16 Chapter 16

Day 8

Naruto was nervous for the meeting, despite having met the old man just the night before. What sat past that door was going to determine his future. After his mock battle with Hiruzen and his mother, he was found far from lacking in terms of the combat department. The results from the written exams were also exemplary. He shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Yet still he worried. Not of failure. He'd failed far too many times before to care about that. He'd live and he'd learn.

What he was worried about was letting the old man down, of letting his mother down. No matter the reason, now that he had them back in his life, he wasn't sure how he'd feel should he somehow disappoint them.

'It's now or never.'

He pushed open the door. He still had his henge on, a cautious reminder that no one here truly knew who he was yet. Aside from a few, he was but a stranger in a new land. What people would do for his eyes…even if a transplanted rinnegan proved far less useful than one organically grown. He needed to be careful and remain on his guard at all times.

But now…the interloper is beginning to step into the light. It was a first, heedful step, only showing his toes and never revealing what lies behind the shadows.

"Jiji!" Naruto greeted, to the old man's amusement and the hiding Anbu's confusion.

They'd never seen this teenager before, yet he acts as if he'd known the Hokage for a length of time, such was their familiarity.

Hiruzen nodded in greeting. "Everyone out."

Like he was talking to the air, nothing changed but Naruto knew that, just like that, most if not all the Anbu within the walls were gone.

Naruto gave his grandfather–figure a knowing smile as the old man activated the privacy seal.

"So, how did I do?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen chuckled. "Getting right into it are we, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't say anything in return but the fire in his eyes told Hiruzen everything he needed to know. There was resolve there. There was the will of fire, burning brighter than any he'd seen before. A will for peace and prosperity to all ninjas.

Hiruzen leaned down to open up a drawer from his desk. He picked up a bulky package and laid it on the table.

Naruto stared at it.

"Open it," Hiruzen said gently and if Naruto didn't know, he'd have sworn that he heard…relief in the old man's voice. As if handing whatever it was in the package to him had set a load off his shoulders.

"Hai," Naruto responded, and with trembling fingers, untied the cloth package. He gasped when he saw what was inside.

It was a standard Chuunin uniform–one that was worn even by Jonins. It contained a dark blue undershirt and pants as well as a green flak jacket.

Beneath the uniform, lay a konoha headband, displaying its symbol like a beacon of pride.

"Th-this–does this mean I pass?" Naruto asked, his voice shaking with emotion. "Am I a Jonin?"

There was no small amount of pride in Hiruzen's response. "Well yes and no. You have passed both aspects of the Jonin test and will be of Jonin rank in all but name."

"Eh?!" Naruto retorted. "What do you mean?"

Hiruzen smiled apologetically. "While your Jonin promotion is guaranteed, it will not be immediate. Having a ninja appear out of nowhere and becoming a Jonin from the blue is bound to raise suspicion not just in the many factions of Konoha, but from other villages as well, so for now, you will be registered as a chuunin."

Naruto's shoulders drooped a tiny bit. "I see…So I'll be chuunin for a period of time then? Though it is a promotion from being an eternal genin, I suppose."

Hiruzen chuckled. "We must make your promotion to jonin to seem organic. A chuunin promotion is common enough to give to talented individuals who fled from other villages but jumping an entire two ranks, in genin and chuunin, to go straight to jonin is suspicious, especially for someone your age."

"I understand…" Naruto responded, before cheering up a moment later. "I can be patient, dattebayo. As long as you let me take high ranking missions, there won't be much difference anyway."

Hiruzen chuckled before getting up. "We'll discuss more about this soon. I'll walk you home. Come."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto opened the door with Hiruzen right behind him, eager to tell his mother the good news.

Before he could say anything, he was engulfed in a bone crushing hug. "You've done it, my wonderful son!"

Naruto was only stunned for a minute before he hugged his mother back, laughing. "You didn't doubt me for a bit, did you?"

"Never" Kushina said, pulling away from him to peer into his eyes. Amethyst meeting dark violet. "I'll always believe in you, son."

Naruto's cheeks almost fell off his face from how much space his smile had occupied. "Thanks, mom, but I'm not Jonin just yet, apparently my promotion will be delayed to burn out any suspicions. For now, I'll be stuck as a chuunin."

