Rewinding The Clock

Chapter 6

Disclaimer. I do not own anything from Naruto. I own the plot and if you want to build off my story please contact me first. Thank you. Enjoy!

________________________________________________________

"Alright old-man, what do we got?"

Hiruzen sighed as he watched the red-head pacing in front of him. Haruchi had woken up, had breakfast with Naruto, walked Naruto halfway to the Academy before heading to the tower. Right as he had said goodbye to Naruto, he noticed the weird box-shaped camouflage that proceeded to follow Naruto. Haruchi internally smiled as he remembered the morning's events. It seemed the relationship with Konohamaru wouldn't change. 

"Kit, focus."

Kurama was right, they were currently figuring out their next plan of action. 

"Ok Haruchi, you want to get closer to the other jounin and the Konoha rookie 12, right? I'm thinking of making you a temporary sensei for all the teams that helps out each team and goes with them when they have higher ranked missions. Of course you'll also have your own missions."

"I think this is good. This way we'll be able to also meet with the older generation and form some ties with them."

"Alright, sounds good with us."

"Great. Now I have already told the senseis that there might be another jounin helping out from time to time. They agreed with this and think its a good idea as that way we'll have a scope of the general level of the genin. I'm supposed to meet with then in a few minutes to introduce you."

"Ok. Then let's head there now."

The duo left the office and headed towards where the jounin senseis were supposed to be. Haruchi spread out his chakra as they approached the room. He immediately grinned, it seemed one copy-cat ninja was not there. Haruchi hadn't expected the jounin to show up on time so he was glad because he planned to mess with his future sensei a bit. It served him for being late all the time. 

They pushed open the doors to the room and Haruchi immediately found himself under the gaze of three jounin senseis. Gai was the first to move.

Spring forward, he grabbed Haruchi's hand and shook it very energetically. "Hello, friend! I'm Gai, Konoha's Green Beast. You must be the jounin who will help teach the power of youth to my wonderful students of Team 9. It's so nice to meet such a youthful young man!"

Haruchi, completely unperturbed, smiled and shook Gai's hand, "Hello, my name's Haruchi. It's nice to meet you Gai. Yes, I will be helping out in teaching our new genin teams."

Gai was a bit shocked that Haruchi didn't seem surprised at his antics. However he quickly brushed it off and smiled.

"Hello Haruchi, my name's Asuma and this is Kurenai. We're the senseis of Team 10 and Team 8. There's one more jounin, Kakashi, who should be here with us but is probably late." 

"Hello, nice to meet you both. I look forward to helping you out. Thanks for telling me about Kakashi, I'm sure I'll run into him eventually."

"Alright, now that you four have gotten acquainted, I do believe it is time to pick up your teams. Haruchi, feel free to meet with Kakashi's team as I'm sure he won't be there to pick them up for another three hours."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

Gai left to go train his youthful students and the other three left to meet the new genin. 

____________________________________

Iruka was watching the students' reactions to their teams. Naruto was obviously happy about being with Sakura but grumbled when he heard Sasuke's name. It seemed Naruto had remembered his and Haruchi's advice about allies and teamwork. Speaking of Haruchi, Iruka was surprised to see his name in a note next to the team list.

"Alright, now your senseis are going to be here any minute to pick you guys up, but I have a quick announcement to make."

The classroom slowly quieted.

"There will be one more jounin in addition to the three names I called out earlier. He will be switching between the genin teams helping your senseis. You will meet him soon."

Almost as if summoned, the door swung open and three jounin walked in. Haruchi was last to walk in and as soon as he saw him, Naruto jolted up. Haruchi winked at him before joining the others at the front of the room.

"Hello everyone! My name's Haruchi and I'll be your rotating sensei. It's nice to meet you. Now, your sensei's will call their teams and you will go with them."

"Team 10, you're with me."

"Team 8, follow me please."

Each respective teams followed their sensei out. Iruka had also left after a goodbye to Haruchi. The three genin regarded Haruchi curiously. 

"Alright Team 7. Your jounin will be late so for now you can come with me."

He turned and walked out the door. Naruto ran to catch up with him, and walked beside him chatting. The other two followed behind. Sakura was a bit shocked Naruto had ignored her and already knew their sensei. Sasuke had eyes narrowed at Haruchi's back, wondering how strong he was.

The four went to a restaurant and Haruchi ordered for all of them, saying each of their favorite dishes. Each of the genin enjoyed the food, slightly surprised that Haruchi had seemed to know what they liked, but they brushed it off. 

"Okay, let's do introductions. Naruto, why don't you start us off?"

"You got it! My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and I'm the person who will be the next hokage!"

Sakura followed suit shyly, blushing and glancing at Sasuke. "Okay. I'm Sakura Haruno. I like.. Um my dream is to become the prettiest ninja and be with the person I like."

"Sakura, I noticed you haven't been eating too much. Is this so you become pretty?" When Sakura nodded, Haruchi continued, "Well as a ninja you will work to burn off anything you don't need, and it's important to have a healthy meal. Plus, I'm sure whoever you like will not want to be with a weak ninja."

Sakura seemed to reflect on what he said before nodding, resolve shining in her eyes. Haruchi inwardly sighed in relief. Sakura would be stronger this time. Team 7 would be ready for anything. Haruchi turned his eyes to Sasuke.

"Hn. My name is Sasuke Uchiha. My ambition is to kill a certain someone."

Haruchi inwardly smirked. Seems Sasuke was exactly how he remembered. This time Haruchi would do everything to stop Team 7 from splitting up.

"Um Haruchi?"

Naruto and Sakura were a bit shocked to see Sasuke asking a question. Haruchi, however, already had a feeling of what the boy was going to ask. He nodded to the Uchiha for him to continue with his question.

"How strong are you?"

Haruchi smiled softly. Sasuke knew that Haruchi was strong, but just how strong, he wasn't sure. 

"Hm. How strong am I? Let's just say stronger than him."

Haruchi glanced at Sakura and Naruto while saying this, but kept his eyes mostly focused on Sasuke, who's own eyes were widened. Sakura and Naruto had wanted to ask who he was, but from both the glance they got sent and Sasuke's reaction, they decided against it. Meanwhile, Sasuke was in shock. Haruchi was stronger than Itachi? Sasuke knew first hand how strong and how much of a prodigy Itachi had been. What did it mean to be stronger than him? Wait, this meant that Haruchi could probably teach him to be strong enough to defeat his brother. With this conclusion, Sasuke decided to learn as much as he could from the jounin in front of him.

Haruchi smirked seeing the resolve in Sasuke's eyes. Hopefully now, the boy would have more incentive to stay in the village.

________________________________

The three soon-to-be-genin headed back to the academy to wait for their actual sensei and Haruchi headed off to the Hokage tower, curious as to what Kakashi would think of his slightly changed students.