Naruto: The New Sealmaster

After a nice meal, where he met Tenten' father Tenchi again, he walked back home. Most evenings this was a rather calm affair. One part of konoha was very active during the night and evening but most was deathly quiet. He could hear a couple of people working on something in the distance, but overall it was quiet and calming. Sadly, something would ruin it all.

"Brother!" Now that was a voice Aoshi hadn't heard in a very long time. Looking around he saw three genin about his age wearing a kusagakure headband. 

One was a tall black-haired guy who covered his entire face with a very bland mask whose only features were eye holes and fangs around the mouth. The other was a short and rather round guy who looked to be even more arrogant than most Inuzuka, judging from the sneer he sent Aoshi's way. The third one was confusing. She was seemingly forced to walk with them. She didn't look up, she didn't seem to know or care about anything really. She just looked towards the ground trying to just stay awake and on her feet. The girl had striking red hair flowing down her face. It covered up most of it but Aoshi thought he saw a rather cute little nose underneath.

"Remember me?" And that took him out of his stupor to look at their leader. The guy was lean and tall. He had a very sharp face with thin eyebrows over violet eyes. His voluminous green hair would have given his identity away to most. This was Aoshi's brother Aoi. The traitor had actually dared to come back to the village.

Rage came boiling through Aoshi's body. The guy in front of him had become a traitor of the village, but the part he was most pissed about was that Aoi turned their father against him and then left. He was one of the main reasons why Aoshi had such a rough childhood, at least according to Aoshi. "Of course I remember you. Are you sure you want to be back in this village? Aren't you going to get caught?"

The tone of his voice was furious even though Aoshi tried to hold it in. It's not like he was powerful enough to take down his older brother, so if he needed to be captured it had to be someone else who did it. Aoi just laughed at his brother's antics.

"Always such a joker, little brother, but I got a temporary pardon for this exam." He waved what Aoshi now realised was his genin team away and soon they were alone. "I figured we should have a talk. Preferably away from the anbu who are currently watching us."

Aoshi sighed. He knew what was coming. His brother had loved the thought of teleportation but never got it down, of course. He did become rather good at making a quick escape though. He used to practise it a lot when Aoshi was young by carrying him as well to see if he could take a client away from a fight.

A second later, Aoshi was under his brother's arm while he jumped from tree to building to tree and soon they were somewhere by the Nara compound when Aoi stopped. Aoshi decided to ask the first question. "What's up with you being a Kusa jounin? I thought you defected to Ame?"

Aoi looked at him with a wide grin, a manic grin Aoshi knew he inherited from his father. "Elementary, little brother. I bargained for it of course. Two fine hostages for refuge, an easy deal to make." Aoshi clicked his tongue, for Kusa to suddenly give him a jounin position he must have given some rare hostages. That most likely meant females with bloodlines according to what he knew about Kusa.

"But never mind that." he waved it off like it was nothing and took on a serious look. "I saw your entry in the bingo book, you've improved." Aoshi raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Well done. But that should mean that you probably realised how duty bound you are here at Konoha, and also that you recognise just how stacked the odds are against you here."

Aoshi could now tell what his brother's agenda was. He started glaring at him before he even uttered the next few words. "Why don't you join me at Kusa? I'm sure we'll be able to get you all sorts of benefits." Without a second thought, Aoshi responded. "I'm no traitor like you. I want to keep hold of our legacy and make it what it once was."

Aoi grabbed his little brother's shoulders. "That's what I'm doing!" Aoshi huffed. "It is. I was given clan status as Kusa, I have a wife and a newborn kid over there. Our legacy will live on and become great over there. I would have asked dad to join but he wouldn't be of any use." Aoi waved their dad off as if he was nothing.

Aoshi struggled his way out of his brother's grip. "I'm doing just fine here, thanks." Aoi smirked. "No you're not. You're a genin without a sensei. Even though you finished third in your class, you didn't get any benefits as far as I can tell. Considering the rumours I've heard about dad, you shouldn't be doing very well financially either. You're just in this exam to fill up the numbers."

This brought forth his anger. He had struggled every day since he was left alone to sort out his troubles. His brother left him, his mother died and his father should have died long ago. Aoshi was on the verge of breaking until he heard the next line. "I can get you tutors so you can actually become a chunin eventually. How about it? You know you can't do this on your own."

Aoi had reached out a hand but Aoshi slapped it away in anger. "I can do it just fine on my own, thank you very much. Dad hasn't contributed a single bit of money since mum died, if I couldn't take care of myself by now I wouldn't be standing here." Aoi smirked but Aoshi continued, "As for training, I'm doing well. You'll see. I'm going to win this exam, not just become a chuunin, but I'm going to beat all the rest. THAT'S how I'll make a statement for MY legacy. Not by becoming a traitor who goes into slave-trading."

