Second Chance to Make It Right - seriously, open to shorter title suggestions
Chapter 3:
Natsumi huffed as she was made to wait outside the Hokage's office. She was used to being able to barge in at any time, with both jiji and Tsunade, but she knew that it would be odd to see a jounin simply walking into the office. Thus she waited impatiently outside the door for whichever team that was inside.
Finally the door opened letting out the genin team that was inside. Looking at them she stiffened slightly. Team 10 and their sensei came out having apparently finished another D-rank for the day.
"Honestly Shikamaru, you're so damn lazy! I had to do most of the work, and some of that muck got into my hair! What if Sasuke-kun sees me like this huh?"
Naru inwardly winced, having forgotten what Ino was like when they were young.
"Tch, troublesome woman." Shikamaru grumbled.
"What was that?" Ino yelled in his ear. Naru held in a giggle at the faces on Shikamaru and Asuma before moving forward to go into jiji's office. However her movement caught Asuma's eye, which lead to his curiosity of the unknown kunoichi.
"Ah, I don't believe we've meet before. I'm Sarutobi Asuma, and these are my new genin team, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji."
Blocking out the scenes of Asuma's funeral, along with Choji's broken body and Ino's blank eyes that forced their way into her mind, she gave a small grin.
"No, I didn't think so. I'm Kazama Natsumi. I've been away for quite some time, so you probably aren't that familiar with me"
Asuma nodded before placing a hand on his students' shoulders "Well, we should go. Tora isn't going to come back by himself!" Laughing at the groans that came from the genin, Natsumi waved them off. Breathing a calming breath, she knocked on the door and walked in with the welcome.
Despite Shikamaru's bored and lazy exterior, his mind was one of the sharpest you could find. He'd noticed a slight wince on the blonde kunoichi's face when Asuma-sensei got her attention. Not only that, but she bore a striking resemblance to his friend Naru. The blonde hair and blue eyes were almost the exact same shade; the older woman's differing by a few shades darker. He also noticed faint whisker marks on her cheeks that Naru also had. There had to be some kind of relation there.
Ino's blaring voice dragged him sharply back to reality, calling his a lazy bastard and to help. He tisked, but moved forward.
"Tch, troublesome woman."
"What was that!"
Natsumi stood in front of Hiruzen, both being serious and professional. Inwardly, Sarutobi was impressed that Naruto – even an adult version of her – could be so serious. He'd sent a message to Jiraiya earlier, who sent word back that he'd be there in around a week, and Kakashi would be bringing mini-Naru with him after their mission and trainings – In other words, they probably wouldn't even show up until tomorrow.
"Natsumi, the privacy seals are up, no one can get in or out without my say so."
She nodded her head before launching into the meeting. "What do you need Hokage-sama?"
Hiruzen tilted his head forward "Whatever you deem necessary for me to know."
Natsumi shifted slightly "There's a lot to cover sir"
"Best to get started then hm?"
Natsumi looked back at the Hokage "The Suna-Oto invasion that will happen at the chunin exams has been planned for months. Even now they are preparing and Orochimaru is getting ready to infiltrate as a genin. His main target till the final exam will be Uchiha Sasuke for his Sharingan"
The Sandaime leant back "I was under the impression that Sasuke-kun had yet to awaken his bloodline"
"In a C-rank mission coming up he will gain it sir. If I am allowed to, I wish to go with Team 7 on this mission; there is something I have to do this time."
The Sandaime nodded "Granted, having an extra jounin with them should help them greatly from what I remember of your earlier story. What else?"
The shinobi and her commander's discussion ran long into the evening, covering as much as they possibly could.
"I would like to place you as one of the exam proctors Natsumi. Having you there would help greatly I should think, especially if Orochimaru makes his move then."
Natsumi nodded "I'll help Anko then. Her Cursed Seal would act up if she got too close to him."
The Sandaime breathed deeply. Natsumi noticed a sag in his shoulders and a frailness to his body that she hadn't seen when she was younger. Despite how strong her jiji was, he was still far too old to still be doing this job anymore.
"I believe that is enough for now Naru-chan. I will see you tomorrow. Do you have a place to sleep?"
Natsumi rubbed the back of her neck "Heh, yeah. Kakashi-sensei said I could stay with him. Night jiji"
"Goodnight Naru-chan"
Hiruzen leaned forward again, his hat casting a shadow across his face.
'I fear dark times are coming for Konoha Naru-chan, and I hope we can all be ready for it when they do'
A shout that came from outside his door brought him out of his thoughts,
"THE LAZY PERVERT DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME WHERE HE LIVES!"
Chuckling at things that never changed, the Sandaime turned to look out over the village he had ruled over for so many years, listening to the yells of the girl he thought of as his granddaughter echo from below.
7 years in the future…
"So you're saying that Naru –our Naru – has managed to keep a time-travel seal a secret from us for two years, and that not only was she successful, but she left it out in the middle of her house where anyone could find it and use it?"
"Hn"
"Tch, troublesome"
Shikamaru ran a hand through his pineapple like hair. It was just like Naru, the troublesome woman, to do something like this, and then leave them all behind.
Sasuke had found the note and called them all there, not that there were many of them left. Kurenai and her son didn't really involve themselves in shinobi business much now unless it involved protecting the small town where they now lived. Out of their graduation group, only he, Sasuke, Naru, Hinata and Shino were left, while Tenten and Lee were still around from Team Gai.
The Sand Siblings were still around, Gaara still looking after the people who remained behind in Suna. They were all that was really left from their generation, and it was something that hurt them all.
He looked at the note again before analysing the seal on the floor.
"The thing is, even as dense as Naru can be; I don't believe that she would leave a seal as powerful as this without protections. Can you imagine if one of the nuke-nin got a hold of this?"
He put his fingers tip-to-tip in his thinking pose.
"I think she left a doorway open for us."
Sasuke lost his brooding look and stared at him with more intensity then Shikamaru thought possible.
"What do you mean Nara?"
Shikamaru sighed "Look, neither of us are exactly skilled in fuuinjutsu, but I know for a fact that a seal should change after it's been used. This seal hasn't." He pointed to some symbols around the rim "These look like a count-down, like it has however many uses left"
They both stared at the seal intently, as if trying to force some answers from the mass of ink and blood.
"She said seven years right?"
"Hn."
"The only question now is, how much chakra does this seal need?"
Boom! Another chapter done and done.
Honestly I wasn't planning on another chapter until the weekend *but* I made an exception. Plus I got bored. What, Physics is not exactly my forte, I prefer Chemistry any day. So feel happy, I'm updating instead of studying.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I don't think this is going to be an overly serious fic, I'm not good at serious writing, but I suck at writing crack even more, so this should walk down the middle (I hope)
Oh, and if the future-characters are a little off, remember that they're some of the last of their generation, most of their friends and family are dead. The war went differently from the manga, which at the moment is changing too much to write accurately at this point.
So! Thank you for reading, and please review and vote on the poll! It'll be up untill Sunday (for NZ) so vote while you can!
Chaos, over and out.
P.S. I was looking at the poll results, and all I can say is "lmfao, no one likes Kakashi"
Listening to: Better This Way – Cherri Bomb