A small village in the hills of rice country
Within a small inn and tavern in a tiny one road town located a day's travel from Rice country's capital city, sat two strangers for the area. Not an entirely uncommon sight, it was the only inn for miles and they got their fair share of travelers. Although, they seemed to pass right under the gazes of the citizens within the pub. No one came to serve them, and anyone who tried to look into the dark corner would suddenly find themselves wanting to look anywhere else for seemingly no reason.
The strangers were wrapped in darkly colored travelers cloaks, obscuring the rest of their apparel from view. "The Toad and Monkey have been moving. Does that affect our party?" The shorter of the two spoke low and even, a man's voice, but it didn't seem to carry very far.
"Decorations may need to be… altered. But streamers can always be hung from the great tree." A feminine voice replied just as cryptically as her male counterpart. Her face was still concealed by the shadows of her hood, but the grin she was sporting could be heard in her tone.
"A controlled burn has always been beneficial for the ecosystem. However the spark may need to reassess its position. Too little kindling has smothered many a fire." His words seemed to change the woman's demeanor. Causing her to minutely lean back in her seat and momentarily ponder before she replied.
"The rice paddy's have not had enough time to reap a proper harvest. But I hear there are far more grains of sand on a beach than grains of rice in the entire country. Ne?" The code the two were using was rather simplistic to say the least, but it didn't need to be complex. It was meant to dissuade a curious rice farmer's wandering ears, not dupe a true intelligence gatherer.
The man revealed a bandaged right hand, reaching out to grab his so-far untouched saucer of sake. He brought it to his lips and took very slow careful sips. His every sense working to detect any possibility of poison. "A gathering never feels complete without music, even after a… poor harvest."
"Of course, musicians will still be supplied. But it seems there will be more sand brought in to alleviate."
Now it was the man's turn to appear confused, or as confused as one can appear through a cloak that shows no features. "Alleviate?" He reiterated her previous statement as his own question.
"Hmmmmm hai, alleviate. What better than a song for a fire? Other than enough sand to smother it when you are finished." They both seemed to agree upon this. Nodding their heads in near unison.
The Village Hidden in The Sound would be sending fewer shinobi than the man had expected from his co-conspirator. But it seemed the Sand Village would be making up for those numbers. He wondered exactly how she had gotten the village to commit more resources to their little party, but he honestly cared very little. With these new additions to his plans, Hiruzen and his last remaining students maneuvering would be little more than bumps on the path beneath his sandals.
'Soon,' he thought to himself. 'The fool Hiruzen would be removed from power. And I will put Konoha where it rightfully belongs. At the top, standing over the corpses of her enemies.'
His female counterparts' true intentions currently lay unknown. But he wouldn't know to what extent until the Chunin exams. He was right that Konoha needed a controlled burn, he was only incorrect in what vegetation needed to be cleared from the roots of the great tree.
The three legendary Sannin, with apprentices in tow, were making their way through the forests of fire country. They had decided to walk the last few miles along one of the main highways that lead to the village. Possibly due to Tsunade's own reluctance to return to her home, possibly just because Naruto had been so eager to return home that the legendary ninja found it funny to slow him down.
"You told the Kazekage to go fuck himself?" Tsunade asked incredulously. If Naruto didn't know any better, he might have said she even appeared to respect him a little bit more.
"No, I did not tell the Kazekage to 'go fuck himself'." He said the words with air quotes. Although, a smile still lit up his face. Clearly he was a little proud of himself.
"No he did not," answered Orochimaru. Causing Naruto to raise his arms towards her in a motion that said 'see, I'm not lying' to the legendary medical kunoichi. His enthusiasm seemed to die when his female sensei continued to talk. "He just called him an incompetent, power hungry, poor excuse for a father and a Kage. Who deserved to be humiliated by a child on the world stage."
The Uzumaki made a show of looking hurt by his sensei's words as all three of the legendary Sannin laughed at him. "That's not what I said either."
"No, no it wasn't. Your diction was a lot less polite, to say the least. And your insults were quite… colorful. But it's definitely the spirit of what you told him." She smiled.
"Well maybe he shouldn't have been such a shitty person. Treating his own son like a living weapon and then leaving him with an unstable seal holding back a bijuu."
He paused for a moment, as if he was finished speaking altogether. Before he suddenly started up again. "Not to mention how his unprovoked invasion of my home was summarily routed within two hours, ending in a complete surrender and his ass fleeing for the desert like an Akimichi to a buffet. Yet still believed he had the right to parade us around his village like we were visiting diplomats. And not just there because we needed his signature on his own surrender."
Another pause before he also threw his hands up in the air "And lit my whole block on fire!" He almost literally huffed like a child, but Orochimaru would have berated him for it, and Jiraiya mocked. So his arms instead came together across his chest to emphasize whatever his point was supposed to be.
Naruto hadn't realized how wound up he had gotten himself until he released himself with an audible huff when he finished speaking. "And that prince was an ass too" he added, as if an afterthought.
"Glad he was not present for your little tirade. Can't have you start any international incidents after only just becoming a Chunin. It would besmirch my reputation." The blonde rolled his eyes at Orochimaru's words. She wasn't necessarily wrong about the Wind Country prince, at least not from the sensible point of view, but Naruto still thought the prince needed a real training session with someone who would hit him back.
"Oh please, some mean words have never started a war."
Orochimaru wouldn't even deign her blonde student's remark with any form of a response. If he actually believed something that inane, he wouldn't be her student. But she would not reward stupidity with attention.
Jiraiya piped up at this, some unseen cue seemingly propelling him into the conversation with an odd sense of pride in his voice. "I'll have you know, two separate conflicts have been started due to only one of my books. And many other authors can claim far more reach and influence than myself. Do not underestimate the inherent power and value of words."
"I wouldn't call anyone who willingly publishes smut as bad as yours an 'author." Naruto spat back at Jiraiya, who seemed unfazed at the insult. His only visible reaction was a small smile directed towards his student. A good attempt, but not nearly sharp enough to wound him.
Only for Tsunade to come in with a dig of her own, having apparently noticed a gap in Jiraiya's proverbial 'guard'. "You couldn't make a schoolgirl blush without devolving to outright porn quality dialogue, you perverted punching bag. Calling you an author would be like appointing Orochimaru or myself as Hokage. A universally terrible idea."
