here because we need your help of course. But, as you have already noticed, we aren't from here. Um... technically we are, but it's a little bit complicated."
"What do you mean by that? You got me confused."
"What I meant to say, is that we come kind of from a future. And we are stuck in the past in other words your present."
"Hmmm... Interesting. But it's hard to believe it too. How could I know that you are not spies from another village?"
"But we aren't. If we were, we probably wouldn't come here. We could find another way to obtain information. So don't put us together. We are merely Gennins, too."
"Please, Hokage-sama. You have to believe us. We really do come from the future. Before this all happened we were sent together, with other two teams, on a mission to retrieve a secret scroll under the specific order of the Sixth Hokage. And when the mission was successfully over and done with, another teammate of ours got curious about the scroll, so she opened it. And because of that we are here where we are. Stuck in the past, literally. Though, we do not know what happened to the other two teams, they might be stuck in the same time as us. But I don't sense their presence here. They might have ended up in other villages." Said the boy which had the resemblance of the Inuzuka clan people.
"Please Hokage-sama, you are the only person who can help us right now."
"But, if I decide to help you, what can I possibly gain in return? How can that benefit me, tell me?"
This time a girl with bright red hair stepped forward and spoke with confidence. "I believe that you will help us either way, Hokage-sama."
"How can you be sure of that?" I asked slyly.
"Because our dear friend Kasumi said it so. And we believe in our friends more than anything."
I was deeply shocked by her words, but didn't show it on the outside. Now that I look more closely, they kind of resemble people of Konoha, that is for sure. In their eyes burnt a passionate 'Will of Fire' which only people of Konohagakure possessed. They determinedly stood their ground, ready to do anything just to reach their goal. Nevertheless, they cared for each other. Such kids at their age to be like this. It's almost unbelievable. *Sigh*
"Okay. I'll help you. But do tell me your names first, so that I can at least address you properly."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama. Well then, we will start from the left side. The boy with dog by his side is Masaru Inuzuka. He's from the Inuzuka clan. The girl on my right is Akemi Uchiha and she's from the Uchiha clan. And least but not the last is me, Chiyuki Nara. I'm from the Nara clan. There was supposed to be one more teammate of ours here with us, but she said that she had to solve some other things first before coming here."
"I see. But, do tell me young ones about this teammate of yours. Is she really the one who told you about me, and is she the same person who got you into this situation? What kind of person is she?" I asked curiously as I was greatly interested in this person.
"Well, you guessed correctly, Hokage-sama. She indeed is the one who got us into this trouble and who told us to seek help from you. We all blamed her for her doing, but now seeing it from the other point of view, as our friend an comrade, we decided to let this matter go its way and rather focus on the situation at hand rather than to dawdle continuously in the past." Spoke the girl whose name was Chiyuki.
"Those are wise words you speak for your age, Chiyuki. No wonder you are from a Nara clan then."
"Oh no, Hokage-sama. It's nothing like that, I merely spoke the truth. That's all there is to it."
"No need to feel shy, I know that the people from your clan are very knowledgeable. Please, continue with your story."
"As you wish Hokage-sama. A Kasumi's personality, huh? You could say that she is unique in her own way of doing things. I mean, she surprises us almost every day, even though we growed up together and came to know each other best, she yet shows us an another side of herself which we didn't know existed. She's able to persuade people really fast, make an enemy her friend, and even change their way of living in general. She makes people realise their mistakes and helps them go back to the right path of the life they had lost sight of before. At times she acts so mature and wise, takes responsibility nonetheless, and carries her duties until the end. But as she can be like that she can also sometimes be a lazy, immature idiot who doesn't care for the world, and who likes to eat ramen above everything else. She's such a kid sometimes. It's almost laughable. But I guess, that's just the way she is."
"That sounds just like the someone I know. At least the last part of it. If it weren't for the fact that you come from the future, I would probably have thought that we are speaking about the same person here. Even though, that doesn't matter right now. We went a little bit of the topic here. Do tell me, young ones what is it that you need from me? I'll make sure to help you in any way possible and however I can."
"Well, seeing as we'll be here for a while, we could rent us a house. After all we do need a place to live in. Hokage-sama, can you tell us about some appropriate place to stay in, we would really appreciate that."
Now that I think about it, there is supposed to be some place left which was not used for a quite some time now. Well it wouldn't hurt to lend it to them. It's just a house after all.
