Naruto: The New Sealmaster

Sarutobi Hiruzen was doing his stupid paperwork. All this stupid paperwork. He could never understand where it all came from, or why he was punished with them. It was never even his dream to be hokage but now he had spent the majority of his life on the Post.

He drifted away on thoughts of his youth, and his lost wife, for so long that there was no wonder paperwork was stacking up. After a while there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

It was his new secretary. The old one had just quit after Naruto's last little prank on her. "Hokage-sama. Hatake Kakashi wishes to speak with you urgently, he has two others with him."

Ahh, Kakashi. He wondered how quickly he had dismissed his genin team this time. Though it was rather late actually so perhaps he actually gave them a chance this year. "Let them in."

He saw Kakashi, Kurenai and..Danzo's grandson? What could have happened for him to only show up with one of his new genin? And one of the other genin's aunts? "Ah, Kakashi, Kurenai and little Tetsuo." He greeted them all individually and received bows back. "What appears to be the issue, Kakashi?"

Before Kakashi could open his mouth there was another knock on the door and in stepped Danzo himself. "Hiruzen. I've been told you're interrogating my grandson without me present, may I also be in the room for this?"

He didn't really give Hiruzen a choice since he, without even sparing a glance at his grandson, walked over to his side behind the hokage's desk where the elders often stood. "Of course, but I don't know if it is an interrogation yet. Kakashi, enlighten me."

Kakashi nodded and started his tale. He told them the start of the story, about how he was testing his new genin team and how he had given up on Tetsuo in particular. "So I wished to remove him from my sight temporarily by using a rather basic jutsu I knew he'd see coming from a mile away. I had studied the boy's file; he could easily escape the great fireball jutsu."

Both Hiruzen and Danzo nodded, as it was normal to use techniques you knew they'd survive when testing their capabilities. Tetsuo even looked a bit proud because his sensei knew he was capable of overcoming the jutsu.

"But the boy didn't overcome it as I assumed he would. Instead of substituting with one of the logs, he substituted with one of his teammates."

Silence. Not a word or a sound was exchanged in the room, but all eyes were on Tetsuo. The boy was confused, he didn't think he did anything that bad so he raised his hands and shrugged in a 'So what?' Kind of motion.

"The boy he substituted with was therefore stuck at the centre of the fireball" Hiruzen knew where this was going and sighed heavily with a sad look in his eyes. "He's currently at the hospital with treated third degree burns on several locations on his body."

"I had to finish the evaluation quickly so I sent a water wave towards the third member of their team. I had already evaluated her unofficially, but this was needed in paper. The problem was that the boy sealed away his pain receptors and came to the girl's defence. Because of this he expended every last bit of his chakra and is in a coma for chakra exhaustion. His body won't heal very fast because of it."

It was at this point Tetsuo jumped in, thinking he got a lifeline. "So? It's not my fault he ran out of chakra. I wanted to do what was most important for the mission and let him take the hit instead of me. I was way more likely to succeed in taking one of your bells anyway.."

At that statement, Kurenai lifted the boy up from his collar as murderous intent washed over the room until Danzo spoke up. "Let my grandson down, right now."

She begrudgingly did so, and her anger only grew worse when she saw the disgusting little filth smirk at her. Kakashi now said what he wished would be the outcome.

"Because of this treachery, I believe we should ban him from ever becoming a ninja." Before Hiruzen could interject, he added. "I wouldn't want someone who gladly sacrificed anyone for their own enjoyment watching my back on the battlefield."

Hiruzen sighed. He looked over at his former comrade Danzo while he was making his decision. He never liked punishments, but Kakashi has a point. They had to cut off people with this kind of behaviour. The only problem was that this wasn't some child with normal citizens as parents, he could probably learn the ninja arts at home even if they banned it.

Danzo spoke up. "How about this instead. You let me take him on and train him to be a loyal shinobi, you won't see his face until I deem him worthy of becoming Chuunin."

This suggestion surprised most and brought silence to the room. Tetsuo seemed thrilled at the chance of getting trained by his grandpa, but Kakashi and Hiruzen knew what kind of training Danzo put kids through. Kurenai, however, didn't.