Tsunade seemed to find her own joke rather funny, Shizune and Naruto seemed to think so as well, joining in with her laughter. None of those laughing cared to notice or guess as to why the other two Sannin weren't joining in as wholeheartedly with the rest of the group's laughter.
"I'll have you all know, I am one of the most prolific authors in the elemental nations." He boasted with a distinctive look of pride in his eyes.
"And I'm the greatest medical shinobi on the continent. That doesn't mean I'm not also one of the most prolific killers." A haughty laugh broke her train of thought. "Quantity does not equal quality. And correlation is not causation. Your books having a loyal following of perverts, who just so happen to have enough money to buy a crummy porn book, does not make you a good writer."
The great toad sage had slowly deflated more and more with their laughter. His pride having been thoroughly attacked and crushed by his traveling companions. Which only seemed to result in deeper laughter from the rest of the traveling party.
It wasn't long after that when they finally came upon Konoha's gates. Naruto had never been so relieved to see his home village. When he had traveled back alone from Wave, he had almost felt sick to his stomach upon seeing the gates. He had felt so revolted with himself, and terrified of going home to his own empty apartment, that he didn't sleep outside of his workshop for months.
But now, after being ambushed by two S-ranked ninja and beaten to a pulp, he felt a sense of security upon seeing those walls. Impossibly tall and imposing, built to protect their precious Konoha, and manned by its own army of deadly shadows.
It was an odd sensation to the blonde, this feeling of safety and comfort just from seeing his village, as he's only really ever felt this way about his workshop before. He allowed himself to bask in the feelings silently while he listened to Orochimaru and Jiraiya continue their mostly friendly bickering.
So lost in his own thoughts and feelings that Naruto barely registered their interactions with the Chunin gate guards. Who, for their part, were too surprised to see all three Sannin together in one place to do much more than let their jaws hang open. Let alone properly check any of their paperwork.
The white and black haired former teammates' argument now shifted to the topic of what to do first now that they have returned. All the while people who had passed through the gates or were just nearby had begun to stop and stare at the group. This was a sight Konoha hadn't seen in over a decade, and the civilians seemed to be the exact people who would look a gift horse in the mouth.
One of their group wanted to go to the bathhouses first, and another thought it would be best to talk to the Hokage first to debrief.
"Exactly!" Jiraiya exclaimed "we need to debrief!" His mirthful grin and jovial delivery of the line did little to stop Tsunade's fist from making contact with the back of his head. Quite literally sending him head over heels, or at least heels over his head, as his face slammed into the street.
Eventually common sense won out, meaning that Tsunade butted in and sided with Orochimaru. So the three Sannin, with Shizune in tow, made their way to go see their sensei, leaving Naruto free to do whatever he wanted.
The first thing Naruto wanted to do when he got back was grab a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen. He had been gone a while and that resort town hadn't had a single good ramen place, and he certainly looked everywhere. Besides, he was feeling pretty good, so why not keep it going?
He popped a few clones out along the way to his destination, mostly to go check on his workshop, but also to clean his apartment, get groceries, and other various chores he didn't want to deal with.
When he eventually arrived at Ichiraku's he was only nominally surprised to see Shikamaru there, taking up an end seat on the right of the bar. It wasn't crazy for the shadow ninja to grab the occasional bowl. He got a discount as a friend of Naruto's and the pineapple haired boy liked the staff.
He was even less surprised to see Choji sitting to the left of his teammate. Naruto saw him here rather often, the larger Genin had quite an appetite for ramen as well, and a great palette. Of course he would naturally gravitate towards the best ramen on the continent.
'Who wouldn't?' The blonde thought to himself.
The person he was very surprised to see was Ino Yamanaka sitting to the left of Choji. He had met her once or twice before the Chunin exams. Alongside Choji and Shikamaru their three clans were very close, and they had known eachother since childhood.
But Naruto had never really talked with her much. Even at the start of the exams, most of the Genin from Shino and Shikamaru's year had been content to ignore him. They would exchange the common pleasantries and then turn to talk to his teammates.
He didn't think they were being rude, they just didn't know him. So they obviously favored his teammates, who they knew, in an unfamiliar environment. Besides, it wasn't like he had ever really gone out of his way to socialize with them before. Communication was a two way street afterall.
To Naruto, Ino had always seemed to mostly be a vapid and self-centered kunoichi. At best she displayed some competency in basic combat and clan techniques, as displayed by her fight with Sakura. But for a girl born to someone like Yamanaka Inoichi, head of a rather prestigious ninja clan and very dangerous man in his own right, it was disappointing that had been all she really displayed.
He sat down beside Ino, as it was the only chair that was still available at the ramen bar. She nodded to him politely, as common courtesy and proper etiquette called for. Not even really looking over her shoulder from the conversation she had been having with Choji and Shikamaru.
Shikamaru had been saying something about a recent mission he had just completed with Shino and Kakashi being troublesome. When the pretty young ramen waitress reappeared from the back of the stand to serve their new arrival.
"Naruto-Kun! It feels like we haven't seen you in months. Don't tell me you're avoiding us?" She didn't even ask the young man for his order, instead already working on the same thing he always got while yelling something to her father in the back about their favorite customer.
This finally got Shikamaru's attention, or at least got the shadow user to pretend like he had only just now noticed his blonde teammate's arrival. "Speaking of troublesome. Naruto, tell these dolts so they'll finally believe me. Kakashi-Sensei keeps his mask on even in the hot springs, right? "
Ino and Choji both spun in their chairs to face the blonde, their curiosity on the subject obvious from their inquisitive gazes now directed towards the unprepared new Chunin.
"Hmm, oh his mask? Yeah he almost never takes it off. I swear I've seen him eat an entire meal through the thing and never saw it move an inch." Naruto just shrugged his shoulders as if to confirm its magical properties.
"But you've seen his face right?"
Shikamaru laughed a bit at Choji's question. Was he not listening? the lazy teen thought to himself. Of course he hasn't seen his face.
Ayame had finished the blonde's first large bowl of ramen and sat it in front of him by this point. "Oooh, are you guys talking about that handsome silver-haired Jonin?" She ruffled Naruto's hair and gave him a smile before moving back to her work.
"Yeah, I heard a rumor that he had a hair lip under his mask. So we wanted to find out if it was true." Ino finally spoke up between the three boys.
Ayame just glanced back at the younger girl. "I certainly hope not. I bet he looks like a prince under that mask. Probably some secret shinobi technique to distract kunoichi." Naruto had to suppress a gag when he saw her swoon. Ayame could do much better than Kakashi.
