Naruto: The New Sealmaster

It was a good thing there was just one more floor to go, because he was already weak. Having to almost carry Karin the last bit took a lot out of a guy who was still recovering. Then he heard the rough, but happy, voice of his sensei.

"Aoshi! You're up and running!"

Aoshi sat Karin down on a nearby chair and walked over to give his sensei a slight bow.

"Rokushō Aoshi reporting for duty. I was asked to go up here, I'm guessing you want the full report of what happened?"

Only then did he notice the Hokage who stood just behind his sensei. It was he who responded instead.

"Indeed. We have gotten what we could from the others, but it seems you tried to take him on on your own."

Despite the very serious tone in the conversation, the Hokage shone with pride. The look in his eyes, a look he as a small kid wished to get from his father and brother, gave Aoshi a lot of confidence in himself. Enough to last him all throughout his report.

After he gave his report on everything he saw in the forest, including Uzumaki Karin and her special gift, the hokage nodded at him.

"Well done Aoshi. Few could have done what you did two days ago-"

Oh, so it had been two days since then. That wasn't so bad.

"People have you to thank for their lives, especially that girl over there. And adding to that, the leadership qualities you showed has put you in an excellent position in this exam as well."

Aoshi bowed his head down deep in gratitude for the words he got from the Hokage himself.

"Now, speaking of the girl. I understand that you took up protection of her?"

Aoshi looked up and nodded a bit confusedly.

"Excellent. You see, the Uzumakis used to have a clan area but it is a bit…dilapidated. So it is a great thing you offered to house her until we can come up with something better."

That sparked life in the little red-head.

"I'll be…living..with Aoshi-kun?"

For a moment she looked overjoyed, then her expression changed into something Aoshi couldn't identify, before blood started dripping from her nose again and she fell asleep in her chair.

Aoshi just stared at her in confusion for a bit, until the Hokage cleared his throat.

"You should bring her to her temporary room in the exam building, your teammates are waiting for you in the cafeteria. Hachiro, help him out. Will you?"

Soon Karin had been put to sleep, she had this creepy smile on her face the entire time while they brought her down to her room. When that was done, Hachiro turned to Aoshi and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked him right in the eyes and gave him a proud look.

"Well done, little Aoshi. I just wanted to say I'm proud to have been your sensei. Don't forget me, alright?"

Aoshi tilted his head, it sounded as if he was congratulating him after the exam was done. He's still Aoshi's sensei after all, there's no past tense about it. But he let that go and just smiled up at the guy.

"Of course!"

With a nod, Hachiro was gone. Probably going back to the Hokage. Aoshi instead made his way to the cafeteria. He was getting hungry and also, he wanted to see his friends.

"Aoshi! You're fine!"

Before he even managed to get through the door frame, he saw Kazuto come running towards him. They grasped hands and hugged briefly.

"Of course. Now let me in on the gossip around here. Anyone we know who finished yet?"

Turns out they broke the record on the exam! 67 minutes to complete it all. The sand team would have gotten the record with their 90 something minutes but team Hachiro just had to turn up.

Other than that, there were no major news. Even through it was now the third day, not that many had actually finished the exam.

That very second, a new Konoha team entered the cafeteria. Their eyes were stone cold and they all had blood covering their fronts. Aoshi only recognized one of them, the other two looked to be a couple of years older and both wore masks. The one he recognized was hard to miss. Shimura Tetsuo stood there and slowly turned his head towards Aoshi. When their eyes met, Tetsuo raised an eyebrow before leading his team out of the room.

Aoshi let out a sigh, he thought the boy would make a scene. It seems as though something about him has changed. That doesn't mean his underlying beliefs have changed, or that he regrets anything.

Aoshi quickly brushed off the memories of his old school bully. He doubted they'd have to interact much for the rest of their ninja careers anyway.

The following days were very relaxing. Aoshi and his team gathered strength, and had fun. The waiting area had excellent facilities, with lovely beds, a large cafeteria and various training rooms. Aoshi idly wondered if this was an old Anbu training facility. Karin had slowly calmed down during these last few days as well. At the start, she kept looking his way and giggling, but two days in she started actively contributing to conversations.

--

"My mum and I were sort of on the run since a bad man had killed my father when a ninja showed up. He claimed he could bring us to safety, to a ninja village where no bad people would dare touch us. I knew my mother was doubtful but we followed him anyway."

Karin looked towards Aoshi.

"I think you can guess who this man was right?"

He nodded. He had guessed that this was how Aoi had gotten permission to become a Kusagakure ninja.

"And so we got in, but it didn't take long before the safety turned into another hell."

This part was clearly the one Karin had most difficulty talking about, since Aoshi could hear her voice breaking up. So he stopped her by putting an arm around her shoulder.

"You don't have to tell us now. We'll apparently be living together after this, tell me whenever you're comfortable. Okay?"

At the reminder that they'd be sharing an apartment, her nose started bleeding again, her eyes glazed over and she started giggling to herself.

