Update Note: I added few more paragraphs at the end of second section of the chapter. Other than that, everything in this chapter is unchanged.
Sorry for the long delay in update after my promised time. My laptop crashed and I didn't made any online copy of this chapter before that. So I lost the whole chapter. Luckily, I still had my notes on this chapter. With that, I composed the chapter from the beginning.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape or form.
Update Note: Just added teaser for the next chapter. Go straight to the bottom of this page. And again sorry for my lateness. I am reworking earlier chapters. So it will take a while for uploading next chapter. My most sincerest apologies to fans of this story.
XoxoX
Hiruzen knocked on the door of Naruto's apartment. It was his first visit after Rijuan replaced Naruto in spirit. He still wasn't sure what to call him. Sure he knew his name, but whenever he saw that face of the child his successor burdened with the Nine Tails, he couldn't help his mind and tongue but to call him Naruto. He would admit that he was keeping his distance from the new arrival because he had his doubt about him. But after his show of gratitude that day in his study, he knew that he had earned the young man's trust. To be honest, he could picture Naruto to grow up to act like him, just a little louder and obnoxious when he saw him smile and lough heartily. But that doesn't change the fact that fundamentally he was different.
The door opened to reveal Naruto's face. For a moment he thought Naruto himself was greeting him. But then he noticed the number stitched on headband he was wearing. He knew from Anbu report that when Naruto had more than 5 clones in one place, they find something to distinguish themselves, like wearing headbands with numbers or use transformation jutsu to differentiate among themselves. It helps with addressing and assigning tasks.
"Hey gramp, come inside." The clone greeted as he opened the door fully to let him in. This part of Rijuan's personality he enjoyed. The boy was informal with him when no one or Jiraiya was around. He would still act formal when atmosphere calls for it. Truthfully, when he learnt that the real Naruto is no more, he was saddened that he wouldn't hear him call that again. It would've hurt more if the same face and same voice spoke to him formally all the time.
"Where is your original?" He asked the clone as he entered. He looked around the apartment. Not that he needed to have a look. He saw the boy decorating his apartment however he saw fit through his viewing crystal.
"Hey boss, gramp is here." He yelled as he made his way to kitchen.
"Gramp, come this way. I am practicing my balance." Answer came from a room that should have been in the other apartment. 'Oh yes, I gave him permission to break the wall between his apartment and the adjacent apartment to join them.'
When he stepped inside the room, he saw Naruto in the middle of the room and there were few marbles around him. The preteen boy was standing on two boards and judging by gaps between them and floor, they had marbles underneath them.
"That's an interesting exercise, my boy." Hiruzen said. "Seems really hard."
"It is." Naruto started his explanation. "From the moment you step on these boards on marbles, you have to watch your balance. You know how spherical objects encounter the least amount of resistance? Well, being between floor and board, two flat surfaces, if you move forward they move backward and if you move backward they move forward. I am trying to keep the marbles from moving by staying still and keeping them glued to both floor and the boards with my chakra. But there are a dozen of them and the points of contact are very small. So I slipped only a few dozen times since I started." And as if to emphasis the point, the boy lost his balance and fell on his butt.
"This sounds like a very good exercise for perfecting balance and chakra control." Hiruzen commented as Naruto collected the marbles. "Not to mention pretty advanced." This exercise was similar to how Jiraiya described his sage training to be, only less fatal. Naruto would slip on few feet only, unlike Jiraiya's fall from almost hundred feet tall spike. He will let Jiraiya know about this exercise in his next letter. For being on battlefield and travel in his youth and now because of his complacency, Jiraiya was unable to completely master sage mode. If this exercise was of some use to him; then that's good. "Of course, if you incorporate this into other exercises, it will increase their difficulty and your mastery over them in turn. You have something in your mind for that, don't you?"
"I did plan on doing pushups this way after I got the hang of it." Naruto said as he gathered all marbles and placed them in a jar. "Anyway, did you have something to discuss with me?"
"Why, you sound like you want me out of your apartment as soon as you can."
"Don't act to be fake-hurt, old man." Naruto said as he turned around. "It's too early in the morning for your secretary to let you leave your paperwork. And I have class to attend to."