Both Nara and Uzumaki shared a look at the ramen waitress's words before erupting into a deep shared laughter. The blonde almost spewed the holy noodles from his mouth, that's how funny he found her statement.
They somehow both finished laughing at the same time, finishing with two simultaneous deep sighs. "He can never hear you say that Ayame-neechan, it will go straight to his perverted head."
"If that thing gets any bigger, enemy ninja might actually start hitting it." Shikamaru added on to his teammates' quasi-insult.
"Naru-Chan, what have I told you about respect?" Ayame lightly scolded her informal younger brother.
Naruto looked ready to retort with something witty and or offensive, before he was cut off by his fellow blonde. "Yeah Naru-Chan, hasn't Ayame taught you manners?"
Before he even saw his teammate, Naruto was certain of Shikamaru's expression. There was no way the shadow user was going to let this go, he already knew it. "Please, little Naru-Chan has never known manners. You should see him eat ramen when other people aren't around. He looks like an Akimichi carbo-loading."
Even Choji joined in on the others' laughter at Naruto's expense. As long as you didn't call them fat, most Akimichi had a very healthy sense of humor.
For his part, Naruto only seemed to mildly sulk at his friends' lighthearted jabs. Before he thought of a very good way to return the favor. "It's not my fault, no one ever told me to eat with my mouth closed."
Shikamaru, Choji, and Ayame all paused momentarily, before they started to laugh even harder at the blonde. His mirthful grin only strengthened the friendly laughter within the ramen stand.
Between fits of laughter Ino spoke back up. "Did your mother never teach you manners?"
This stopped all laughter about the Uzumaki's manners, bar one occupant. Ino, having no inkling into Naruto's family life, assumed the blonde was keeping the joke going and had once again piled on.
Her laughter was eventually cut off by a sharp elbow into her lower ribs courtesy of Shikamaru. "Ow, Shika what the hell-" in her momentary pause she noticed the somber or darkened faces of those around her, before she caught sight of Naruto's own.
The blonde smith didn't allow much too show on his face, but he wasn't a statue. She only just caught a minuscule glimpse of it, but she swore she could see his face slip for the briefest moment. He looked like a kicked puppy.
Immediately wracked with guilt she began to apologize to him. "Kami I'm so sorry, I hadn't thou-."
"It's fine Ino. Really it is, you didn't know. Besides, it's not like it's news to me. I never knew them. I started it anyway." A perfect mask, but even those without shinobi training knew that was a lie.
Ayame, Kami bless her soul. Decided that now was a great time to change the conversation. "So Naruto-kun. You've never seen your own sensei's face?"
Shikamaru was already shaking his head in the negative to her question, but was surprised by his teammates' response to the question.
"Actually, I have seen his face once."
This even caused Shikamaru to do a double take. His jaw dropped slack, at least more than normal. "What? When? Did you finally break into his apartment while he was sleeping or something?"
"How did you break into a Jonin's apartment?" Asked Choji, excitement and awe tinged his tone.
"I didn't break in. Well not really." He began speaking slower, but slowly gained more regularity as he continued.
"It was right after we got back from Suna with Orochimaru-Sensei. I was troubled, and I went to see him. It was pretty late at night, and I guess at some point he took off his mask while we were talking." The blonde was rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. A tick that he really needed to work on getting under control.
"What happened in Suna to make you go looking for him so late?" Ino asked in an oddly genuine display of concern. Only to yelp out in pain once again, still courtesy of Shikamaru's elbow. The shadow ninja looked warily between his teammate and his childhood friend Ino.
Naruto's face showed his mildly conflicted feelings. Shikamaru surmised his teammate was uncertain of how to handle the situation, or at least how to answer the question.
Shikamaru knew about Naruto's burden, as did the rest of team 7. So he knew some of the reasons the blonde was sent to Suna, or at least he could surmise both the political and military reasons for sending him.
A Jinchuuriki to match another Jinchuuriki, even more so seeing as how 'our' Jinchuuriki kicked theirs ass. Let alone Naruto's role in the actual invasion. He didn't like how his teammate was used like a shogi piece, but he had little say in the matter currently.
"It's fine, really. Besides, it's not like she knew any better." The Yamanaka heiress looked as if she wanted to be indignant, but she came from a clan of psychologically focused shinobi, so some part of her picked up on both Shikamaru and Naruto's underlying tension.
"I never knew who my parents were. And when I met with Suna's-" Naruto caught himself before he finished the word he was going to say, having forgotten who they were with. "When I met with Gaara. We talked for a while, a lot about his childhood puts most of his actions into context."
"Didn't he maim a Konoha ninja?" Choji asked. Obviously not feeling much sympathy for the enemy shinobi.
"I said it added context, not excused him. And besides, Lee can still walk." Naruto explained, to the mild horror of Ayame, who was doing a poor job of disguising her snooping.
"What could he say to you that would mess with your head more than any of the other things he's done?" Ino asked. She hadn't ever really gotten too close to the terrifying redhead, thank Kami. But she had heard about what he did in the forest of death, and she witnessed his fights against Rock Lee and other Konoha ninja.
"It wasn't really him that got to me." The blonde paused, oddly he looked like he hadn't yet decided on whether or not he was even going to tell this to the people present. But eventually he decided 'fuck it', he didn't have any explicit orders regarding it.
Kakashi Hatake would not consider himself to be an emotionally available person. Neither would anyone that's ever talked to him for more than thirty seconds for that matter.
That tends to happen to someone when they witness the aftermath of their own father's suicide, watch their best friend be crushed to death in front of their eyes before having that friends eye shoved into their skull, and then having to stick their arm through the only woman they ever loved. Then spending almost a decade in the Anbu, six years longer than recommended in an organization that prioritizes emotional compartmentalization. Sage knows he was not the poster boy for healthy emotional practices.
So it was a surprise when he opened the front door of his apartment to a very troubled looking Uzumaki Naruto. "Naruto? What's wrong, it must be three in the morning?" he glanced around the streets behind his blonde student before adding. "How do you even know where I live?"
Kakashi felt one of the kunai he always kept concealed on his person, briefly wiggle, answering his second question. The brat basically put a tracking device on him and he didn't even know. He'd be proud if he wasn't very confused and a little groggy.
"Sensei. Do you know who my parents are?"
Panic!