Hiruzen coughed. "We still have to discuss what lies in store for you in the future.

Kushina nodded. "That's right, you don't have to rush into danger as a jonin just yet. We have time to figure out what to do from here."

Naruto was confused. "I just go back on duty right? What's the big deal?"

Hiruzen, who was smoking, almost spat his pipe out. Kushina looked at her son as if he was crazy.

"We don't expect you to work right away, Naruto," Hiruzen said, "For now, let's sit at the table."

They did just that.

"So what's the plan then?" Naruto asked.

"After all that you've been through, especially from a war as gruesome as the one we saw in your vision, you deserve some autonomy over your duties in this village, preferably some rest time." Hiruzen lit his pipe once again, taking another puff.

"That's right," Kushina added, "I've already discussed much of it with Hiruzen in our meetings. We've agreed that, should you pass the test and become a jonin, you're to sign a contract of no obligation, meaning that you're going to be considered effectively retired and out of duty."

Naruto's mouth fell open. "But–"

"Let me finish, son," Kushina continued. Naruto nodded. "You can still take missions but the Hokage simply can't order you to. Though, instead of being paid a salary, meeting quotas and taking bonuses from completed missions, you'll just make money out of 50% of the mission rewards and pay the rest back to Konoha. You'll make your living that way, though I suspect with the high pay of A to S-ranks, you'll be making a fortune from it, especially if you decide to take on bounties as well –of which you'll be paid 100% of the rewards."

Naruto processed all of this. "So to put it simply, while I have more power to do whatever mission, whenever I want, I won't be having that ensured salary to fall back on should missions get scarce or when I'm unavailable."

Hiruzen nodded. "Exactly, though I added in a clause where you have to try and defend your homeland should it be invaded."

"That's obvious, dattebayo," Naruto responded. "Like I'd ever let anything happen to Konoha,"

Hiruzen smiled. "In the meantime, these special conditions in the contract will make you a special jonin when you eventually get promoted. Is that agreeable?"

Naruto thought over it one more time before nodding. "Hai."

Hiruzen laid out the contract in front of Naruto and after a brief scan, he signed it with his signature and a fingerprint.

"Oh and one more thing," Kushina added.

"Yes?" Naruto enquired, raising an eyebrow.

"This just so happens to be the same contract I signed years ago," Kushina said, smiling, "I'll be your partner in your missions."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Eh?! But–but you'll be in danger!"

"And you won't be?" Kushina shot back.

"I can take care of myself," Naruto retorted, "I just had you back in my life I can't afford to lose–"

"-you think I don't feel the same?!" Kushina snapped, silencing him. Her eyes watered, becoming glassy. "After all these years, do you know what I wished for on the anniversary of your death?! On your birthday?! That I would have the chance to just see you again one last time and guess what! You just walked into my home the day after that!"

Naruto's eyes widened. He didn't realise the significance in the timing of his appearance here. There were just so many things going on with the war ending to fighting Sasuke that his birthday flew right by him and he'd forgotten all about it. He even considered himself to be 16 the entire time…

"That's–"

"A coincidence right?" Kushina finished for him, "Still I cannot help but think that Kami had granted me mercy and I'll be damned if something happens to you on your missions. No, I won't have it. It's either the two of us, or I'm chaining you up and putting you in my basement."

Naruto gulped, knowing his mother was completely serious. "I understand, mom, it's you and me against the world then."

Kushina let a tear fall before she stood up, walked over, and hugged him once more. "My son…you've brought life into me again…"

Hiruzen watched it all play out with heartache. He'd been reminded of his own family, of his late wife, his children and grandchildren. The love that Kushina had for Naruto…it was all understandable. How much would Hiruzen give to have his wife back in his life? Almost everything.

After they both calmed down, Hiruzen cleared his throat, catching their attention. "All that's left to do is to introduce you to the chuunin and jonin cohort I suppose. Can't have people question your rank legitimacy. Now that we've cleared out all the prerequisites, I'm sure there are questions from many coming your way once your identity is made known. Plus all the spiders that will tag along…"

All three knew what that meant. Root ninja.

"I'll see it personally that I'll clean up their quarters, Ji-chan," Naruto said.