"Yes, I suppose that I could let you have that place. It's enough big for all of you. Though, you'll have a lot of work to do to bring it back in its perfect shape as it was before. It hasn't been used for about a decade."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama. We'll manage. Can you tell us the address of this place you are speaking of? We want to get to work as soon as possible, so that we can settle in faster."
"Okay. I will let the ANBU's show you the way. After all, it's not an every day experience that a Hokage, such as myself, lends people, who are merely an acquaintances, a house in which used to live The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki."
"Erm.. You didn't need to go to such extent of giving us such an important place, Lord Hokage. Any other normal house would also be fine."
"Oh please, I'm only being generous. That house was the only place left in these circumstances, everything else is now full. Besides, I trust you to take good care of it."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama! We won't let you down."
"Good. Now, you'll only have to wait a little until the ANBU's arrive. These days we are really short on people, since almost everyone is out on a mission."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama, we are patient people so we can wait. Besides, we agreed to meet here with our friend Kasumi. I wonder what is taking her so long to come here?"
"I see. Take your time. I need to go back now to my paperwork, if you'll kindly excuse me."
Even though I said that, I couldn't go back to work, because their interesting conversation soon pulled me in.
"Ne, ne Chiyuki. Do you think she maybe forgot to show up?"
"I don't know Masaru. She gave us her word after all. Let's just wait patiently for her arrival."
"Okay. What do you think Akemi?"
"Well, if it's her we are talking about, then anything is possible. She did survive 'that great fall' after all. But if she doesn't show here soon enough, I will deal with her personally." She said evilly as the mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
Dear me, with this one is not to mess with.
"Yo! How's going?" Said an unknown voice behind me, to which they all turned their attention to.
"Well, well... look who finally decided to show up?"
"It was about damn' time anyways!"
"What took you so long, troublesome woman?!"
"Sorry, sorry. My bad. It took some time to find him."
"Who are you talking about, Kasumi?"
"About this guy right here." She said pulling someone from behind her as she at the same time stepped into the room from the entrance of the window, she was standing on.
"Uh, who's that?"
"Really now, Akemi? Take a closer look."
*Stare*
"Aaaahhh! I-I-It's... It's him!! The Si-shoghkge!!! Hmmhmh! Lhhmnmeho! Mmhhhhmmhhh!!"
"Quiet down! You musn't spill everything! It's already enough that we are stuck here. Do you want to end up changing the future?!"
"Nhhnm."
"You don't? Then keep quiet."
"Naruto-kun?"
"Hi there. Old man."
"Naruto, why aren't you at the academy?"
"Ha haha. You see, it's a long story."
"It's okay. You don't have to say it right away. We have more important matters than that to discuss. You see, Hokage-sama I am the one who brought him here instead of Iruka-san. About now I think is the time that he dismissed his class for a while. Probably because of the damage that was done."
"Damage? What are you talking about?"
"You can ask that question Iruka-san later. I'm sure he will explain it to you in full details."
"Okay. I'll do as you say. But, who are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself first. I'm Kasumi. Kasumi Uzumaki, dattebane." She said smiling the goofy grin usually Naruto used. Also she uses the same phrase as Kushina. There is no mistake. She must be somehow related to him.
"By the way Hokage-sama, I came here to tell you and my teammates something important."
"Speak. What is it that you have to say?"
"I'm going to train Naruto for a while now. And I'm running out of time here. This clone of mine will soon dissolve into nothingness. So, what I want to say is that, you don't have to worry about him. As long as he is with me, he'll be safe. That's all I wanted to say to you. Now, to the others. Chiyuki I guess you still have that, don't you?"
"Ah, hai. What are you intending to do?"
"If you do, than that is good. As long as you have it, I will be able to find you and come to you anytime."
"Understood. Please, don't take too long. We have a lot of work to do now, with our new house. Don't make us do all the work."
"Don't tell me, you are going to let her go again?" Masaru perked up again as his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Got a problem with that, huh Masaru?" Chiyuki spoke with menacing aura around her.
"N-No. N-No problem at all, boss!"
"Then it's alright." She said fake smiling at him.
"Well then... if you'll excuse me, I have to report to the real me."
"Okay. I'm leaving Naruto in your care, Kasumi."
"Hai!" She answered as she dissolved into smoke. A kage bushin, huh? She's really something, isn't she?
Just as she disappeared, an ANBU team took her place in front of me. "Hokage-sama we have arrived. What do you want us to do?"
"Crow, I want you to take our guests to this place, together with your teammates. They shall live there from now on." I said giving him a piece of paper on which was the name of it.
"Hokage- sama, t-this i-is?!"
"Don't question it. Just fulfil that order."