"Well I am glad you can see underneath the underneath." Hiruzen gave an amused smile as Naruto called him on his obvious act. He followed after the boy as he made his way to dining table. "You might want to try keeping your honesty in check. We wouldn't want our secret to be in our enemies hands just because they asked you nicely."
"You have yet to hear me lie and I am yet to need to lie." Naruto replied with a confident smirk. This was something that worried Hiruzen. The few days Jiraiya spent time with Naruto; he mentioned, and Hiruzen noticed, that Naruto speaks looking directly in the eye. This combined with his image of honesty will make it harder for people to distrust him if he lies. "I doubt your stomach would agree with my breakfast. Do you want some tea?"
"I have had breakfast before coming. And yes, a cup of tea would be appreciated." Hiruzen said as he took his seat. Naruto sat down opposite to him and removed the lid covering a bowl.
"Lucky for you, I made seven layered tea this morning. Wanna give it a try?" Naruto asked as he sunk his hand in the bowl up to his wrist. When he lifted his hand from the bowl, Hiruzen saw that his hand was wet from water and he had rice in his hand. He heard from his Anbu about Rijuan's habit of consuming fermented rice in the morning. Sometime he ate them with onion and other time with green chilies. "Granted, it doesn't hold a candle to rainbow tea and is not that pretty to look at considering it only takes condensed milk, sugar, and water and tea liquor to make it, it still tastes good. And I am sure you will be really fascinated when you see the rainbow tea."
Unusual recipes for food and drinks were plus for the boy. Some of his dishes are very delicious. "I can't say that I ever tried that."
"Hey cook, you heard the old man!?"
"Tell him to be prepared to be amazed!"
Moments later, the cook clone brought a glass mug and placed in front of him. Hiruzen could see the layers that formed inside the glass. He took the mug and took a sip from it.
"So what's on our agenda?" Naruto asked after shoving few fistful of rice in his mouth.
"First, I want to congratulate you on your passing the test Mr. Asahiko gave you. You scored seventy three percent which is remarkable considering you only had two weeks to prepare yourself." Hiruzen said as he set down the cup for a moment. He unsealed a file from the storage seal in his sleeve and pushed it to Naruto. Cook clone took the file and started going through it. "And this file contains your official record. You should take a look at page twenty four first."
Cook clone opened the page and held it in front of Naruto. He looked over the page carefully as he continued his eating. After he was done reading, he gave an approving nod and looked at Hiruzen. "This story is equally unbelievable to mine but it explains change in behavior without raising any red flag. With Mr. Inoichi's testimony, it's irrefutable." Cook closed the file and handed it back to Hiruzen. He went back to kitchen with his temporary task of holding the file for his original to read done.
Hiruzen drained the cup of its content and set it down. "The story you wrote, sure you said that you copied it from somewhere. But I am sure a fair amount of it came out of your mind. Which makes me wonder as to why you didn't come up with this story yourself?"
"I did think about telling the same thing written in this file. But who would've vouched for me?" Naruto licked his fingers clean before washing his hand inside the bowl. "I wasn't sure if you were aware of absence of this made up function of Eight Trigram Seal. I still could've pushed for this story but after my encounter with Fu in my inner world, I didn't want to take the chance of another mind-walker backed by an authoritative figure storming my inner world and bring something to the forefront I don't want to remember in the name of investigation. So I came clean about it when Jiraiya came to meet me."
So the boy did think about lying. If he lied, Hiruzen would've been wary of Naruto for sure but he still would've thought him as Naruto with experience from past life. Sure, he would've been tempted about going through with a thorough mind scan regardless but in the end, guilt from his failure at providing the boy with a happy childhood and unknowingly making an honest soul to experience the mistreatment would've stopped him. And then there would be the fear of unknown.
Hiruzen broke out of his musing when he heard a groan coming from Naruto. He looked at him to see him gripping left side of his head and his face contorted in pain. Hiruzen was alarmed. Naruto never suffered any sudden bout of pain. He was about to stand up and take the boy to hospital. But his worry lessened when Naruto's face returned to normal and his breathing evened. "Naruto, what happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am okay." Naruto answered as he rubbed his temple. "Just some of my training clones dispelled at once."
"My boy, I think you should limit the number of your shadow clones." Naruto gave him a look that said 'are-you-serious'.
"Between the two of us, who found the way around Shadow Clone Jutsu's backlash?"