For a brief moment only a single repeating thought filled the legendary Jonin's head. But he managed to quickly calm himself. "Shit. Who told you?" Now his thoughts only raged on one topic other than his student, 'Who knows? Who needs to die?'
"The sand has a file on me. It sounded like solid intelligence as well." The blonde paused, looking behind Kakashi and into his apartment. The Jonin took the hint and invited the exhausted looking blonde into his apartment with a hand gesture. Both taking a seat on the couch before continuing.
"Do you have bits of your metal on your other teammates as well?"
"The living ones…" Double shit, that can't be healthy, the silver haired man thought.
His response scared Kakashi more than the man let on. He had been in a dark place like that before, same as Naruto, and at the time it seemed like nothing would ever bring him out of it. 'Not healthy' would be an understatement.
"Minato Namikaze was your sensei, wasn't he?" Triple shit. Kakashi officially had absolutely no idea how to deal with this. Shit shit shit shit.
After a few more moments of mental panicking, Kakashi decided to do the one thing a good shinobi should never do. Tell the truth.
"Hai, he was. He was a great man, a good man. He cared so much for everyone around him. Ya know he went rogue once to rescue your mother when she got kidnapped. She didn't even seem to really like him much at the time, which in retrospect made it a much funnier story when he told it." He probably would have laughed if Naruto's eyes hadn't gotten very wide.
"Who was my mom?" He asked quietly. As if his voice might cause Kakashi to shatter before he could answer the question.
"They didn't know?" He questioned, still trying to gather more information.
"If they did, they didn't tell me. I didn't actually see the dossier." He studied Kakashi more intently than he's ever studied anything else in his life.
"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. I'm sure you know the characteristic Uzumaki hair and eyes?" The blonde nodded to his sensei like a child would to their parents when reading them a story before bed, silently pleading with them to continue.
"She was beautiful, and terrifying. She could be incredibly loud and overly friendly, even to complete strangers. Just about everyone she met started off as her friend until proven otherwise, which often made for odd encounters with foreign ninja." Kakashi paused to collect his thoughts as the smile that had worked its way onto his face faded slightly. All this talk of Minato and Kushina was making him melancholic.
"She was the first person to console me after Rin-Chan's death. Only because Minato-Sensei had already gone on the warpath. But even though we hadn't been that close at the time, she had done her level best to make sure I was never alone. Hell, she brought me enough pre-prepared dinners to feed Konoha for a month."
Kakashi paused briefly to chuckle gently. "Mostly ramen, but I still ate every single meal."
Naruto had been so intently focused on the story itself and trying to imagine what his mother looked like that he had completely missed when Kakashi removed his mask. He didn't even think he saw the man's hand come up to take it off.
Kakashi's smile was unfamiliar but not unwelcome. Naruto took a moment to really study his face, and was surprised that it was so, well… normal. He was definitely a relatively handsome man, symmetrical face and sharp angles met to make his chin and cheeks. The blonde had just expected something more, or maybe something different.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel. When I was younger, I used to convince myself that my parents were some great war heroes or something. But…" the younger man didn't seem to care to finish his statement. Kakashi was now studying him, much the same way Naruto studied him moments earlier.
"When you got older?" He made an attempt to finish the thought for the blonde.
"I guess I just stopped hoping. At some point I tried to convince myself that I didn't care. The general population seemed content to ignore me, so why would my parents be any different?"
Kakashi shook his head fervently at the notion. "They loved you so much Naruto. They were both so excited when they found out Kushina was pregnant with you. Hell, I thought she was going to shout it from the Hokage Monument." Kakashi's eyes never left Naruto's, he wouldn't let them.
"But what if they met me? I've failed so much, I let my team die, I- I just." A shaky breath left his lips. Kakashi simply sat there, quiet but attentive. Letting the Uzumaki know that he was not alone was just about the only other real thing he can offer him.
"So many people have suffered because of me. My hands are drenched in blood." The sobs were choked back down his throat, but were still somewhat audible. Their effects slowly became visible. His face gained a red hue, and tears threatened to break out from his eyes.
Naruto sat there, his eyes having finally broken from Kakashi's gaze. They had moved down to focus on his hands, idly sitting in his lap.
The Jonin seemed to have a short mental struggle before eventually deciding on a course of action. His hands moved to grab Naruto by his shoulders, much like a parent might do when they want to ensure the undivided attention of their child. He looked sternly at the emotionally knotted child-soldier that he practically considered to be his younger brother.
"Look at me Naruto, listen to me." His tone brokered no arguments, stern but brimming with love. "They could never be more proud of you, Naruto. They would have been no matter what you did." The distraught bladesmith found solace in Kakashi's warm smile.
He was admittedly a tad bit surprised to see what the rest of Kakashi's normal eye smile looked like. He and his teammates had always guessed the man would at least have some scarring or some other deformity, but it was just a completely normal smile.
Kakashi's eyes were so naturally expressive that even now that Naruto could see the rest of his face, he struggled to move his own gaze from his genin sensei's to actually spend any time looking at it. At least that's the reason Naruto told himself as to why he found it hard to see the man's face. It absolutely was not because the tears that had begun to stream from his eyes were making his vision blurry.
Eventually after a few moments the two professional killers seemed to collapse in on one another. Kakashi's arms slipped from holding Naruto's shoulders to wrapping around his back in a hug. While the blonde just seemed to melt into the man's embrace. Both of them melted further into Kakashi's lumpy couch.
Naruto was brought out of his semi-public reverie when he noticed Ino's hand on his arm. A comforting gesture from the kunoichi that had barely been on Naruto's radar before now. She looked like she wanted to say something to the blonde, an apology perhaps? But she was obviously not comfortable enough to speak it out loud.
Stunned wouldn't quite be an apt description for Shikamaru and Choji's expressions. They had just learned that Naruto was the son of their fourth Hokage. Shikamaru was stunned because he knew of Naruto's burden, and knew this would complicate that relationship for his blonde friend.
While both Ino and Choji were confused because it made very little sense. Why would Naruto be a social pariah if he was the son of one of Konoha's greatest heroes?
They knew he could have a rather abrasive personality sometimes, but they knew very little about the mysterious weapon smith. Hell, Naruto's 'troubled' relationship with most of the non-shinobi population had only become apparent to them pretty recently.
The Uzumaki allowed Ino's hand to slip from his arm with a small thankful smile. "Heh. It would probably be best to keep that one close to the chest. You know?"