He smiled warmly, "I can rely on you to take over a nation by yourself Naruto. I'll make it an official mission for you with deserving pay should you capture them. Seeing the existence of Sai from your memories, I wonder if it's not too late for some to recover from Danzo's brainwashing."

"I'll handle it, Ji-chan," Naruto said, then meeting his mother's glare continued, "I mean, we'll handle it, Ji-chan."

Hiruzen chuckled. "Perfect, now I'll assemble a few chuunin, jonin and active anbu for a meeting this afternoon so that they can verify your identity and rank should anything happen to me. Prepare yourself for introductions."

"Hai," naruto said, agreeing, "but nothing will happen to you, Ji-chan, I won't allow it."

Hiruzen gave a thankful nod.

"It's in regards to who you'll be introduced as," Hiruzen added, "I didn't want to have to bring this up again but in terms of DNA testing, you're not considered an Uzumaki in this world. So Uzumaki Naruto is out of the question."

Kushina huffed at that as Hiruzen continued. "It simply wouldn't hold up for clan purposes in the long run."

Kushina sighed while Naruto thought of it. "What do we do then? I've already sort of said that I was related to my mother in some way to my friends."

"We can fix that by saying that your true heritage was classified…but do you know what the strange thing is?"

Naruto and Kushina both looked curious.

"I asked my private researcher to run the DNA test once again, making the results and operation an S-rank secret, just to check who you may be related to in this world. As it turns out, the testing ran for longer than we thought using samples of nearly all the DNA within the database. We were surprised at his closest relation, as well as what it meant..."

"What is it?" Naruto asked, eager to know.

Hiruzen chuckled. "You're related to one of the longest samples of DNA we've reserved, dating all the way back to the warring era. You're apparently a Hagoromo."

Naruto and Kushina fell silent at that. Little was known about the Hagoromo clan or their origins aside from its shared moniker to one of Kaguya's sons…the very person who had a hand in sending Naruto here.

'What a weird coincidence…'

"The only information I have on them at the time was that they were allied to the Uchiha clan and had a hand in the death of Senju Kawarama, Hashirama's brother. It was the death that sparked it all for the creation of Konoha, as Hashirama and Madara had encountered the body and viewed it as a pointless casualty. Of course, the dream of peace was righteous yet fickle looking back. Even united, there was always still someone to fight…" Hiruzen reflected.

"Jiji…in my world, even the villages who's grudges dated back decades came together to face a unified threat. Peace is possible." Naruto said.

Hiruzen shook his head. "It's only possible temporarily. There will always be disagreement and a small number of the group whose hatred can spark dire consequences. Sometimes, through the passing of generational leaders, the new, more radical ones will call for war to establish a new status quo."

"That's…an awfully pessimistic way to look at things, Hiruzen," Kushina said.

"It is the view that was beaten into me over my decades as the Hokage. War is necessary, as they say. It's an unbreakable cycle until the world can gain complete understanding of one another. A world where justice is universal and not subjective upon local beliefs…but, I hope that you will prove me wrong one day, Naruto."

Naruto only gave him a determined look.

As if realising he was going on a tangent, Hiruzen snapped out of it. "Sorry. Like I was saying, your DNA seemed to match that of a Hagoromo's so it's a name you have the option of taking…and a clan you have an option of restoring. It's old and prestigious, a large faction in the warring era that has died out for unknown reasons."

Naruto and Kushina looked at each other.

"What do you think, Mom?" Naruto asked.

"I am unwilling to consider you anything less than my adopted step son," Kushina firmly stated.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the new development but didn't question it. It was up to them to figure out what their relationship was.

"Of course," Naruto responded, "but publicly, it would be safer for me to adorn an unknown clan name wouldn't it? Compared to a name that's established like Uzumaki and Namikaze."

"I still don't like it…" Kushina muttered. Then she looked into his worried eyes before giving him a sad smile. "But your safety will always be my number one priority, son, So I suppose you can use Hagoromo as your clan name in public, though you'll always be an Uzumaki at heart, dattebane."

Naruto smiled at that. "Forever and always. Seems like everything worked out in the end, hasn't it?"

"I look forward to working with both of you," Hiruzen responded, coming to a conclusion.

Both smiled in response to that.

