Second Chances

Chapter 34

"Lord third, the shinobi from the Land of Flowers and the Land of Waves are here." said Shikaku. The third Hoekage who was finalising the arrangements for the chunin exams looked up from his work and stared at Shikaku in bewilderment.

"Are you certain?" asked the third Hoekage to which Shikaku nodded. "Well then let's go greet them. It'd be rude to keep them waiting." said the third Hoekage as he got out of his chair. "Actually, they are in the lobby. We didn't think it'd be a good idea to keep them waiting by the gates." said Shikaku as he opened the door for the Hoekage. "Oh? Why is that?" asked the Hoekage. "I don't know how to put this...I think it's better you see for yourself." said Shikaku much to the Hoekage's confusion.

When the third Hoekage and Shikaku got to the lobby they were greeted by silence. The usually bustling lobby was quiet to a point where you could hear a pin drop. This greatly confused the third Hoekage because there was no such thing as 'quiet' in the Hidden Leaf let alone the Hoekage's office. The third Hoekage looked around the lobby only to find everyone from citizen to shinobi even anbu completely quiet as if they were in a daze. "Well this is strange." whispered Shikaku.

As the Hoekage continued looking around, his gaze landed on a man with long, pale-blue hair that reached his back and dark green eyes. He exuded a calm and welcoming aura. 'Omega?' thought the third Hoekage with furrowed brows. 'No, it can't be.' thought the third Hoekage as looked at the man.

The man was tall and broad shouldered which was usually associated with Alphas. The Hoekage unconsciously started scenting the air in hopes of getting a whiff the man's scent but all he got was the artificial scent of scent blockers. It didn't take long for the Hoekage to realise that this man was the cause of the silence.

"Grandpa, why is everyone staring at you?" asked Ai breaking the silence in the lobby. Ai's question seemed to break everyone out of their stupor. "Oh! Please forgive us. It's not every day we come across an omega as beautiful as your grandpa." said a shinobi as he approached Dan.

Before the shinobi could reach Dan, Botan, Bunko, Chiasa and Chieko appeared in front of him with kunai in hand. The shinobi had two kunai placed directly on his jugular, two more kunai near his heart, two near his spine and two more near his lungs.

This made the other shinobi in the lobby react. Pretty soon all the shinobi in the lobby had their weapons aimed at the visitors from the Land of Waves and the Land of Flowers. The twenty-four genin created a protective circle around their leaders. 'How troublesome.' thought Shikaku as he sighed. "Let's just kill them all." said Akihiko. "Yeah, a shinobi who'd raise their weapon at an ally doesn't deserve to live." said Akihiro. "We can't. It's not every day the Land of Flowers and the Land of Waves are invited to take part in the chunin exams " said Ai. "Yes, killing them will ruin the chances of us being invited again." said Aiko.

"Stand down." said Dan to which only the quads responded much to Dan's annoyance. When everyone excluding the quads didn't listen to his order Dan gave an annoyed sigh. Hearing their grandpa sigh the quads disappeared and hid behind the Hoekage's back. The surprised and somewhat confused Hoekage stared at the four children hiding behind him. "Don't mind us. We're just going to hide behind you for a while. Grandpa is less likely to attack you since you are the leader of this village." said Ai. After hearing this the third Hoekage turned his gaze back to Dan.

"Stand down." said Dan causing everyone in the lobby to tense up. Upon hearing the change in Dan's voice all shinobi from the Land of Flowers and the Land of Waves immediately put down their weapons. Dan turned his gaze to the third Hoekage. "You must be the leader of this village. My name is Dan Katō. I am the leader of the Land of Flowers. I apologise for the inconvenience we caused. I didn't realise that wearing scent blockers was against the laws of your village." said as he bowed.

Upon realising what Dan was doing the third Hoekage cleared his throat and spoke "No, no, I should be the one apologising to you. You are our esteemed guests and you should be treated as such." said the third Hoekage as he bowed as well. Seeing their Hoekage bow the shinobi put down their weapons and bowed as well. "I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hoekage of the Hidden Leaf Village. It's an honour to have you here." said the Hoekage.

"The honour is all ours." said Dan with a smile. "Good, now that you've exchanged pleasantries we have some important matters to discuss preferably not in the lobby." said Shikaku when he noticed the effect Dan's smile had on the shinobi in the lobby. "Ah yes." agreed the third Hoekage as he made his way to his office. Dan took this as an invitation and followed after him with everyone from their party.

Once everyone was in the Hoekage's office Shikaku sighed in relief. "Lord Dan, I am Shikaku Nara the third Hoekage's Chief Aide. I apologise for our shinobi's behaviour..."

"No, no, as I said we were the ones a fault. I didn't realise that scent blockers were prohibited in your village." said Dan with a smile. "Um...that's not..."

Seeing Shikaku's struggle the third Hoekage spoke "What Shikaku is trying to say is that scent blockers are not prohibited but it is very rare to find an alpha using them unless on a stealth mission. The shinobi probably mistook you for a rogue shinobi. They have been known to try to sneak into the village from time to time however, that is no excuse." said the third Hoekage.

"I completely understand." said Dan with a smile. Dan's smile although beautiful it greatly unnerved the Hoekage and his aide. 'This is one strange alpha.' thought Shikaku.