Yo! I'm back! And a lot sooner than my other updates, too. xD Anyways, sorry for it being late, but here it is! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Pigs will be flying before that happens. But then, what does that make H1N1? Hmm…
Legend:
"This is blucross."- Talking
'This is blucross.'- Thinking
This is jutsu being spoken/thought of
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The Squad led under Minato made their way into the Hokage Tower. Naruto saw how everyone greeted his dad and couldn't help but feel somewhat sad. 'If I look so similar to my dad now, and even more so in the future, that must mean the villagers were truly blind and truly hated me.' The blonde suppressed a shudder as the memories of his childhood tried to take over. Shaking his head slightly, he realized that their group had already reached the Hokage's office. Making a move to get off his 'Aniki's' back, he was stopped when said 'Aniki' wouldn't let go of his legs. Looking to Minato, Naruto rose an eyebrow.
"Is there a reason you're not letting me go?" Naruto asked, trying to pry his legs out of Minato's grip. Minato merely smiled at him, keeping a firm grip on him.
"If I let go of you," Minato said, "you just might try to escape the explanation that you're going to be giving us in Hokage-sama's office."
Naruto sweat-dropped, realizing what his father was saying. He supposed he would at any other time, but not now; he was still tired, and he doubted he would be up and running at his full capacity until tomorrow.
"You really think I would?" Naruto asked his father with a slightly incredulous look. "Does it look like I'll be going anywhere anytime soon?"
Naruto watched as his father sweat-dropped with a sheepish look on his face, while the others, save for Kakashi, laughed.
"Ah, I see you've arrived back safely, Minato." Sarutobi Hiruzen, the current Hokage, said from the now open door, announcing his presence.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Minato replied, only nodding since Naruto was on his back. With this, though, Sarutobi noticed Naruto's presence.
"And who might this be?" Sarutobi asked, looking at Naruto curiously.
"Actually, Hokage-sama," Chouza stated, garnering the Hokage's attention, "he is part of the report."
"Oh really?" Sarutobi asked, his eyebrow raising slightly. It was obvious to Naruto that the Hokage wasn't buying it.
"Why don't we go into the office then?" Minato suggested, making his way into the office of the current Hokage.
Entering the Hokage's office brought back memories for Naruto, memories good and bad. Directing his father to the couch in the corner of the office, Naruto laid there, mentally reminding himself to make sure there was a new one back in his office; this was the same one from his time, and if it's been here this long, it's way over do for a replacement.
"Well now, since we've all made ourselves comfortable," Sarutobi announced, the shinobi in the room looking at him, "why don't we start with the report. Minato?" Said man nodded, and began his explanation.
"Our mission was successful Hokage-sama…" began Minato as he recapped all the details of the mission, leaving the parts where Naruto had participated out. "…and the Princess, along with Rouran, is safe."
The Hokage nodded. "Excellent. But, what does this young man have to do with the report? You did say he had a part in the report."
Chouza nodded, looking to Minato, who nodded as well. Minato looked to the Hokage, who rose an eyebrow expectantly.
"Yes, Hokage-sama, now if you will turn on your-"
"Hold on," Naruto interrupted Minato as everyone turned to look at him. While Minato and the rest of the squad were reporting to Sarutobi, Naruto hadn't just sat there. No, he had taken some of Minato's scrolls and ink to create one of his privacy seals.
"Use this one," Naruto handed his freshly drawn seal to the man next to him, who studied it. Naruto watched as Minato's eyes widened in surprise at the seal before handing to Sarutobi.
"This is a very effective seal, Hokage-sama," Minato reported, clearly impressed. This, Naruto noted, piqued the interest of the Hokage greatly.
"Yep, it is," Naruto said, smiling lightly, "and that old war hawk won't be able to hear anything. By the way, your privacy seal is faulty." Naruto paused briefly as Sarutobi activated the seal, and watched idly as the seal covered the room in a light blue before fading slightly.
"What do you mean by that?" Sarutobi asked, a frown marring his still young face.
"Danzo's goons have messed with it while you weren't around," Naruto replied, absently twirling a lock of his hair. "He can hear anything that it said, even through your privacy seal. It'd be best to get a new one."
"And how would you know?" Sarutobi asked, a sharp edge to his voice.
"Because," Naruto replied, looking up to the Hokage with eyes of steel, "I know everything about this office."
"And how would you know everything about this office?" Minato asked, the tone of his voice layered with suspicion. Naruto sighed, shaking his head at his father, who narrowed his eyes.
