Lies and white lies
This had been beta’d by the lovely Ankaa Sage!
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She chickened out and she poofed herself away (teleporting in a poof of smoke like Kakashi always does) to the shopping district. One, she needed new clothes. Two, she couldn't face Kakashi just yet.
"You have only been here for 18 hours and you can't face him? I will never understand humans."
"It's the fact that he's not my Kakashi and that's it. Drop it."
With that, she wandered through the district, looking through the shop windows till she saw a shop she knew very well as an adult. She would always get her clothes and weapons from the same store. The same store her dad had bought his ever so flashy yondaime cloak made from. It was a simple store made to tailor clothing and weapons and allow the customer to create their own designs and will make the clothes as they wish. Another perk of this shop was, when she was younger, they used to allow her to buy everything at their actual price and not double the price.
Entering, she gave a smile and wave to the lady behind the counter before having a look around. She saw lots of female, male and unisex clothes as well as a variety of weapon; kunai, tonto, senbon, katanas, and shuriken were on the shelves however as they tailor clothes, they make weapons as well.
She skipped past the weapons for now and saw a nice jacket that was black and orange, then another shirt that had fishnet sleeves up to the elbows that were orange and blue material that covered the chest. The third one she saw was a silver-ish-grey dress that wrapped around the neck to the midriff where it then clipped in the center. (SORRY I'M CRAPPY AT DESCRIBING CLOTHES READ END COMMENTS FMI) It was similar to the one she wore in the future, except that one was orange and silver with black and blue flowers, only worn when she was with Kakashi.
She decided to purchase all three, with slight changes made here and there, such as the second shirt, have it made orange with large black strips going from the lower right to the upper left, and to have orange dots placed on the silver wrap. She would be able to collect the finished product later that evening, after her second meeting with the sandaime and presumably after she eats something.
She continued her way through the village, looking around to see what had been changed after the attack. The placing and looks of the buildings were all changed, of course, however, the names and general locations of everything had been placed where they originally were. No one had been willing to give up on the old Konoha.
She stopped when she realized that she was in front of the Memorial stone and looked at the names carved, looking at them all.
Uchiha Obito.
Nohara Rin.
Namikaze Minato.
There was no Jiraiya, Hayate Gekko or even Neji. There was still hope that they, and thousands of others, would still get a chance to live.
Sighing, she turned around and made her way to the Hokage office. When she saw people glaring at her she decided to jump on the roofs and get there. It would be quicker anyway.
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Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his desk as his oldest friends sat before him, Homura, Koharu and Danzo, the three of them also had reputable seats on the councils despite their age.
Homura and Koharu would lash out whenever they felt Hiruzen would do something they did not agree upon, such as allowing the host of the nine-tails to live on her own. It was not out of spite, they worried what would happen if someone found out her true gender and harm her, which could in turn anger the fox.
Danzo, however, would be more secretive about the way he disagreed. He would propose a different suggestion and when the Hokage would not yield he would get his ROOT operatives to see to it his wishes were complied with.
"All we are asking is what the missive about the jinchuriki was about, Hiruzen, and what you found out," said Homura as Koharu took the pipe out of the aged kage's hand.
Sighing he thought it best to tell them what had transpired earlier that day, and to say they were shocked was an understatement, at least his old teammates were shocked. It took a lot to get Danzo shocked.
At some point between the three in front of him started bickering he tuned them out, vaguely registering what was being said. After five minutes he could feel Naruto's chakra signature, which had slightly changed when he had seen her earlier and asked the three of them to leave so he could find out what else he needed to know and if it was important, he would keep his old friends informed.
As they left, he sighed. He felt it was time to retire yet he could not, Minato was long dead, Jiraiya hated being in Konoha for too long after having been denied his right to look after his godchild, Tsunade had yet to return since the third war ended, Orochimaru was an S rank criminal that betrayed them, Itachi was named a wrongly accused S rank criminal. The last option was Danzo, however, he was very much reluctant to allow the old war hawk, as he feared what he would do to the village, the alliances and most of all, to Naruto.
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When she got to the tower she resisted the urge to giggle. There red paint on the fire symbol had faded and the whole building had cracks in the concrete and paint, making it look as old as it truly was.
She made her way through, many people such as Genma, pausing to greet her and make small talk with her, telling her the Hokage was waiting for her in his office.
She paused at the door and decided to just walk right through, he knew she was coming anyway, and it wasn't like she could sense anyone inside either.