She was about to reject the suggestion until Kakashi stopped her and gave her a look that told her they'd discuss it later. He looked towards the two oldest in the room and nodded. "Of course Danzo-sama. I trust you'll make a proper shinobi out of him."

That ended the discussions. Kakashi and Kurenai gave their hokage a bow and left the room. "Why did you let him get off without punishments!?"

Kakashi gave her a grave look. "That boy will regret his actions soon. Danzo doesn't just train people, he puts them into mind breaking situations to form their minds as he wishes. The brat will be brainwashed to obediently serve within a year or two."

Kurenai nodded in understanding. It was a terrible fate to lose your own independent thoughts, but she was glad that brat in particular faced that fate. "Let's get back to Aoshi so you can tell the remaining graduates their fate. You still haven't officially failed any of the two."

Kakashi nodded and they went back to the hospital.

In there the mood was still gloomy but the staff had brought in a table so they sat around it to eat their meals. Kakashi and Kurenai came into the room and two seats had been prepared with a bit of onigiri in front of them. They took their seats.

Akiho was the first one to ask. "What happened to Tetsuo?" Kakashi responded after having finished one rice ball, while mysteriously not lifting his mask.

"I'm afraid you don't have the rank to receive that kind of classified information, but I can assure you. You won't see him for a year or two, and he will face his punishments." They all nodded and resumed their eating.

Eventually Akiho spoke up again. "I failed your test, didn't I?" 

Kakashi nodded solemnly. "You did. But have you figured it out?"

She gave him a slow nod and spoke with a bit of hesitation. "It's about teamwork, isn't it?" When Kakashi didn't react, she kept on explaining. "There were only two bells but you can't just have a two genin squad, so it was a test to see if we'd still work together." She looked down in shame. "It's not like we stood a chance against you on our own either, we should have figured it out."

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed. You failed my test but I recommend you try again in half a year." She looked up at him surprised. "Your class B will graduate in half a year and if you study at the genin portion of the library I'm sure you'll manage to graduate then." A small smile crept onto her face.

She knew how utterly useless she had been. She couldn't protect herself against any attacks, and any plan she made in her head disappeared as soon as Kakashi popped up behind her in those woods. But he believed she could do it.

It was now Tenten's turn to ask. "What about Ao-kun? He clearly understood what it was all about, at the very least instinctively." All eyes were on Kakashi but he sighed.

"The boy was intriguing. His tactics were good enough, his techniques were clever enough, and he embraced the motto I believe in most of all. 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.'."

He let those words sink in. "He didn't care about the bells in the end. He tried to save both you and Tetsuo and even after he was betrayed he spent the last of his energy on saving you." Kakashi looked at the boy who was in a coma. "If I was allowed to I'd take him on as an apprentice...but.."

Kurenai sighed "But as one of our strongest candidates for future Hokage you must take a team." The statement shocked most around the table but Kakashi nodded.

"What will happen to Ao-kun then?" It was a worried Tenten who asked. "I have a plan, but I'll have to discuss it with both him and the hokage once he wakes up." Everyone looked at him questioningly and he elaborated.

"I intend on giving him access to the most of the chunin part of the library and let him work as a stand-in on genin teams who, for whatever reason, could use an extra member for a mission. I intend to give him some advice here and there, and ask your sensei for a favour as well." Kakashi looked downtrodden at the last bit which was directed at Tenten.

"Guy-sensei? You two know each other then?" It was Kurenai who answered with a smile, her little nephew would graduate so she was rather happy. "He and Kakashi are eternal rivals. They've fought countless times in meaningless bouts, I'm pretty sure they're currently tied."

Kakashi sighed "I'm ahead by one. But never mind that, I must ask him to help train Aoshi's body up a little. It'll never be great but he needs more chakra if he wants to ever step up through the ranks."

They all agreed on that.

Having finished eating, Tenten went over to his side again. She whispered to him, even though she knew he couldn't hear. "Did you hear that? You're going to get access to a whole load of fuinjutsu scrolls! Maybe even a couple of those your father sold. I'm so happy for you.."

She laid down her head next to him on his hospital bed. Kakashi figured this was his time to leave. "I'll talk to Guy about you staying here Tenten. And Kurenai.." He turned to the woman "Let me know when he wakes up, I must confirm with him that this would be something he wants before we go to the Hokage." She nodded and Kakashi was off.