Hiruzen grimaced at the question. It hurt his pride when he thought about it. He was a student of Lord Tobirama himself and he learned Shadow Clone Jutsu from its creator. But it took decades and a reincarnated boy to find an effective solution for the backlash from overusing this jutsu.
"Since you wanted to focus on your study for your evaluation exam," It's better to change subject than answering Naruto's question. Beside both of them knew the answer. "I didn't make arrangement for you to be tutored. But now that the test is over, I am going to appoint you one. The person I have in mind should be arriving in the village before this evening. Barring any serious injury, you will be meeting him tomorrow."
"Who did you decide on?"
"Kakashi Hatake. He is a highly experienced jounin. He was in Anbu until recently. He is very skilled even though he is a bit eccentric."
Hiruzen thought long and hard on this matter. He thought about appointing Ebisu for the role at first. He was professional and had excellent skill in term of teaching. But Ebisu was one of those people who disliked Naruto. If he was appointed as his tutor, no doubt Rijuan would pick up on his dislike and he would make displeasure known in some ways until his tutor was changed. Since he was putting most of his time and effort in chakra control, he thought about Kurenai. With genjutsu being her specialty she would've made a superb tutor for the young man. But the special jounin was hired by Hiashi few months ago to teach his eldest. Between her time with the Hyuga heiress, usual missions and her own training for the rank of jounin, she had very little time for taking another student. Then he thought about Kakashi. For last 2 years he was pushing the masked jounin to take a genin team and none of the teams he tested passed. His fellow jounins commented that he was still hung up on his losses. Every person came into contact with, left the mortal realm. He might not say it but Hiruzen knew that Kakashi think of himself as cursed after Minato and Kushina died. That was why he didn't put any pressure on him to take care of Naruto when the orphan boy needed it. He did plan on putting Naruto under his care after he had passed his graduation exam. It wouldn't hurt to make them acquainted with each other sooner. Seeing how Rijuan lost his family one after another at an impressionable age and came to term with it, he might be able help the Copy-nin to get over his loss.
There was another motive behind his decision too. Other 2 aforementioned candidates might be exceptionally skilled when it comes to their fields; Kakashi was leagues above them. Among this generation, there are only 2 who could be considered for the Hokage mantle by the Daimyo if Jiraiya refuses and Tsunade continues her binge gambling; Kakashi because of his skill and fame and his son Asuma because of his time in Daimyo's court and heritage. When Rijuan touched his feet, placed his palm on his chest, kissed it and swept it over his scalp, he knew his loyalty has been earned. If either Kakashi or Asuma can manage to earn his loyalty to that degree, Naruto will doubtlessly become a permanent member of Leaf village when he passed the hat to either one of them.
"People say he will be late to his own funeral. Is this true in any way, shape or form?"
Hiruzen had the sudden urge to hit his face with his palm. Only few weeks and Rijuan had already heard about the lazy jounin's reputation. From what Jiraiya told him, he knew the young blonde wouldn't have any problem with Kakashi's habit of reading fine literature but the boy showed distaste to wasting time. He hoped Kakashi wouldn't give any of those lame excuses to Rijuan. He had seen what he made Sasuke do for losing a bet. The pseudo-child was merciless in his humiliation of the actual child. The young Uchiha would be a laughing stock of the village for a long time. He didn't want another one of his ninja being subjected to same kind of horror.
'Or perhaps it could be a blessing in disguise if Rijuan does that.' He lost count how many times Kakashi was late in meetings and he wanted to throttle him after he spouted those outrageously lame excuses.
XoxoX
"Naruto, what is it called?" Chouji asked as I shared the celebratory food with our group.
"It's called garlic bread." I answered.
Since the day after revelation, boys of our group were at a loss about how they should act around me. Before that, they chalked up the change as Naruto becoming mature. But after that, they were confused as to whether to treat me like before or as a big-brother figure. I didn't have any problem with either one really. So after I had told them in one of our group lunch that they didn't have to be so indecisive about it; things returned to normal.
"You know what would make this more enjoyable?" None of our group had to ponder on Kiba's question as he continued after taking a bite from his piece of bread. "If Sasuke-chan served us."