"Also, in regards to your eyes, considering the importance of the Rinnegan, and the fact that it won't just turn back to the original blue ones you had once you stop channelling chakra into them, we need to figure out a way of hiding it."

"Actually, I have a temporary solution for that," Kushina said, "remember how you told me that with a little bit of chakra channelling, you could see through your palms that one time?"

Naruto nodded.

Kushina got up to receive something and once she got back, she handed over a piece of black cloth, oddly shaped to look like a blindfold...wait it was a blindfold.

With his keen eyes, he could see the array of seals on its surface, written in the same coloured ink as the cloth.

"These blindfolds are sealed to always stay on you unless you take it off. It also blocks the see-through vision of other doujutsus like the byakugan from one side but not the other, allowing you to see through it just fine," Kurshina explained. "I asked Hinata to test that part out. It also has some more features."

Naruto tried it on, tying it around his head. He could feel the seals activating, shaping the cloth to the contours of his nose and eyelids. He channelled chakra through the rinnegan and sure enough, he could see his mother as well as his surrogate grandfather as plain as day. "This is amazing!"

Kushina nodded. "Although I miss your baby blues and, well, the ability to make eye contact with you, I think this is a good look on you. Makes you seem mysterious."

"I agree," Hiruzen said, chuckling, "though now the head band seems a bit crowded to wear on your forehead."

Naruto thought about it, then he went over and grabbed it from the package, before tying it semi-loosely around his neck. "There! What'd you think?"

Kushina loved it.

So did Hiruzen.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kakashi was always late…but the moment he heard that Kushina Uzumaki was involved in this meeting, he made sure to be on time. The wife of his late sensei was one of the only few people who he feared would make him regret not showing up on time, no matter his reasons.

Some members of his jonin cohort were present, all he was familiar with, as well as a few chuunins including Umino Iruka and the Kotetsu and Izumo duo. All in all, there were around 15 total who were present. Kakashi couldn't help but notice that everyone here was known to have a good reputation and were trustworthy as secret carriers.

"Seems like a pretty important meeting, wonder what's happening," He muttered.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival!" Guy called out, approaching him, "I see that you, too, have no idea what this is all about."

Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, Hayate Gekko, Genma Shiranui and Mitarashi Anko approached, joining them.

"I'm telling you, he didn't say a word about this to me," Asuma said, scowling at Anko who'd asked him that for the third time.

They were all in the Hokage's office and it was becoming a bit crowded. Kakashi had no doubt that there were more Anbu hidden within the walls.

It wasn't a moment later before Hiruzen entered his office and made his way towards his desk. When he faced all of them he began. "Greetings my fellow chuunin, jonin and anbu. Thank you all for making it this morning on such short notice. I have a very quick but important announcement and for shinobi corps verification purposes, you are all here."

Everyone straightened at that. They all knew that this meant an induction of someone new, normally from outside of the village into their ranks.

Hiruzen smiled, seeing their understanding. "Through various circumstances that happened to align, I will be honoured to introduce a new member to our forces today. He has passed the necessary requirements conducted personally by myself and has shown extraordinary proficiency in the shinobi arts."

Everyone was disciplined enough not to murmur and bicker like children in the middle of an announcement but the same thing went through everyone's mind. Being personally tested by the Hokage meant passing his standards as a shinobi…and Hiruzen's standards were notoriously high.

Whoever it was that was being announced was a promising prospect that was soon to be one of them.

"You may enter now, Naruto–kun," Hiruzen said to the door.

Whoever it was that they expected, they didn't expect someone who seemed to be so young nor did they expect that he would be wearing a blindfold.

His appearance was startling, wearing a simple black zip up jacket and orange utility pants. Faint, barely perceptible lines of…what seemed to be whisker-like birth marks were present on his face. He had blond hair that reminded Kakashi of his late sensei, making him wonder if there were any relation between them.

The eerie way in which the cloth covered his eyes but was still of no impediment to his ability to navigate to where the Hokage was gesturing, showed that he either had extraordinary senses or a kekkei genkai that helped him know where he was…or he simply wasn't blind at all…

…then there was also his bandaged arm, indicating the boy had been through something that caused him a grievous wound.

'What was the story behind that?' Kakashi wondered.