She old man was sitting on his chair behind the desk with his fingers interlinked under his chin as he nodded towards the guest chair, gesturing for her to sit down. "So Naruto," he gave a long pause, grabbing his pipe and taking a long puff of smoke from it before continuing, "I realized that earlier I did not congratulate you on passing the exam. In case you don't know, next week you will be expected to return to class and be placed on your team." he looked at her, waiting for her outburst and was surprised to see she didn't do so. "You don't seem so surprised to hear about this."
She merely shrugged before elaborating, "Everyone who isn't taken under an apprenticeship is placed in a three man cell consisting of one female to two males. Besides if Itachi and Shisui managed to deal with having a team and be proteges, I'm sure I can deal."
"Do you know why I always asked Shisui to look after you as a child, when he could?"
"Because I was supposed to marry him if we both consented?" she asked, confused as to why he was bringing up her late fiance.
"That was part of the reason, yes. However, it was mostly to show the elders of the Uchiha clan that we did not blame them for the nine tails attack all those years ago." he took another puff of his pipe and looked her in the eye, scrutinizing her expression that gave nothing away, so instead he got out of his chair and turned to gaze out his window.
Snorting she spoke, "Not like it changed very much on their thought process. They still planned a coup against us."
Nodding, "Yes, indeed they did-" he snapped his head which had caught the sight of Konoha's copy ninja, his eyes had bulged out considerably, "How do you know about that?!"
She couldn't help it and let out a fit of laughs so hard she ended up rolling on the ground. The man who mastered all chakra natures, leader of the most powerful ninja village and student of the God of Shinobi himself had lost his cool and let down his guard with the most dangerous person in the five elemental nations. The irony.
Oh, how Lord Hashirama would be laughing in his grave and Lord Tobirama would be glaring at his student.
After she calmed down she replied, "Well, Shisui and Itachi were discussing it back when they thought I was sleeping and when I questioned Shisui that night he confirmed what I had heard was in fact true. He promised to tell me everything the next night but... He never got the chance." she whispered the last part.
It was partially a lie. She had overheard the two Uchihas having the conversation however they had not told her the Uchiha were planning against the village. Shisui had also promised to tell her more about it the next night, however, he had not anticipated Danzos betrayal.
Danzo Shimura.
The man had had Konoha's best interests in mind yet had also had his head stuck in the time of war. Believing the only way we could live was in a constant war. He had allowed the death of hundred fall onto the hands of a teenager and then had him branded a missing-nin, who had taken the Sharingan eyes of many and yet proclaimed it all to be in Konoha's benefit.
"Shisui Uchiha told you classified information regarding Konoha's safety when you merely a seven year old?" the sandaimes voice clearly showed that he did not believe a word she was saying.
She sighed deeply. 'If I trusted you like I should, old man, I would tell you the truth. However, you're very much liable to tell Koharu and Homura and they would tell Danzo. I can't let that happen. Not after what happened the last time you confided in your counsel.'
"Why would I lie? How else would I know this information, if not by Shisui himself? We were to be wed, he never wanted secrets between us and I knew him keeping the fact I'm a jinchuriki a secret. That pained him to do so. You could see the pain in his eyes whenever I cried about how the village treated me but I never understood it. The look in his eyes when I questioned him about the nine-tails. I can't even describe the pain and anguish and the look of fear. Fear that I would remove myself from his life. He bent and kneeled to me on the floor, begging me for his forgiveness where he didn't need to. Shisui will forever hold a place in my heart as a member of my family and that will never change. Not even in death."
"The amount of crap you are spewing right now, is quite hilarious, however, I can truly visualize what you said happening. You truly did love the boy, didn't you?"
"Did you love him?" asked the sandaime the same time as Kurama, and sat back down in his chair, pipe long forgotten.
Gulping hard, she thought about it before answering, "I did. I had known from the beginning that the two of us were very likely to marry if we wished it. Shusui never told me but I overheard Mikoto tell him about it. Questioning whether he was with me because he felt obligated or because he wanted to. He said he couldn't stand the way the people were treating me, that I deserved at least one good thing in my life since my own godmother and godfather could do nothing to raise me."
"You know who your godparents are?" his hands were locked together under his chin, something she remembered him doing often, however this time, he held them together tightly. Clearly, the thought of her knowing who her godparents were distressed him. Mikoto Uchiha was long since dead and Jiraiya was going around the elemental nations, gathering information after being refused custody of her.
She shook her head, "No, all I know is my godmother is dead and my godfather is a very powerful man, however not even he could over-rule the counsel."