"When we were traveling back towards Konoha, did you ever think about going through my scrolls? My clothes?" Naruto asked, dropping the genjutsu that covered the insignia of the Hokage of the Leaf to be seen by all in the room. A collective gasp, though not very loud, was heard by Naruto as he observed the expressions of Chouza, Shinichi, Minato, Kakashi and Sarutobi.
"That would explain it," Minato explained, a light blush appearing on his face, being properly chastised by Naruto.
"Yes," Naruto replied, though he was now in a less than happy mood. This was probably the reason why so many enemies were able to sneak in to Konoha during the Shinobi World Wars. 'I'll have to change that,' Naruto thought to himself.
"When we last saw you at Rouran, you didn't have that." Kakashi noted, his only shown eye narrowing slightly. "For that matter, you weren't even wearing a Jounin vest. Why is that?"
"This is why he became a Jounin so young," Naruto muttered to himself, cursing his future sensei. Minato, who was next to him, raised an eyebrow. Naruto sighed, scratching the side of his head.
"It's complicated," Naruto replied, and it was. Only a few days after he had returned from the Rouran mission, Naruto had been ordered to take up the mantle of the Hokage. While he had always wanted to be the Hokage, he himself thought it might've been too soon; but he wasn't given a choice on the matter, Tsunade only saying that certain things had happened and she was no longer able to be the Hokage. Eventually it was explained to him, and he didn't like it one bit.
"By the way," Naruto said, turning to his father, "you really need to work on your memory seal. Jiraiya put up seals all over the village that wiped away memory seals. I remembered as soon as I walked through the gates of Konoha."
Naruto watched with bemusement as his father blinked, and then scrunched up his forehead thinking. Naruto snorted inwardly; it was the exact same thing he'd do whenever he was thinking of something, or so his lackeys told him. He snickered at that; he knew Sakura would've bashed him in the head if he had said that, Hokage or not.
"Ah, that would make sense…" Sarutobi looked to Naruto for a name.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto replied evenly, smirking at the reactions he was watching.
"You're Kushina's son?" Sarutobi asked with an somewhat incredulous voice.
"I've been told that I've mellowed out a bit over the years, but I was a down-right prankster during my Academy days." Naruto replied, remembering the days in the Academy.
"And that means your father is…?" Sarutobi asked, looking towards Minato, who nodded. Sarutobi nodded.
"To keep him safe, we are using the guise of twin brothers, though I am a couple of years older." Minato stated, looking at his son fondly.
"I understand who you are, Naruto, but I still do not understand why you are a part of the mission report, and more importantly, if you are from the future, how you arrived here."
"In the report, Aniki said that his squad was working on stopping Mukade's army, and that they succeeded. But did they tell you who actually stopped Mukade?" Naruto asked, smirking when Sarutobi's eyes widened.
"You defeated Mukade?" Sarutobi asked, reaffirming what he had just been told. Naruto just nodded, liking how he stunned his grandfather figure into silence.
"Well, that certainly is one reason why you became the Hokage. I don't believe it was an easy task to accomplish." Sarutobi said, understanding more as the pieces of the puzzle came into place.
"It wasn't too bad. I was a bit tired, sure, but I've been through worse." Naruto replied, thinking of the past battles he's had with Akatsuki members. Mukade really wasn't as tough as the missing-nins, though he was powerful.
"I assume now, Naruto that you will be staying with Minato and Kushina?" Sarutobi questioned, receiving a nod from Naruto.
"Very well then, all of you are dismissed. Your mission pay will be ready tomorrow morning." Sarutobi dismissed the squad, but held Naruto back for just a bit. "You still wish to be a shinobi of Konoha, correct?" Sarutobi asked Naruto, who nodded.
"Alright then, in a few days I will have some of my Jounin test you to place your level so that we can rank you. Though you are Hokage in your future, it would be suspicious if you were just given a rank without being tested." Sarutobi explained to Naruto, who nodded again. He knew what he would have to do; in his time, there were people applying to be a shinobi of Konoha, and he would have to do various tests in order to rank them.
"Anything else, Jiji?" Naruto asked easily, using his informal name for the Sandaime. Sarutobi merely sighed at the name, but shook his head negatively.
"You are dismissed, Naruto. I will see you in a couple of days." Sarutobi dismissed the boy. Walking out of the door, Naruto smirked inwardly; he hadn't grown rusty on his evasion skills after all.
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There it is! Sooo sorry for this being late, but I've been incredibly busy with school, homework and general life that I haven't been able to update as often as I would like. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often. I promise though, Second Life is the next to be updated.
Later!