At that statement, Aoshi knew his brother would rage. The guy had inherited lunacy from their father. If he didn't leave right away and get into the scope of anbu, he would be in trouble. So Aoshi did what he could do, he used his new jutsu and propelled himself far up in the air as he saw his brother's face turn red out of fury.

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT, LITTLE BROTHER! YOU'LL SEE!" was all Aoshi heard as he shot himself out of there towards the hokage's office. A few seconds later he landed right outside with a loud bang.

A couple of guards came out to see what made the noise, all of them were ready to fight. Since the chunin exam was in town, they had to be ready for anything.

When the guards came close they saw that it was a konoha ninja. "Tell the Hokage that Rokushō Aoshi had to see him as soon as possible." Aoshi said this with such authority that two of the guards instantly went away to do as asked without questioning. Aoshi himself breathed rather heavily but started walking towards the stairs leading up to the office.

Nobody stopped him and when he reached the top, the door to the office was already open and the secretary was waving him into the room.

"Aoshi-Kun. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Aoshi met the Hokage's eyes with a heavy glare. "Mind telling me why my brother is in town without anyone telling me beforehand?"

Hiruzen sighed. "We didn't have much choice in the matter and didn't consider telling you. Your father knows though."

Aoshi clicked his tongue "Tch. You should know that my father is a useless drunk and I haven't spoken with him in years." Before the Hokage could answer, Aoshi went on.

"As soon as Aoi saw me, he grabbed me and ran away from the anbu. He tried to recruit me without any hesitation at all. He had somehow gotten quite a bit of info on me, but not anything about my power level."

The look on Hiruzen's face steeled. He didn't like the thought of a traitor walking among the more than anyone else, but he didn't have much choice. Kusa sent Aoi after all. As part of a peaceful competition they couldn't stir up trouble. "I'll see what I can do. But you must know that the anbu is spread very thin right now."

Aoshi bowed to the Hokage to shoe that despite what he might have shown so far, he had a lot of respect for the leader of Konoha. "I'm aware. What if I join someone you've already got a team with?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.

"I know Naruto, well not as a friend per se, but I know the guy. If I hang out with him for this last week we'd both be safe right?"

That brought a smile to Hiruzen's face. "What a lovely idea! Yes, that would probably work. I'll call in Kakashi in the morning, you can sleep in my guest room for the night." Aoshi nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen smiled at him at first, but slowly fell into a serious look. "I'm sorry you had to be alone with the man. We'll make sure you're never in that position again, at least nowhere near our village. Now come on, I finished for the day about two hours ago."

And so, Aoshi slept in the Hokage's tower for the night.

---

"And so you see, Kakashi, he'll need to be with Naruto until the exams. I'm guessing you won't have any problems with that?"

Kakashi looked down at Aoshi who stood next to him with an eye smile. "Not at all, let's have a chat before we introduce you to my team."

Aoshi nodded and left with his old sensei. "I heard you were banned from training this last week?" At those words from Kakashi, Aoshi remembered that he was supposed to train with Tenten.

"Yes, but I have been helping a friend. You mind if I go tell her I can't do that for the next week?" Kakashi shook his head as they changed direction. "Not at all. So how are things? I understand that people believe you're very ready for the upcoming exams?"

Aoshi nodded. "I feel ready. Though I don't quite feel ready to handle my brother. I'd prefer to leave that to a later date.."

Kakashi sighed. "Fully understandable. I still don't understand why we gave him a temporary pardon. He's a traitor at heart, his recent actions show that that hasn't changed either." Aoshi chuckled "I suppose so. The guy is mental, I could have told you that. But anyway. What kind of missions do you do with your squad these days? How are things working out?"

"Well.."

And Kakashi filled him in on how things were going. When he was almost done, they reached a Tenten who was furious for having to wait. Her anger subsided quickly when he told her why though. She understood.

"Then I'll see you at the exam. Good luck Ao-kun." And she hugged him. The days they spent together were wonderful for both parties after all. Aoshi wrapped his arms around her in a tight hold. "You too. I hope to see your fire burn in the latter stages of the exam."

She nodded and Aoshi walked away with Kakashi who finished explaining Sasuke's darkness returning and Naruto's intense jealousy and their rivalry.

Soon they were sitting in the dango shop eating a snack. "It sounds to me like you should focus on what you can easily help with. Sakura needs her own style. Ever thought of sending her to auntie Kurenai?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "That's a nice thought. It's easy to forget her in the midst of everything else honestly. You're probably right. I'll sort that out after the exams.."

Aoshi raised an eyebrow. "You're going to register them?" Kakashi nodded as he finished his stick of dango. "They're good enough to learn what the exam has to teach, without dying. I think this will serve as an excellent training session if nothing else."

Aoshi sighed and finished his Dango as well. "I suppose you're right. They are in Konoha, and most Konoha teams won't hurt them after all." "Exactly."

And they continued catching up for the next two hours before finally deciding to go to where Team 7 was supposed to meet 3 hours ago.