Nodding his head, Hiruzen weighed his options; he could have a person watch the girl day in and day out or he could trust the little girl as he has her entire life. She had never done anything to harm the citizens of Konoha even though she could have many times over and she would have every right, just as Naruto said Sunagakures jinchuriki does.
He chose to trust her. Minato wished for her to be treated as a hero after all.
"Very well, Naruto. Before I let you go, how do you feel about your father sealing a demon inside of you?"
"There's nothing I can do about it now. But if I ever saw him, I'd punch him in the gut for making me go through this all without a parent."
The sandaime was about to release her, but before he could release her, she spoke up, "By the way, old man. The nine-tails said something about Mizuki having a cursed seal on him and smelling like a snake, and to that, I have to agree."
His only reaction was to freeze before giving her a small smile, saying it would be best if she ate and went home to rest for tomorrow and she did just as he advised, after having gotten her clothes from the store.
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The Sandaime sighed as Naruto left. He would have no choice but to tell the other three what he had learned today. As he debated how he should tell them either in person or letter someone came in through the window.
"Why is it, everyone below fifty-five insists on coming through the window?" asked the sandaime to the silver-haired man in front of him.
In return, he simply gave his Hokage a fake smile and bowed, "You wished to see me, Lord Hokage?"
The Hokage placed his hands under his chin and spoke, "You are being placed on a team with Sasuke Uchiha-rookie of the year, Sakura Haruno- top kunoichi, and Naruto Uzumaki." he faded off.
Raising his head Kakashi spoke, "What is it you wish to tell me, Lord Hokage? I already know who Naruto is."
The Sandaime felt the need to tell the man Naruto was a girl but decided to let Naruto tell the man if she trusted him enough to do so, "I had his exam paper sent to me. It turns out he got 100%." raising a brow the copy ninja waited for him to continue, "Naruto has secrets. Some I know, some I don't. I want you to find out what these secrets are. I will not ask you to tell me what they are, however, since that will be a breach of trust. No, I only want you to inform me if his secrets affect Konoha's safety. Am I clear?"
He placed his fisted hand over his heart and once again bowed to his leader, agreeing and was about to leave before he spoke up again, "I want you to capture Mizuki and sent him to T&I immediately."
He left via the window instantly and did as the Hokage ordered.
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The week had gone by similarly to how it had last time so when the day of team placements came, she woke up at dawn, she had always been an early bird, however, this time around she would have even more training to do in order to get to where she had been before being sent to the past.
Taking a shower, eating breakfast and getting dressed in her new jacket and black ninja trousers with her kunai pouch attached to her right thigh and headed out to training ground 7 in order to train. She made twenty-five shadow clones, each to break into groups of five to do; fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu and senjutsu, the last one also trying to summon her toads and talk to them if she manages.
After two solid hours of training, she found she had the same amount of stamina as she did when she was 14 and not 12, her strength was that of a preteen, her genjutsu was just the same as was her ninjutsu and senjutsu. She was also able to summon the toads and did not have to explain anything as they had felt her presence and questioned the Ogama sannin who explained most of the information and she filled in the blanks here and there.
They agreed to keep her a secret from Jiraiya till she was ready to see the man who had trained her and treated her like a daughter, who had paved the path that allowed her to become Hokage.
She went back home to take another shower and redressed in the new jacket she had bought before she ate again and made her way to the academy for team placements.
"Will you allow the incident with the Uchiha to happen again?"
"Will you kiss Gaara?"
"No!"
"Then don't ask silly questions, or I'll take you out of the seal and make you babysit my future children, 'tebayo!"
She went inside the building and stopped slowly opened the classroom door and as she did, all eyes went on her. Her change of clothes and the clear sight of her headband.
"Hey, Naruto what are you doing here? This room is only for those that actually passed their tests and became genin?" Asked Shikamaru.
Pointing to her forehead that held Konoha's symbol she replied, "See this? I passed my exam and I'm a genin with the rest of you, dattebayo!" she fist-bumped the air with both hands above her head, grinning widely.
She made her way where Sasuke was and sat beside him and all he did was give her a once over, a raised brow and a small nod before going back to his brooding.
It wasn't long before they could hear a stampede and in came Sakura and Ino arguing who came into the room first.
"With that pink haired girl, life just gets worse and worse. Do you remember all the screaming and hitting she used to do? I say, trap her in the kotoamatsukami and make her learn her place."
Naruto would never say so, but she silently thought that it was a good idea, it may just get Sakura out of her fan-girl stage earlier than before and save a lot of problems.