His voice was still a little low and felt awkward coming out of his own mouth. But no one at the booth disagreed with him. A glance towards the inside of the ramen stall showed both Ayame and Teuchi nodding in agreement as well, their poor snooping not going unnoticed by the blonde.
"Thank you, Ino." He said, nodding to the kunoichi before tossing one towards the other occupants. "You too Shikamaru, Choji." His radiant smile had returned to covering his face.
Now was not a time for melancholic sadness or depressing thoughts. He had returned home from a mission that had nearly cost him his life. Now was the time for celebration and catching up with friends, new and old.
They all sat in continued silence for a minute or two. Mostly finishing up the bowls in front of themselves. No one spoke much until Naruto finished his own bowl and requested another from Ayame, her father having returned to the back of the stand with the prepared raw ingredients for more ramen stock.
"Naruto-Kun. Lazy pants over there told us you went with the Sannin to retrieve Tsunade-Sama…" Ino trailed off towards the end of her sentence. Seemingly unsure of her own question for her fellow blonde ninja.
The awkwardness from the still fresh strands of friendship lingered in the air around the young ninja. But they slowly moved past it.
"And you want to know what she's like?" He asked. Ino nodded excitedly at this. Obviously she was a little embarrassed asking about the legendary kunoichi like some excited fan.
"Uh, are you sure you want to know? She doesn't quite live up to her own hype." But Ino was having none of that. Naruto could obviously tell she was intent on learning about the medic. The looks both Choji and Shikamaru were sending his way told him they were at least a little interested as well.
"Well she's definitely an incredible medical kunoichi. She healed me up good as new after I had been through the woodchipper that was two S-Ranked nuke-nin. Hell I might've lost full use of my hands if she hadn't been there." Shikamaru laughed, he'd seen the blonde heal from some crazy things, he doubted that was true.
He said this as he looked down at his own hands, his fingers flexed to demonstrate their full range of motion.
"But she's also a drunk degenerate gambler with a losing streak almost as wide as her temper. Which is volatile, to put it lightly."
"She can't be that bad, can she?" The Yamanaka asked in response.
"Well, when we first found her she punched me through the wall of a casino's high-rollers suite. And then tried to break every bone in my arm." The blonde half laughed and half shrugged to his audience. As if that wasn't an insane sentence to say out loud.
"She hit you through a casino wall?" Asked Ino.
"Wait, she tried to break every bone in your arm?" Shikamaru butted in, his curiosity obviously piqued. Not that the legendary woman might have hit Naruto, that made perfect sense to the blonde's teammate, but that she was apparently stopped from breaking Naruto's arm.
In response Naruto just had his chakra forged armor encapsulate his hand, like it had when he had met Tsunade's punch in the casino. The two genin sat next to him marveled at this, having never actually seen Naruto's technique before, let alone up close.
It was practically like Naruto had a second skin, albeit a semi-liquid reflective skin. In fact, it molded to his body so well that the more prominent veins and bones in his wrist and arm were visible through his metal skin.
Ino slowly reached out a hand to touch Naruto's own. Her hand slowed as she closed the relatively short distance, apparently hesitant to actually make contact with the metallic armor. When her fingers actually made contact those in attendance watched closely as the singular proffered finger didn't penetrate the technique's surface, instead the metal skin pushed back against her finger.
"To be honest I kind of deserved it. But she was being a bit of a bitch as well." His hand came up to rub the back of his head, a lopsided grin matching his relaxed body language. The metal surrounding his hand and forearm made the gesture look all the more strange.
Those around, except Shikamaru, appeared surprised that Naruto would not only get into an altercation with a Sannin but then talk about them like that.
"Although Jiraiya and Orochimaru stopped us before it went too far. She probably would have turned me into a bloody smear, but it would have been totally worth it to take my pound of flesh."
Ino was stunned. This ninja, who was the same age as her, had apparently fought Tsunade to what seemed like a standstill, even if it was a pyrrhic one. Not to mention whatever happened with the S-Ranked missing ninja he had mentioned. 'What the hell is this guy?'
Ino could barely pay attention to Naruto talk as Shikamaru and Choji asked him questions about the retrieval mission. Far too lost in her own thoughts about him to listen to his story about barely surviving a surprise attack by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.
It had barely been two months since she saw him perform in the exams and Suna's failed invasion. But Naruto already seemed like an entirely new person.
She watched him practically tear through his competition in the preliminaries and the finals. Only to leave under the tutelage of Jiraiya and the apparently-not-a-traitor Orochimaru. Then return after seemingly surviving an encounter that should have ended with a very dead new Chunin.
She wanted to internally attribute his seemingly inhuman abilities and feats to his newly revealed lineage. But she knew that was not only unfair to Naruto, but also unlikely. Unless his parents passed down some freaky Kekkei Genkai that no one knew about. But no, she couldn't take Naruto's hard work from him just because of his father, even if it would make her head hurt less.
"The boy doesn't exist just for your redemption, Hiruzen!" The yells of the legendary medic could be heard throughout the top two floors of the Hokage tower. Even through the vibration dampening seals built into the office and its walls.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's exasperated expression showed his feelings on having this conversation again, only with a different person."Tsunade-Chan-"
"No Sensei, I will not sit here and allow you to dictate the terms of his entire life because you feel the need to placate your own grief and regret!"
Her two teammates stood nearby within their sensei's office. Mirthful grins poorly hidden on both their faces. At some point after their mission report had finished the quartet had begun conversing about how Naruto fit into their current plans.
Tsunade, who had somehow grown rather fond of the blonde gaki in spite of their original interactions. Did not take very kindly to how her old sensei had been talking about and planning Naruto's future training and traveling with her two teammates without consulting him.
At some point near the beginning of her righteous tirade Jiraiya had tried to intervene, seemingly on behalf of his sensei, only for a dangerous look from Tsunade to immediately shut him up. He certainly was not going to get sent flying just to correct the situation. Hiruzen could handle himself.
"I've seen him do things that should be physically impossible. Kami, the kid managed to cripple Kisame fucking Hoshigaki, a walking tank who even I wouldn't want to fight alone."
She was obviously furious at the idea of them using the boy to reach their own goals, especially without even consulting the young ninja. Her tone promised pain to anyone who dared oppose her.
In spite of this, Hiruzen could not help but allow a smile to grace his aged features. Replacing his previously tired and slightly annoyed expression.
"What's so funny sensei?" She asked him, the edge of steel not having left her voice.