"Yes! Right away Hokage-sama! Snake, Lion! Let's go!"
"Well then, Hokage-sama. If you'll excuse us."
"You may take your leave now, but come again tomorrow with your teammates here. We have to discuss on which missions you shall go. After all, you need money to pay the living expenses and your rent. Take care."
"We will. Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Now, we'll only have to wait and see how things will progress from now on. Some great things happened this time, which ought to change the future for the better tomorrow.
'At least I hope so.'
~Meanwhile with the Kasumi and Naruto on a training field~
Kasumi's POV
"DO IT ONE MORE TIME! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT, NARUTO! COME ON, CONCENTRATE!"
"Haaaa!!!" *Poof* "Why doesn't it work right???!!!!" Complained Naruto for a hundredth time now.
"Take it easy. It's your first time doing something like this, right? It's not like you can do it over the night. It takes some time, since this is an advanced jutsu made by the First Hokage himself. Besides, I added some changes in it, so it's even tougher to get it right."
"I know that Kasumi-sensei! But I just want to do it as fast as I can. This way I can get everyone from the class acknowledge me at last."
"I get it. But, why are you calling me sensei? I'm the same age as you, though."
"Huh? Well I thought, since you are teaching me and giving me tips in all of that, I could call you my sensei. Or do you mind me calling you like that?"
"No. Not at all. It sounds nice being called like that. But you can only do that when I'm teaching you something, otherwise call me Kasumi-chan, alright?"
"Buuu!~ Kasumi-sensei's not fair."
"Hahahaha! Please, Naruto? For me?"
*Sigh* "There is not helping it then."
"Alright! Now that we have come to an agreement, you can take a little break. What's more, sun is almost setting down. Want me to treat you to ramen, later?"
"Okay! It's a deal!"
"Yeah. Besides, tomorrow is a new day. I'm sure you will get it by then."
"You really think so? I mean I really want to be able to do this on my own as soon as possible. It's a first great step forward for me in becoming a ninja and making my dream come true. It would be bad if I don't get it right tomorrow."
"Eeeehh! Why do you think like that? I think you will be a great ninja. In my eyes you are more of a ninja than any of them."
"In your eyes, that is. But in others I'm just a failure."
"Hmm... Well, you can always change that for the better."
"How?"
"How? Isn't it obvious, by working hard of course. By putting everything you've got into your training. Your sweating and hard work is sure to be paid off one day. Naruto, let me tell you one thing straight."
"What is it?"
"Don't let anyone get to you. Sometimes, hard work and great will can surpass even the utmost talent. Don't ever forget that."
"You really think so?"
"Yes. As long as you believe in yourself anything is possible."
"Thank you, Kasumi-chan. Both ways, for supporting me and for believing in me."
"You are welcome, Naruto. For getting your spirits in a great mood, what do you say we make a little bet?"
"A bet? What are you suggesting? Because this great Naruto Uzumaki-sama is never to run away from any challenge!"
"That's the spirit Naruto! Now, are you ready?"
"Anytime!"
"Okay. If you get this jutsu right by tomorrows dawn, I will treat you to ramen. But you'll get to eat as much as you want."
"Alright! I'm all pumped up!"
"But that's not all."
"Huh? It's not?"
"No, it's not. As a bonus, I will teach you another one of my jutsus. Do we have a deal, Uzumaki-san?"
"Sure we do, Kasumi-sensei."
"Good."
"Yosh, yo! I will get this in no time!"
"Don't you think it's a little bit too late for training? After all, you do need to rest so you can be ready for tomorrow. By overdoing it you will only get yourself in worse condition. So, for now, we'll call it a day."
"Eeehh!!! But I wanted to train some more!"
"No buts, mister. I'm the boss now. And as long as I'm training you, you will have to listen to me. Are we clear?"
"Yes, ma'am. We are."
"Now hurry up! I promised to treat you to dinner."
"At least something good has come out of this."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
~Time skip~ Ichiraku's ramen stand
"Ne Kasumi-chan, I didn't get to hear your last name. What is it?"
"Hmmm... I suppose I could tell you. But don't be too surprised."
"What, is it maybe funny?"
"Nothing of it's funny."
"Okay. If you say so. Now spill it."
"Okay, okay. It's Uzumaki, dattebane!"
"Ah, Uzumaki. Nothing new. The same surname as mine. Hahaha."
After a good minute.
"Wait."
"Hmm..."
"You are an Uzumaki too?"
"That's right."
"And that means that we are related?"
"You got that right."
"Eeeeeeeehhhhh???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
