ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

The second exam!? p.4

Unknown to her at the moment, under multiple layers of mental shielding, Naruto was contemplating one important factor that he had failed to take into account: The Shinobi no Yami (Darkness of Shinobi) Shimura Danzō, head of the ROOT Foundation.

Naruto only heard only as much as what Sai, his ROOT teammate had told him, and from what little information he could dig up on the old crippled warhawk was anything but good; assassinations, espionage, sabotage, blacker than black operations, paramilitary, mental and emotional conditioning, etcetera ... and from what Tsunade had told him, Danzō was very power hungry. He had always wanted Kurama to be his ultimate weapon of destruction, so that he can achieve his dream of an unchallenged Konoha and take over the Elemental Nations with Danzō at the head. Luckily for Naruto, he was saved from that horrible fate thanks to the Sandaime of his time and Tsunade too when the Slug Sannin took the hat.

Naruto was evidently worried, as his arrival could jeopardize Hiruzen's position as the Hokage and allow Danzō to use Naruto's arrival as ammunition to usurp the old Kage. This factor was why he was currently overdriving his sensory skills and had multiple Kage Bunshin henged into discreet objects, animals or insects to keep an eye out for the war hawk's agents, which the clones would dispel after sighting ROOT agents and alert Naruto of their whereabouts.

He had already left a clone with Hiruzen to fill him in on what the course of action that should be taken in the event that Danzō questions the old man about Naruto's presence and apparent obscurity in which he had arrived. Naruto once again thanked his surrogate brother for reminding him of this important fact, or else he would've forgotten it altogether and it would come back and bite him in the ass.

Kurama chuckled. "You're welcome."

– Once again, you saved my ass Kurama. – He mentally thought back before being pulled from his thoughts by Naruko, who was nudging him.

Naruko frowned slightly. "What's wrong Onii-chan?"

Naruto smiled reassuringly as he squeezed her hand. "Nothing my cute little sister," he said, and they noticed that they were already in front of the Academy building. "Let's get back, shall we?"

He dramatically gestured towards the Academy entrance in a 'ladies first' gesture, making Naruko giggle as she entered, followed by Naruto.

As they entered the classroom, they were greeted by the sight of a brooding Uchiha sitting by the windowsill who was close to losing his cool while being continuously harassed by a pink-haired banshee. They both took notice of the Uzumaki's arrival and Sakura was the one who reacted first.

"You're late!" she shrieked, causing Naruto to wince at the volume and Naruko to shake her head in exasperation.

"Our sensei isn't even here yet, and it's been already two and half hours." Naruko said with a small frown.

Sakura huffed as she spoke again with her usual haughty attitude. "Well you should've arrived early, and who knows our sensei could come in at any moment?" Naruto sighed as he mentally facepalmed while Naruko's eyebrow twitched slightly. "We took our lunch and we're already back here in half an hour waiting, isn't that right Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura turned towards her crush, hoping to get a reaction out of the raven-haired Uchiha.

Sasuke just scoffed at the girl, visibly annoyed. "Tch. Whatever..." At his cold reply, Sakura became downcast as she took her seat beside him, trying to muster up her courage again to ask him out on a date once more. The Uzumakis made no reply as a mental conversation was underway.

– Why do I like her again when I was younger? – He mentally asked.

Kurama sighed in wry amusement. "Because you were, and still are, an idiot. You thought she was pretty and intelligent, and she gave you attention, even if said attention was giving you multiple concussions per day or punching you through a wall."

– Wait, what?! – A new voice sounded in their telepathic conversation, which Naruto recognized in slight dread that it was Naruko. – You had a crush on that fangirl!? And what was it that you did she gave you concussions? –

Uh oh. This is exactly the conversation he never wanted to have with her...

Naruto mentally sighed, resigned to come clean lest he made things even worse. – Well, I used to ask her out on dates, but she always rejected me, violently. – He unconsciously rubbed the back of his head, as if a bruise was still there. – She would punch me on my head or throw me through walls just because I didn't know any better... –

Naruko visibly tensed as she tried to control the white-hot rage boiling within her at Sakura. – How dare she!? She?! A fangirl, punching my Onii-chan!? Oh I am so going to –

– Hey, hey calm down! – Naruto hugged her shoulders as he guided Naruko towards one of the seats at the front row, setting her down to calm her fuming. – This isn't her remember? That was my Sakura, not this one; I didn't exist before yesterday, remember? –

Naruko blinked as she calmed down, scratching her cheek in embarrassment, which Naruto though it looked absolutely cute on her. – Sorry... –

Kurama snorted. "I on the other hand would've done much worse than what you were thinking vixen."

Naruko flushed in embarrassment as images from her imagination flowed through their bond, making Naruto raise an amused eyebrow. – Wow, Naruko-chan, I didn't know you had it in you! –

– Shut up. – Kurama however just laughed at her expense, much to her chagrin. – And shut up Kurama-nii! –

Kurama just laughed even louder.

The four of them waited for another half an hour, with Sakura continuing to bug Sasuke and said Uchiha was still brooding away and trying to tune out Sakura.

Naruto and Naruko meanwhile were meditating, which Naruto taught to the girl as he explained the importance of meditation and a clear and sharp mind. He told her that one can make decisions quicker and notice their surroundings better as they have no distractions in their thoughts, which Naruko thought to be advantageous, even if the meditation part was boring. Naruto even admitted that he hadn't taken up meditation until he was forced to when he was learning Senjutsu (Sage Arts), and in time it had become a hobby, then a habit which he still possessed till this day.

All four people were broken out of their musings when the door to the classroom opened, revealing a man with gravity-defying silver hair wearing a regular Jōnin garb with a blue mask that covered his face, and his hitai-ate was slanted to cover his left eye, giving him a scarecrow-like look as only his right eye was visible.

Naruto smiled warmly as he looked at his sensei. He was just as he remembered him to be, laid-back, aloof and his cool-hip attitude as one Maito Guy said. But then the smile turned devious, and Naruko immediately noticed it and braced herself for what's to come.

As soon as the man stepped into the room, a hidden seal appeared on the ceiling above him and it dumped a bucket loud of chalk powder onto the man, drenching him white from head to toe. The two other people in the class looked on in shock at the now white colored man, as he too was too stunned to move or even speak, and they wondered who had pulled a fast one on the Jōnin.

Naruto's face was a calm, neutral façade while mentally he was laughing along with Kurama and a giggling Naruko, who had been informed of the plan beforehand. True she disliked pranking others, but she felt the man deserved it for making them wait for three hours.