The longest reigning Kage in history watched his blonde students fingers twitch dangerously. He briefly contemplated the very real possibility that she would try to strike him.
He knew his anbu wouldn't intervene in such a situation, as 'not intervening during a Tsunade rampage' was literally written into their service contracts. But the Hokage was reasonably certain he could dodge or outright stop any 'lighthearted' attack she may send his way.
"Tsunade-Chan, while I am elated that you have developed such strong feelings for young Naruto-Kun. I must first correct your misunderstandings." His tone was placating, but his stern body posture let her know that he was being entirely serious, and that she needed to calm down.
The legendary medical ninja merely harrumphed and crossed her arms. A blonde eyebrow cocked up on her face, signaling for him to continue speaking. As if she were the one in control of the situation.
'She's always been a natural,' Hiruzen thought to himself. "First of all, Naruto is entirely included within these plans. He may not currently be present, but that is entirely upon the two people who are currently charged with his training." He said, gesturing towards her two teammates. "Of which, he has more than agreed upon."
If Tsunade hadn't been Hiruzen's student for such a long time, or any less stubborn, she may have let her own surprise and indignation show on her face. But she did not.
The only visible display that showed her dying anger was a lack of dangerously twitching fingers. Which Hiruzen correctly identified as a good sign.
"Hell Tsunade-chan. If only you had been here earlier. Even only a few months. You still have the idealism and drive to do right by the world. You could have stopped me from damaging young Naruto-kun and I's relationship to such an extent." He allowed himself a chuckle that ended in a low drawn out sigh.
His age briefly showed in his wrinkled features and sagging posture, before it quickly disappeared. Quickly replaced by the visage of a powerful leader and Kage.
"I've made many, many mistakes when it comes to Naruto-Kun. And it has taken me a considerable amount of time to even begin mending those bridges. And it is for the very reasons you have just brought up."
He paused and allowed her a moment to feel the righteousness of her own actions, or at least the intentions behind them, if not the results.
"I believed that I knew what was best for him, and went forward with my own plans for the boy without consulting him. I allowed others to influence his life far more than they should have been allowed too, starting him in the academy too early and too young, ostracizing him from the civilian population." He shook his head.
Hiruzen spoke from a deeply emotional place within himself. He has spent long hours pondering all of his past mistakes, but few have taken as much time within his own mind as this one. It was almost exactly how he had strained his relationship with Asuma, he had merely assumed what his son had wanted and needed instead of actually spending the time required to learn.
With her anger abated, Tsunade was only able to feel sympathy for her sensei. The man had obviously been punishing himself for the mistakes of his past, not that it excused or fixed those mistakes. But it certainly made it difficult to hold any anger against the man.
"I'm sorry, sensei. I was misinformed, and out of place."
The grin returned to the elderly man's face. "Think nothing of it Hime, if anything I deserve worse. Besides, I believe that your anger only further proves your worthiness for the position."
This caused Tsunade some confusion. 'Prove my worthiness? Why would I need to prove anything to be the head medical ninja?'
Seeing her confusion, Hiruzen took it upon himself to clear everything up. The snickering from the previously silent Jiraiya and Orochimaru certainly wasn't helping.
"I see your teammates truly did leave you in the dark. Didn't they?" He asked, sending glances towards both snickering Sannin. Who only responded with shrugs and other less appropriate nonchalant gestures. He shook his head in a mild display of disapproval. "When did my students become so disrespectful and insubordinate?"
Orochimaru, ever the opportunist, decided now was the time to rejoin the conversation. "As you love to say, Sensei. You've taught us everything we know." A fake look of pure innocence adorned her face.
"I seem to recall you being far more relaxed before taking on those robes." Jiraiya added. Seemingly joining in whatever joke Orochimaru was playing.
"Ok, I love having the old team back together as much as everyone else. But what the fuck are you all talking about? What do you mean 'left in the dark'?" She raised a finger at her teammates and old sensei. "What exactly aren't you telling me?"
"I suppose they've left it upon my shoulders to tell you." The Sarutobi clan head began. "While I would have sent for you no matter what, the true purpose of having Jiraiya-kun and Orochimaru-chan retrieve you was so that you could take this hat from me."
It took a few moments for Tsunade's mind to fully reboot after hearing this new piece of information. She was all but left slack jawed as she processed it. "I… wait what, so you mean? That I?"
She pointed towards herself for a moment before looking over the room. Her eyes glanced over both teammates before returning to Hiruzen's wrinkled face. "Nuhuh, no way in hell am I taking up the title." Her head shook violently in the negative.
"That hat has taken everything from me. My family, those I loved, it made being within my own home nearly unbearable." She appeared adamant in her refusal. "I could never take the hat. Besides, why not either of them or anyone else who would want it more than me for that matter?" She once again gestured to her teammates in the room.
"Please Tsunade-Hime, we both know why Orochimaru-chan can't and won't become Hokage." They nodded at that, her time as a fake traitor notwithstanding, Orochimaru would still be a poor fit for the role at best. Her nature and personality being the least of the reasons.
"That basically leaves yourself and Jiraiya. And Jiraiya is unable to abandon his role or his work, even if he wanted to." He said, sending a hard glance towards his sole male student. Who merely shrugged at his sensei. Jiraiya was far too much of a free-thinking, peace striving wanderer, to be a very good Hokage. Power does not necessarily equal quality in leadership.
"Besides, Hime. Would you really want me to be Hokage? Think about it."
Tsunade did think about Jiraiya's words. And no matter how she looked at it, he was correct. Both in the traditional sense, and in her own personal one. Jiraiya was a poor fit for Hokage. She did believe he could do a good job, the man certainly was not an idiot. But even Kakashi would be a better choice, if not for his current lack of power to back the position up.
"Why do you need to step down now? I'm certain Kakashi could ascend to the position if given enough time, if he isn't already close since the last time I saw the gaki." The look on Hiruzen's face told her that the copy-ninja was not currently an option.
"Tsunade I'm getting old. I may not look like it, but my conflict with Danzo has proven that Konoha needs new blood at her helm." It was odd for any of them to hear, even for Jiraiya and Orochimaru who had already had this conversation with their sensei. They had spent so long seeing Hiruzen as some sort of god that it felt wrong to see him as anything else.
"Sensei… I'm certain Naruto would be able to take that hat in a few years. Why not wait for him?"