Hiruzen continued on with the backstory they all agreed upon. "May I introduce to you a young man that has sought sanctuary within this village a few years ago whose presence I have kept a secret to ensure his protection and privacy. Now, he has sworn our shinobi oath and will be one of us. I've interviewed and verified his veracity personally, along with a full memory walk conducted by Yamanaka Inoichi–of which he has purged from himself as per protocol. This is Hagoromo Naruto, our newest chuunin."

A pin drop could be heard in the silence that reigned from the crowd.

'Hagoromo?' Kakashi thought, a name so familiar yet only came up in stories of old…it seemed that most had realised it as well.

"That's right," Hiruzen continued, "Vigorous DNA testing has been done to confirm his blood lineage which dates all the way back to the warring states era. The Hagoromo were thought to be extinct and knowledge of their abilities were lost to the test of time. We are in luck, then, to gain a new member to our family, especially one with an ancient clan name behind him. Perhaps he could establish his clan anew."

Hiruzen then turned towards the assembled shinobi again. "Naruto has currently stayed within the Uzumaki household the last couple of years, training under Uzumaki Kushina."

Everyone's eyes widened when Kushina entered the door. She had been so reclusive these last few years that she was only ever seen buying groceries. Nonetheless, her appearance was a stark contrast to the withered, and perpetually tired Uzumaki Kushina that they once knew. She looked…healthy again. Not to mention she was smiling, and seemed to be happy. The once revered beauty of the Uzumaki matriarch had slightly diminished over the years, yet she was still considered one of the most beautiful women in the entire elemental nations. Now that she seemed to be a decade younger, she was the clear cut winner. There was no comparison to the sheer radiance that she was exuberating.

"A fine morning to you all, everyone," Kushina said as she came to stand near the new chuunin. "As Hiruzen had said, I have cared for Naruto for the past few years and I can without a doubt ensure that he is a man of integrity and loyalty, not just to Konoha but to his friends and loved ones."

Naruto had begun to blush as Lady Uzumaki complimented him.

Kushina continued in a tone that broke no argument to the words she said next. "He has become like a second son to me, a chance that was taken away from me so long ago. He is under the full protection of the Uzumaki clan, and diminished as we are, do spread the word to your colleagues that crossing him would mean crossing me."

There was an unerring warning in that last sentence. Kakashi hadn't heard such resolve and life in Kushina since the tragedy more than a decade and a half ago.

There was power in her voice, her posture, her eyes, and a promise of retribution.

There was no doubt within everyone's mind that Uzumaki Kushina was back to full strength. The Red Habanero, the wife of the fourth, the goddess of seals, the S-ranked ninja…the red flash…the one who reaps in the darkness…

It was a delighted murmuring that unfolded, too surprised by the news everyone was to care about decorum.

It made Hiruzen chuckle that a group of disciplined ninjas could gossip like teenage girls when hit with news so impactful towards their profession. Another powerhouse of Konoha had returned to them…little did they know that the real monster was the youngest person in the room, who was stretching his head in shyness.

"May I have your attention please, everyone," Hiruzen stated and the moment the last word left his mouth, everyone was quiet again. "Now, although young and inexperienced, please treat our new member to the corps as your own. Make him feel welcomed. That's all for today."

With that, everyone filed out of the Hokage's office, leaving only Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai. Normally in these types of induction processes, it would require the 15 ninjas present to inform their colleagues and make sure word gets around about the new member, just in case the lack of recognition would lead to some misunderstood arrests, thinking the unidentified newbie was a spy pretending to be a Konoha shinobi.

Good thing that Kakashi's group of friends were famously revered amongst their cohort, so bringing the newbie around with them for a day or two should be enough for the majority to take note of him.

The boy, Naruto, gave a wave and a cheerful smile to the rest of the group remaining.

"Hello everyone! Nice to meet you all, dattebayo!" The boy shouted in greeting.

'Much like Kushina indeed.' Everyone thought.

"Yosh!" Guy cried out, "How youthful of an introduction you made, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto, blindfolded and all, seemed to have spotted Guy who was giving Naruto a thumbs up and a beaming smile.

"Oh! Thanks, Bushy Brows!"

Guy tripped on his feet and fell headfirst to the floor. Kakashi and his group snickered at the nickname.

'So he isn't blind afterall.'

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-