--

But finally, it was breakfast on the last day. Surprisingly few teams had shown up already despite there only being four hours remaining of the test. So far there were only two Konoha teams, a Suna team who, by the way, continuously glared at Aoshi every chance they got, and a sound team.

Then she walked through the door, looking more hungry than Aoshi thought he'd ever seen her before.

"Tenten!"

She stopped abruptly and looked around. When her eyes met his, they both lit up and she ran over. Neither reacted much to Karin's sudden dislike for the other girl.

"Ao-kun, of course you'd make it here before me. Have any other Konoha teams gotten here yet?"

She wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her back tightly. He just held on for a few seconds before breaking up the hug to answer.

"No, just one. I only know Tetsuo from that team, the rest are probably Danzo's men so I barely count them."

She nodded a bit sullenly before looking around to make sure Tetsuo wasn't nearby. Then she took a seat next to Aoshi. She called over her team and soon they all shared a table. Aoshi decided he might as well introduce everyone, since he was the only one who knew everyone at the table, even the slightest.

"Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee. Those two over there are my teammates Dai and Kazuto."

He felt a hand on his arm and looked over, only to spot Karin who clearly wanted to be introduced as well.

"And this red-head here is Uzumaki Karin. We saved her from some trouble with her teammates, and apparently she'll be living with me for a little while."

Tenten raised an eyebrow at the last bit, looking at Aoshi as if he had some explaining to do. But then she remembered that she had a story to tell him as well.

"Nice to meet you all, but I'm going to have to tell you this right now. You won't believe what went down in the forest. I think we know why all Konoha teams are so late.."

And so she went on to tell a story about Naruto's team. But after hearing about the person they faced and ran away from, Kazuto couldn't help exclaiming.

"That's the guy…girl…thing, we faced!"

Rock Lee burst out of his chair.

"And yet here you are unscathed! What immense YOUTH you must possess to counter such a foe without any injury. I must say I'm impressed!"

Aoshi scratched the back of his head and chuckled lightly.

"Not exactly.."

And then he told their story. When they were done, Neji couldn't help himself. He got too curious to contain his eager question. With Hyuuga stoicism he tried to contain himself though.

"If you had time to heal..How long have you been here?"

This time, Dai was the one who answered with a rough but calm voice.

"I believe it took about an hour for us to be done with the exam, me, Kazuto and Karin were out of the hospital within 24 hours. Aoshi-san took a bit longer."

Stunned silence reigned supreme. But it took someone like Rock Lee to break it.

"AO-SAN!! Your youth is truly unparallelled. We must have a spar soon! I wish to compare my own youthfulness to yours."

With that, the tension was broken and the group..Apart from Neji, conversed casually about what they had seen in the forest.

Eventually, after they had all eaten, the next Konoha team made an appearance.

"Where is the food? I was told there would be food!"

"Tch, read the sign Choji. Breakfast just ended. You'll have to find something else."

"Sigh..why did I get such a fatty on my team..?"

It was of course the Ino-Shika-Cho team which made its arrival. They looked around, and when Choji saw the table filled with Konoha ninjas with some food left on their plates he walked over and begged as if his life depended on it.

Soon, he had been given all the food they hadn't eaten. At least the bits they didn't touch. That's when another team entered. A feminine sweet voice clang out.

"It's a good thing they had a cupboard filled with snacks, since the breakfast is closed and all."

"Mmn. I don't think he'd make it much further without proper food. I guess my meal preps weren't good enough.."

That last bit was said very silently so barely anyone heard it, but the boy next to him obviously didn't miss it.

"It's not that it was bad, but it's incomparable to this!"

The tracker team among the Rookies had made their entrance. It was a good thing Choji didn't find that cupboard before they came here.

"Hina-hime! You made it!"

Aoshi stood up from his table and walked towards the girl who played a sister role in his life.

"Ao-kun! That's great!"

They shared a brief hug, before a little dog snarled at Aoshi.

"Akamaru, don't. Ao-kun is a very good friend, remember? He's no enemy."

But considering the glare Kiba directed his way, Aoshi assumed he was Kiba's enemy, not Hinata's. So Akamaru remained angry at him in comradery with his owner and partner.

"Well done you three! I'm sure Kurenai was proud when you got here."

Hinata was blushing slightly but she met his gaze proudly as she nodded. Kiba clicked his tongue and walked over towards Choji. Shino on the other hand bowed with his head towards Aoshi.

"Indeed. She did express a lot of pride in us."

Hinata nodded at her teammate but she couldn't hold it in any longer. With expectant eyes she asked the question that was on the tip of her tongue

"Has N-Naruto come here yet?"

Aoshi shook his head, much to her dismay. But he quickly put an arm over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. Naruto always likes to make a show, he'll arrive at the very last second. You just have to wait a couple of hours. Trust me."

He winked at her and she leaned her head against him with a gentle smile.

---

Meanwhile, over by the table, Tenten was explaining to an irate Karin that Hinata had no interest in Aoshi and only had eyes for Naruto. She neglected to share Naruto's surname, as she honestly forgot its relevance to the Uzumaki girl.