Changing the River of Time

I'm Done With Exams

The most important death occurred in the very beginning. Merely a few days after the war started, one black Zetsu got caught up in Naruto's Rasenshuriken. Not before one of its experiments went live, though.

The one that caused the memory seal to be needed in the first place.

See, for a long time, Zetsu had been playing around with seals, clones, DNA, chakra, etc. And with those tests, it found out how to make basically a sleeper agent. Someone who felt and acted and thought they were someone else, and over time practically became that person. It was because of a little something concerning the target's chakra and transferring, and a whole bunch of other stuff Naruto didn't understand.

But what it did?

Naruto knew that all too well.

This was before they knew ways to counter things like this without having a sage present. Before memory seals, before finding Yuki was a sensor, before knowing their enemy could do something like this.

Two days after the war began, Sai was killed and replaced with a white zetsu clone. But not one any of them had fought before- a blank clone made to become Sai. Same memories, same chakra, same brain, same skills, same behavior. The switch was so flawless, no one noticed.

Not for several months, at least.

After a couple of months, the clone, when the Sai section was asleep, would go through the camps it was stationed in and replace more and more shinobi. It was slow going, as no one got more than an hour of sleep at a time and fighting took up more and more of the day, so it took much longer for anyone to realize what was happening than it should have.

It was only because Naruto accidentally slipped into Sage Mode that he noticed. And only barely. There was just more emotion within Sai than normal- which under other circumstances would have been news to celebrate. But Naruto's instincts said something wasn't right- so he confronted Sai. Asked how the other teen was doing, asked about his budding relationship with Choji.

When Sai expressed confusion over Choji, Naruto knew something was wrong. So they brought Ino over to check it out.

That revealed everything, and Sai- or the clone of him- was killed with a smile on his face.

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Everyone who's anyone knew when and where the physical portion of Aki's exams were; the red-head being the target of many a rumor despite only being in the village for about 24 hours. The rumor mill was ablaze with tales of a charming red-headed man reminiscent of the late Kushina, with smiles that rivaled the sun. Some said he charmed the Hokage to remain in Konoha, some said he came out of nowhere and just popped into existence. Some said he was a science experiment let loose, and some said he was pretending to be an Uzumaki to get to Naruto. Some said his eyes would take your soul if you stared too long- some, your heart. But all agreed he was strong- strong enough for Hiruzen to want him in the village.

The man had taken the written and tactical portions in the morning, carefully monitoring himself to ensure he wouldn't give too much away. After passing those, he went through an interview and mental screening, a medical exam, and a few more tests to see where he was with weapons. Finally, at 4 p.m. in the arena, the stands were filled with shinobi, councilmen, and a few Academy students. One such student was Naruto Uzumaki with a few others. Namely, the clan children and the rest of the future Team 7.

The children didn't believe him about his cousin, either scoffing or ignoring the blond. They were all used to Naruto's pranks and assumed this was one of them. Wrongly, yes, but so went the story of the boy who cried wolf. Or the boy who cried for any kind of attention on all but one day of the year. (Though that story was for another day.)