Yes, for the first of seven days of him being my slave, I dressed Sasuke up the day after revelation as a girl. Not just any girl, I dressed him in a maid outfit. With light blush on his cheek, purple eye shadow, red eyeliner, mascara and hot pink lipstick, he was a sight to behold. To complete the image, I taped two eggs over his chest. Poor guy couldn't even let them to be broken in any way. To top it off, I made him attend class dressed like that. The whole time we were in the academy, the girls (minus Hinata of course) gave me the meanest glare they could master and some of the guys sent appreciative look Sasuke's way. He is going to have some fan-boys this time around. He wouldn't have any problem with finding a partner if he swings the other way. Or both.
"You have to admit, he would've made a really cute girl, only if he didn't glare so much."
"Do you like girls with black hair, Naruto?"
"There better be something great in a girl with black hair. Poets of our nation idolized and revered black haired women in hundreds of poems with thousands of metaphors. To be frank, I don't see why they needed to do that considering we didn't have any other option when it came to women's hair. I saw maybe three people in my whole life, one of them girl, who didn't have black hair and all of them were albinos."
"All of your people had black hair?" Chouji looked around the playground. No doubt he was thinking about how there could be only one hair color in whole nation. Though black was the dominant hair color in our group, we had other colors too. I was blonde this time around. Chouji and Kiba's hair was brown and Hinata's indigo, which is going to turn black somehow. There were more colors around the playground. Green, blue, purple and let's not forget the pink. Sometime I wondered why there were so many hair colors in this world. Maybe it's because human of this world evolved from a hybrid variety of monkey. Or maybe the Anunakis fucked with our genetics when they came to Earth to find gold.
"Indians, a generalized term to refer to the people from our sub-continent, had strong genes when it came to hair and eye color; black and brown respectively. But people with different eyes were more common than people with different hair color." And it was. Counting those three albinos; I saw 4, maybe 6 more people who didn't have brown eyes. "One stand-up comedian named Maz Jobrani said in one his performance that no matter your gender or ethnicity, if you marry an indian, your children will come out indian. He married an indian woman and all his children looks indian. One of his friend wasn't indian and neither was his wife. They just had indian food once while she was pregnant. Months later, their child came out indian." This should've been suspicious instead of funny. "Anyway come to my place tomorrow before noon. We are celebrating."
"What is the cause for celebration?" Like usual, we almost forgot that Shino was there with us.
"I got accepted at Suizei School of Engineering. I will be attending their class in September." I gave them a soft smile as I broke the news. "The old man arranged for me to stay at Royal Army Barrack. Normally it takes four years to complete bachelor. But with shadow clones, I am sure I won't have any problem shortening the time somewhat."
"You will be gone for a long time." Since we gathered for our lunch, this was the first thing Hinata said. After that day, she barely spoke to any of us unless spoken to and the guys were unsure about what to talk to her about. This turned her into a silent member of our group. Granted she wasn't loud before but between the time I left hospital and the evening I told them about my situation, she started to talk more. As a young girl in her situation, the best thing to do would be to give her time and space. My stay at the capital thus my absence in the village would provide her that. Hopefully our group will help her come out of her shell while I would be gone.
"I will be back in Leaf when I get a vacation. And it's not like you guys won't have any way to write to me."
Rest of our lunch passed in silence. When the bell rang we stood up and made our way to the classroom. I stopped in front of the sliding door and told the gang to go inside. I had something to tell Sasuke.
"Sasuke, we need to talk. Got a minute?" I told the avenger when he neared the door.
"If you want to make me dress up as a girl, then forget it. I am not doing it." He tried to shove past me but I held firm. He looked me into my eyes with a look that could've burnt me with Amaterasu if he had the mangekyou. Which I was countering with a look that I am sure said 'I don't give a fuck'.
I ended our staring contest with a sigh. "I just wanted to soften the blows of being my bitch for six more days." Time to dangle the carrot it seems. With quick sensory scan, I was sure there weren't any Root-nin nearby to overhear me. "I thought I would tell you the truth behind your clan's massacre. But since you are not interested, I guess I just wasted my time gathering those clues and evidences." I gesticulated to emphasize my offer.
"Wait." I didn't even turn 60 degrees before he caught me by my shoulder. "Tell me the truth."
"You should not make demands of someone when you don't have anything to trade for." I chastised the kid. "Beside it's hardly the right place or time to tell you."
"Allright. When are you going to tell me?"