She didn't see her fellow Sannin cringe behind her, but she definitely saw Hiruzen's pained reaction to her words. She had obviously struck some sort of nerve, although she was uncertain of exactly what.
"Other than a similar issue as to Kakashi's potential of taking this hat, I'm not even sure Naruto-kun wants to be Hokage anymore."
Now Tsunade understood. Or at least she understood most of her sensei's line of thinking. He was a man with a very deep love for his village. It was practically ingrained within his soul. He was the living embodiment of the famous 'Will of Fire'.
So even the thought that he may have stunted the next generation of great Konoha shinobi would sit heavily on his mind and soul. Once Tsunade knew to look for it, she could see it in every deep shadow and stress line that wrinkled in her old sensei's face.
Confident that his no longer wayward student finally understood, Hiruzen decided to shift the topic of conversation. Posture completely reset to his more recognizable veneer of Hokage professionalism. He rested his elbows on his desk and steepled his fingers in front of his face.
"The Akatsuki is obviously beginning to move." He began in a serious tone. "Earlier than even our information suggested they would." A glance towards Orochimaru showed who had given him that information.
"I gave you my most recent intelligence from the informant who replaced me within the organization." Was her somewhat defensive reply. "It seems that they are having an even harder time than I did when it comes to getting information into our hands."
She not very subtly shifted the blame to her male teammate. As it was technically Jiraiya's job to collect the wider information on the Akatsuki through his network, as well as retrieving the pre-organized information drops from their agent.
The white haired Sannin raised his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Hey now, you can't go shifting the blame to me. My network has agents in place for every possible drop. Something must have happened within their inner-workings to cause the flow to stop. We haven't gotten anything clear or useful since Hanzo was overthrown."
This had Tsunade's attention. Up until she met Itachi and Kisame recently, she had no idea of the Akatsuki's existence. And her teammates had only been able to fill her in so much during their return trip to the village. But hearing that Hanzo of the Salamander had been not just defeated, but displaced as Rain's leader? That was more than a little surprising.
"Hanzo's been killed, and we have another informant within the Akatsuki? That must have been difficult." She pondered for a moment. "Who exactly is it?"
"Itachi Uchiha." her old sensei's words hung over her head in the silent room.
"So…" her question hung unanswered for quite awhile until Hiruzen finally spoke back up.
"My own failure once again. In allowing Danzo so much free reign I was unable to prevent the rising tensions with the Uchiha clan. Danzo's own unsanctioned 'interventions' during the preceding events set them on a course of action that would have torn the village apart."
His wording sounded very final, but his tone hinted at the internal turmoil over the events. "Itachi-kun was the one who suggested such a drastic result, but even his own plans didn't involve so much innocent bloodshed. It was Danzo's own root forces that ensured little Sasuke-kun was the only one to survive."
Horrified wouldn't even begin to describe the look adorning the face of the greatest medical ninja to ever live. She was aghast at this information. She had had no part in the events whatsoever, but even just hearing the information caused it to weigh her down mentally.
"That's. That's awful sensei. You should have stopped them. You could have talked with them, or sanctioned the actions yourself. You could have killed Danzo where he stood to prevent-"
"Tsunade!" His booming voice cut off Tsunade's disturbed rambling in its tracks. She stopped to breathe as she looked back towards her teammates, whose faces looked like stone.
"Do you think I have not spent thousands of hours pondering the solutions to the issue? Even with hindsight I found few better solutions. But in the moment, we did not have hindsight. We only had a few days at best to decide on a course of action and enact it."
Mirroring his own actions from earlier when they were conversing about Naruto, Hiruzen leaned back in his chair as he let out a sigh. "We had barely recovered from the last war before the Kyuubi attacked, and our position geopolitically was a 'shitshow' to put it politely. Konoha would have been torn apart, almost literally, by a civil war that would leave us far too weak to stop Iwagakure or Kumogakure when they would certainly come knocking."
"But a majority of the Uchiha clan were non-combatants. Women, children, merchants, and tradesmen. People who posed no threat." Tsunade said in a somber tone to match her sensei's.
"Danzo made certain they would never be a factor to be used against him. And for that, he paid with his life." He said with finality.
Hiruzen had truly hated his former teammate for the first time in the days leading up to the massacre.
He hated and despised Danzo, for forcing his own hand into killing off an entire clan, a founding clan of his beloved village.
He hated him for creating more powerful and driven enemies to oppose Konoha and her interests, like in the Hidden Rain.
He hated him for taking the very livelihood of one of Konoha's most promising ninja in a long time. Itachi had turned into all but a shell of his former self when the assignment was handed down to him and he accepted.
The young man's love for his home, as well as his focus on redeeming the Uchiha clan and his fervent love for his younger brother Sasuke, were possibly the only reasons he was still sane. And even now, after Konoha had taken everything from him, he still served her in quite possibly the most dangerous way possible.
"You had already started moving against him, Orochimaru had left the village. And you expect me to believe there was nothing you could do?" Tsunade was exasperated at this point, obviously struggling to amend her previous mental image of both her home and her sensei.
"Orochimaru was operating against the Akatsuki as much as she was Danzo's own extended root network. It wasn't until the massacre that I decided to shift her focus to Danzo, and she agreed." Hiruzen met her eyes briefly. He watched her war with herself internally. An odd sense of pride entered him as he did so.
If there was any silver lining to this current situation, it was further proof that Tsunade hadn't allowed herself to become fully dulled to the pain and atrocity in the world. Even if it was more calloused and deep down, it was still within her.
"Tsunade-chan. I wish there was a way to go back and prevent this. But in the end it boiled down to this. I'm old. If this had happened a decade or so earlier, or had Minato-kun still been alive, this whole situation could have been avoided. But I've gotten up there in age, and the power I used to wield both literally and politically has waned with time." He raised both hands, displaying the battle scars and wrinkles that come with any shinobi who reached his age.
"I could have stomped their rebellion myself, perhaps even whipping them into submission alone without my anbu. But in my years I've had to learn to fight at the same level with fewer resources." The tremble in his hands was visible, if only to the trained eye, but that was enough to display his point to his students.
"Perhaps if you or Jiraiya had been here, maybe it could have gone differently. I would have had a much more solid base of power. Fewer civilian casualties, possibly even force some of the less diehard shinobi to surrender. Not to mention saving Itachi."
They all had the decency to look guilty. Or at least two of them did. Tsunade most of all. Jiraiya may have been whoring his way around the continent, but at least he was still operating for his village. She had abandoned them. Left them out to dry in their time of need. And look at the results of her actions.
