Naruto: Legacy Undone

About a day later, with reports and briefs sitting across his desk from three gennin and one Jounin, it was whole minutes, before Sarutobi said or did anything.

"Don't move." He said, pointing at them. "Wait right there."

He turned, stood, marched out of his office to the balcony, walked out of sight, then returned after a minute or so, walked back outside again, returned, walked around his desk to stand infront of the four of them.

"Now..." He drawled, closing his eyes in a way that indicated there was a brewing headache behind his temples. "Let me see if I'm understanding this right. You went to Iwa..."

The children nodded.

"Forged an alliance with Kiri nin to win the competition?"

They nodded again.

Then he pointed to Orochimaru

"Then you say Onoki all but sicked a Jounin on them?"

The Sannin nodded even as the Gennin tossed some curious looks around.

Hadn't that been part of the exam?

"Then...you..." He pointed to Naruto "Defeated that Jounin."

"Stalled." Orochimaru corrected. "There was a time limit and he managed to outlast i-"

"And as a result." He interrupted. "Because of some...bet you made with the Tsuchikage...and some...other kind of debt he had with Magojiro-dono we somehow managed to get his granddaughter in our custody?"

"Magojiro-dono's custody but something like that...yes."

"And then...he wanted to go back on that so he sent two of his ninja to go after you?"

Orochimaru nodded.

"And you ended up killing their Jinchuuriki?"

Another nod.

"The Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi?"

Another nod.

"That's...been transported here?

Another nod.

"And is currently-"

"In the process of being resealed into an object until we can find a host." Orochimaru nodded. "I gave the order in your stead. Hope you don't mind."

The old man ignored his snark. "And the reason the team with the skills and resources to preserve and transport the body arrived there in time is...because..." His finger trailed over to Naruto.

"An-chan" The blond provided.

"An-chan gave you a distress beacon scroll? And you remembered to activate it?"

He nodded, then grinned. "Pretty cool for just a chuunin exam huh?"

The Sandaime blinked, hand lowering to his side before joining the other behind his back.

With a sharp about face he turned, marched back around his desk, and walked back outside.

The children were guessing he needed some air...

"Soooo...we make chuunin for this right?" Ryoko ventured.

Orochimaru cleared his throat. "Go. All of you. You're dismissed. I need to discuss some things with the Hokage for now."

-0-

He knocked on the door.

It was, truth be told, a novel experience.

The Daimyo didn't knock. People announced his presence or his summons and others either answered or were ready to greet him on arrival.

"What?"

He took that as permission to open the door.

Kurotsuchi was sitting on the floor, shuriken and kunai sticking out of the wall in several places, little holes and scratch marks on the wood showing off the means by which she'd been entertaining herself since she woke.

"May I come in?" He asked smiling gently.

"You're the Daimyo." She said. "You do what you want."

"You're the princess. It is only proper that you be treated with more respect." He bowed a little at that. "May I come in?"

She scowled...but nodded.

He stepped inside and without waiting for any further word, sat himself down beside her.

He picked up one of the kunai-

"Its rude to touch other people's things." She said crossly.

He smiled. "All too true." He handed it back

She took it, beginning to put it away into her ninja pouch along with the others.

"Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine. Why don't I remember getting here?" She glared.

His smile turned coy and playful. "The village hidden in the leaves wouldn't be very well hidden if we simply let everyone look at how to arrive."

She scowled. "What does it matter you're planning to kill me anyway!"

"I am?" He gasped.

"All you leaf ninja wanna do is kill us!"

"I didn't kill you before." He pointed out.

The scowl fell for a moment before it returned. "Because you're...you-"

"I don't want to kill you Kurotsuchi-san." He offered holding his hands up. "In truth, I asked Onoki-sama for you to come here so we might become good friends."

"Grandpa says leafs always lie."

"I'm not a leaf." He answered. "I am the Daimyo of Hi no kuni, and I never lie." He paused, extending his hand, palm upwards. "You're to be with me until you're sixteen. I would like to be your friend in that time..." He paused, then added. "If you would honor me."

She looked at his hand, and he could see the uncertainty. The first, tangling roots of dogmatic hatred warring with the simple mind of a ten year old child.

The scowl returned. "We can't be friends." She huffed, crossing her arms. "We can be...ac...acun"

"Acquaintances?" He offered.

She nodded blushing in embarrassment at having not recalled the word. "Yeah."

"Then I'll be glad to be your acquaintance." He smiled sincerely.

-0-

"'Pending evaluation' What the hell does that even mean? 'Pending evaluation!'" Ryoko fumed, using exaggerated air quotes. "We went into Iwa, won the whole goddamn thing and then crawled out of there with their princess and having killed one of their Jounin behind us!"

"That was, Magojiro-sama and sensei actually." Kyofu pointed out.

"Details" The girl scoffed. "They should be demanding we accept the chuunin rank. Pending evaluation. Hah!"

Naruto grinned. "Oh come on. It won't be that bad. By tomorrow we'll all be sporting nice new vests.

"Its rare for a whole team to get promoted at once." Kyofu pointed out. "Don't assume you're just gonna win. It'll be more disappointing if you-"

"Oh come on!" Ryoko interrupted. "Of course we're gonna make it! We can't just fall behind Haku or that Kimimaro guy."

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