"I would've told you about it this afternoon but since you were rude just seconds ago, I changed my mind."
It was not like I was dying to tell him the truth. Sure I wanted to get this over with. It took all the knowledge of stealth in Naruto's arsenal to gather the necessary documents. Pulling out those files from Anbu archive was hard enough already and I would have to break in there for a second time to put those files there after the group of clones charged with the task of copying them without being seen. If they were found in possession of me or my clone, all the deals with Hiruzen was off. The least punishment I would receive is jail sentence. But with some of those information being vital, I would be branded as a spy and I am NOT looking forward to what would come after that.
I knew I would have to face Danzo in near future but I planned on keeping my confrontation with the old mummy limited to mostly from opposite sides of table. I know that bastard had experience on me which was why I have no plan on fighting him head on unless attacked. That's why I needed Sasuke to train his ass off to become powerful enough to be an even match for him. I might have made a strategy to deliver the first blow but I don't have sharingan to counter his Izanagi. Like a cat, that bastard got nine lives with two more on the house. I might be able to land killing blow 2 or 3 times when fighting after I have acquired enough skill. But frankly my motivation in fighting him would be half-hearted at best. Sasuke on the other hand... He is a problem child. With the 'revised truth' I concocted with help of those stolen files and some probable hypotheses, his drive would be monumental. After that, my work would be to convince him to stick with my suggestion and keep him from going after Danzo right away. With his target being inside the village wall and some power boost I think I can give him, he would have less reason to go rogue. Since there was still a little bit of love for his brother in him, my plan was to nudge him to clean Itachi's name after Danzo had been dealt with. Being able to reunite with his loving and only brother in near future would make a far better motivation than revenge.
"What do you want in exchange?" Sasuke said through gritted teeth and with his fists clenched.
"Oh nothing much." I waved my hand like it was nothing of importance. Well, to me it wasn't. "For second of the seven days, you will have to take one of your fangirl out on a date. If you do, I will tell you everything I have gathered after your shift in our stall at Star Festival is over. In place where no one will overhear us."
"You want me to go on a date with a girl?"
"Yes I do. And your date has to know that it's a date." Iruka was coming our way. Next period was his class on history. I turned to enter the classroom. "If you don't have someone in particular in mind and don't want to go through the hassle of choosing, I can do it for you. I will give all of them equal chance."
XoxoX
"You know, sometime I think you have started to improve in your grades for free ramen." Iruka said as he eyed the pile of empty ramen bowls next to me. Till now, he has offered me free ramen if I get good grade on certain subjects. So far, I missed only one, literature. Seriously, who would've thought that there was a Lord Byron-equivalent in ninja world? Reading his classic language reminded me of that one time I tried to read a classic Bangla novel. It might sound really ridiculous, but I swear it by the God and everything holy that just after 18 pages I felt like my jaw was going to fall off. I didn't even move my lips to read for God's sake! If mid-19th century's Bangla could give me this much pain, is it any wonder that I would be measurable in classic literature of this world and land?
"Don't underestimate the motivational power of free food, sensei." I said after slurping down broth from my now finished bowl. "Why do you think human struggle so much? Why do you think they wage war? They do it so that they can feed themselves and their families. If someone is offered free food, why wouldn't he take the opportunity? Since the beginning of creation, hunger has been what drove us and it will continue to be the driving force of all living being until the end of time." I finished my speech with a sagely nod and raised hands.
Carefully, Iruka chewed the noodle in his mouth and downed it with a gulp. Then he burst out laughing. Teuchi and Ayame, who were trying there hardest to stifle their laughter, joined him immediately.
"Naruto, your theatrics needs more work." Iruka said in between his laughter. "Maybe you should take lessons from graduating year students. I heard they are doing a play in Star Festival."
"We are doing something for star festival too." I replied. "Our group is going to open up a stall in festival."
"What are you gonna do? Game or food?" Ayame asked.
"You remember the sweet I gave you?" She nodded at my question. "We are going to sell that in our stall."
"That sweet was really good. I hope you make a good sell." Teuchi said with small smile. "And don't forget to come get some ramen. We are organizing a ramen eating contest."