A founding clan of their village slaughtered to the last two men. A prodigy among prodigies living a life of public hate and exile, while secretly being the most patriotic of any of them.
"I don't know what to say, Sensei. Other than that, I am sorry." A brief moment of vulnerability meant that the emotion within her voice could be heard, before it was quickly replaced with the usual steel.
"You need not apologize for past mistakes. Only work towards preventing the same from tainting the future. But now you see it, do you not? The reason I've asked this of you?"
As much as she hated it, she knew he was correct. Hiruzen Sarutobi was, and still is, a great man. But one who should have left office years previously. The death of the fourth having thrust the responsibility back upon him. And if he was honest with himself, he floundered.
With a huff Tsunade gave her reply. "Fine. I'll do it. But I want two things to be very clear." Her teammates and sensei all nodded at her words. "I hate you all for throwing this at me with no warning. And I am a glorified placeholder. The second Naruto is ready I'm passing it to him."
A look from her sensei let her know how he felt about that. But she didn't care. "I'll tie him to the desk and staple the dumb hat to his forehead if I have to. But I'm not spending a minute in this office longer than I must."
She looked up in thought to herself. "Five years max. An extra month or two if I have to break all his bones first to convince him." Hiruzen nodded appealingly at Tsunade's words. Who was he to argue with the Hokage anyway?
"As much as I love your verve and enthusiasm for the next generation, I might be able to spot a few hiccups in that five year plan of yours."
"What? Do you not think he'll be S-Rank by then?"
"Oh no, that is actually the easy part. Convincing him may be a tad bit more difficult, but not impossible. Especially now that he won't be taking the hat from me." Tsunade gave him a confused look, as if to say 'then what's the problem?'
"Perhaps it would be better for your new spymaster to fill you in then?" He said, gesturing toward Jiraiya who was sat behind her still standing form.
She looked back at him, waiting. "Well Hime, I guess there are a few other things we still haven't told you. But this one Sensei ordered us not to, so please don't hit me?" The man flinched and waited a few moments for the impact that would not come.
Eventually, after a few moments he decided she wouldn't hit him and continued. "The Hidden Rain has been overthrown by the Akatsuki's leader, Pein. And to put it lightly, he despises Konoha. Don't get me wrong, he hates the entire village system. But us the most."
"Ok, but how does that prevent me from passing the hat to Naruto?"
"Well it probably wouldn't be a great idea to transition power during an active war."
Now that caused the look of realization to dawn on her face. Pieces were lining up, previous actions and plans that seemed random or spur of the moment all started to make sense. "So Naruto's involvement in the Suna negotiations were?"
"Almost entirely about acclimating him to the world of politics and displaying him on the world's stage? Yes." Orochimaru's voice cut in to answer her teammates' unasked question. "Also because sensei was trying to tempt me into sharing him with Jiraiya. But mostly for the first reason."
"But then why all the talk of training trips and research opportunities. If he is so important and the Akatsuki are after him, then he should be kept safe. Allowed to grow more powerful before they can muster the power to reach him again. Not gallivanting around the world with idiots one and two?"
"Naruto-kun can not be kept locked up like some damsel in a tower. His smithing is as much art as it is science. And he needs to experience the world if he is to truly become great someday. Keeping him cooped up in the village can only hurt us in the short and long term. Of that I am certain." Hiruzen's words rang true in her ears. Even if Tsunade didn't love to hear them.
"Not to mention how much it would piss the gaki off." Jiraiya whispered to Orochimaru not-so-subtly, who only nodded her head in response before they both dodged a glare from Tsunade.
"But wouldn't parading him around like that only load the powder keg more?" She asked the room, her knowledge of current politics and foreign political climates limiting her opinions.
Surprisingly, Hiruzen deferred the question to Orochimaru. "To be truthful. We don't currently believe there is any more room in the proverbial 'keg' at the moment. It is even less likely after the Suna incident."
It took Tsunade a moment to start to see it. But she knew they were right, Orochimaru and Hiruzen rarely erred when they came to the same conclusions.
The Suna backed coup during the Chunin exams was actually amazing for Konoha's image. Both home and abroad. Even Tsunade in her semi-fugue state of gambling and alcohol knew that.
Konoha managed to throw out an entire rebellious branch of anbu and another of the great five from the heart of their village during a surprise attack. One of their Sannin also managed to defeat their Kazekage with the help of a Genin who had seemingly just reinvented an impossibly powerful and ancient lost art.
That doesn't even factor in how their supposedly 'traitorous' Sannin also returned as the head of a minor 'village' (now an official protectorate of Konoha in Rice Country). Only to reveal that she was an impossibly deep undercover operative and rejoin the fold.
It was safe to say that yes, Konoha had come out quite ahead of that situation. Their overall successes and near immediate victory far overshadowed the negative stigma of having even a small coup attempt.
"Kami, of course I inherit a mess that would make Jiraiya's financial history look well managed."
The man in question raised his hands in front of himself defensively. "Hey now, friendly fire. I have been nothing but supportive of you. And I have plenty of money."
"Once again Jiraiya, correlation is not causation. And I certainly wouldn't call keeping me in the dark about this entire topic 'nothing but supportive'." Realizing he could not win, Jiraiya merely lowered his hands, withdrawing his objection.
"Sadly Tsunade-Hime, the times when it doesn't seem like everything is on fire will be few and far between." Were Hiruzen's words to her. A feeling of worry and anxiety washed over her as her eyes flitted over her sensei's robes and hat.
Wildly sorry for taking so long. I would also like to say that this chapter was an inspiration or something, and that's why I had to reorder it to happen before 'Responsibility', but in all honesty, I just kinda forgot it existed in a different folder. Still important though, so I had to keep it, also I liked it.
Been writing a lot of the later stuff, like probably too much of it. But I finally remembered that I haven't even put up the Uzu stuff yet, and I needed to properly go back and pick up so the two can finally meet.
Additionally, I don't really care about the hate for making Orochimaru female or any of the many many other non-canon things. But I had decided to change Orochimaru to female in part because I wanted it to be almost immediately clear that the character would be a bit different. Because She was actually loyal the whole time she can't be a complete and utter monster and amoral sociopath, and she would definitely never share a prized student (which is a little integral to the whole thing with balancing his brawler tendencies with intellectualism, but that's off track). Tldr; eat shit, I wipe my ass with canon.