"Don't worry about me coming. I won't miss the contest. I did my part in cooking the sweet. So I don't need to be at the stall. Now it's all up to the guys for selling. Considering Sasuke is going to be a waiter in our stall for that day and his fangirls will no doubt swarm our stall from start to finish, we will make a killing."
"Speaking of Sasuke," Iruka gave me a stern look as he started. "Did you really have to humiliate him like that?"
"I didn't have to. But if I didn't; he wouldn't learn not to pick fight with someone just because he insulted him. He knew what it's gonna cost him if he loses his fight, so it's all on him."
Of course he protested when I told him what he would have to do for the first of the seven days. But when I pointed to him the clause that said winner can demand monetary compensation if losing party refuses, he shut up. It helped that I said I would demand 10 million ryus for each day. His quiet reluctance said that he wasn't ready to part with this much money.
"So sensei, what's your plan for the festival?"
"Nothing much really." Iruka said with a defeated sigh. "Going out for a bit to watch the fireworks. Then go back home and sleep." He was stirring his ramen slowly as he said that.
"Sensei, by any chance, are you single?" Well, Iruka was single when Naruto got married in cannon. But that doesn't mean he had to be single off-screen in pre-Naruto timeline.
"Naruto," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Working as a teacher and sometimes in bureaucracy doesn't give me much free time to find a girlfriend."
"Bullshit." I retorted to his excuse. "A lot of people work as much as you do and they can find themselves a girlfriend. I mean Mizuki-sensei got a girlfriend. Then why can't you?"
"Umm, it's.. it's because…"
"Are you afraid of talking to girls?" I teased the young chunin.
"Well.. um.. you know…" this time a light pink dusted his cheeks and ears.
"Hey Ayame," If Iruka is too shy to ask a girl out, then why not give him a hand? "Do you have any plan for the festival?"
"Well, I do have work in the stall. A contest is a lot of works after all."
"Well don't worry about it. I will help your old man with the contest while you enjoy your date with Iruka-sensei." My offer of help and proposal on behalf of Iruka made her blush and stammer. "Say you don't have a boyfriend, do you? Because that would suck for sensei."
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Iruka's scolding would've been stern if he wasn't blushing. "I am sorry for what he said. You don't have to go on a date with me."
"Are you saying Ayame isn't pretty enough for you to want to date?" I said with fake gasp. "And in front of her dad no less!" Now Iruka was stammering harder than before.
"Is this true Iruka?" Teuchi joined this time with an angry visage. "Are you saying my Ayame is ugly?"
"No, no, no. I didn't mean it that way."
"Are you saying you are out of my daughter's league?"
"No."
"Then it's settled." As a father of the girl, Teuchi passed his verdict. "To prove that you don't think my daughter is unattractive, you are taking her out on a date on the festival. And I expect her home before ten and nothing inappropriate from you."
"Okay." No matter how strong a ninja you are, you are no match for a girl's angry father, Iruka.
The Ichirakus and Iruka were there early in Naruto's life who accepted Naruto for who he was. Although it took an attack by Waterfall ninjas for Iruka to see Naruto as just another boy, Naruto was cool with it. I have no qualm with him either. So if there is any chance that I can bring those people closer then why won't I take it? Unknowingly, I showed Sasuke what Sakura might look like in the future and nudged him to her direction subtly. Many fanfics paired Iruka with Anko. But I am yet to meet Orochimaru's former student. So I have to make do with Ayame. What harm is going to happen if this couple work out in the future? That way they wouldn't be single by the time I will bring Bor …my kids to Ichiraku's.
My friends back home sometimes called me half-robot because of the way I think. But even if I was a full robot, I doubt I will lose my fondness for all things romantic.
XoxoX
Note: If anyone wants to know about 7 Layered tea and Rainbow tea, just search on Google or YouTube.
TEASER
"After what Itachi did, shinobis of this village is rather wary of child prodigies. It's a good thing you never boasted about it."
Since _ _ _ won't accept any other answer even if they were true; yes, I am doing all this to save _ for me in the future. And if you so much as breathe even a letter of what I said just now, I will do anything in my power to make sure it's _ who ends up becoming _ _. You don't want that, do you?
If Kakashi had a job besides being a ninja, what would it be?
If someone asked me this question back home, then my answer would've been Dog Caretaker. For obvious reason.
But as I glanced at the pile of notes I was carrying, I thought that it couldn't be any more different.