The Shopkeeper of Konoha

Shisui didn't hear Aoto properly when he first mentioned Kinshiki. But now that he had heard, he couldn't believe it. A lackey was already so powerful; what about the one he was the lackey of? No wonder Aoto was hell-bent on bringing people together. They really would need all the guns, and his slow approach was probably the best for the people living here.

"Aoto-san, what do you think we should do?" Shisui asked. Aoto went into thinking cap mode, and after a lot of thought, he did come up with a plan.

"You have another mission," Aoto said. Shisui straightened up when he said that. He had already considered Aoto as the de facto Hokage and the leader of the future alliance, and thus he was ready to take on any missions given to him.

"Your next mission would be to get close to a person and convince him to help you," Aoto said. Shisui, who was ready for a fighting mission, had a question mark above his head.

"Huh?!" Shisui was confused. Aoto didn't respond to that and called loudly.

"LOKI..."

There was no response, so Aoto called again.

"LOKI LAUFEYSON..."

That seemed to have worked as a quite handsome man appeared in the doorway behind. He looked pissed.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Then why did you come running down when I called you by that name?" Aoto asked. This made Loki's face scrunch up a bit as Aoto called his bluff.

"Fine. What do you want?" Loki asked.

"You wanted to see the world, and now I have a guide for you," Aoto said as he pointed to Shisui.

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Both of them were surprised by this statement. Shisui had already evaluated this man as a bit childish and having a huge ego, while Loki, looking at Shisui, could tell that he was an uptight guy, probably at the same league as Captain America. Shisui wanted to deny babysitting this man, but then he remembered that he had already accepted the mission and he couldn't back off.

In addition, he was also curious as to why a person who seemed to be a friend of Aoto needed his guidance. He didn't waste more time and bowed down at him and said,

"My name is Shisui Uchiha, and I will be your guide. Hope we can get along."

"Uchiha? I met your patriarch once before," Loki said casually. This piqued Shisui's interest, and thus he said,

"Then we have something to bond over. I would like to hear your story," Shisui said. This made Loki a bit happy, as Shisui seemed to be the first person who, even after having a hero complex, was pleasant with him.

He remembered the face of Roger and somehow put his face on Shisui and thought it was great. 

"We will leave after my student becomes a Chunin. I hope you're okay with that," Loki said.

"Absolutely. I'll be waiting for you outside Konoha since I can't be seen here with this face. I hope that's alright with you," Shisui replied.

"Yeah, I understand the situation. I'll find you," Loki affirmed.

"I will be—"

"No need. I will be able to find you wherever you are, even if you reach into the depths of the universe," Loki interrupted, then left. Those words left Shisui with a chill down his spine. He was sure Loki wasn't joking; it felt like he could really find him no matter where he was. After Loki left, Shisui couldn't help but ask Aoto.

"Aoto-san... Who is he?"

"A God turned God," Aoto replied with a smile.

"What does that mean?" Shisui was taken aback when Loki was referred to as a God. But a God turned God? What was going on?

"You'll have to find out," Aoto said.

Shisui had questions, but he didn't know how to get the answers. A god who roamed among them? Where did Aoto-san find him? Was he an Ōtsutsuki? But if he was, then why was Aoto-san friends with him? What the hell was going on?

A few more days passed, and finally, the Chunin exams were about to start. Both Naruto and Sasuke had learned to walk on water, with Sasuke winning this small rivalry, which annoyed Naruto for some reason.

But now it didn't matter, as their mettle would be evaluated in the upcoming exams, and Naruto was determined to excel. At one point, Aoto considered telling Naruto about the exams but then backed off because it would take away the purpose of the exams. Naruto needed to be tested.

"Brother, are you the invigilator today?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. They haven't asked me. All the invigilators are usually assigned just half an hour before, which is much later than your reporting time," Aoto said.

"I hope that you are the invigilator," Naruto muttered. Aoto had given him a new set of clothes for the exam, a slightly different shade of yellow, as Naruto always preferred yellow, and it suited him well.

Naruto left, and Aoto was almost sure he wouldn't be called because it was supposed to be Ibiki's responsibility. Maybe he would be called during the next phase. So, he opened the shop as usual.

Meanwhile, Shikuro was called. He was put under Ibiki to look for students who cheated. There were many students, so there were separate classrooms too. Shikuro was assigned to another classroom and instructed to catch shinobi who couldn't cheat well.

Yes, the exam was the same as in the original story, but this time the end result was a bit different. Naruto didn't bother talking to anyone except his own team. When Kabuto showed up and tried to help, he just ignored him and moved on. None of them were his friends except for his team now, and he was well aware of that. Loki and Aoto had drilled this into his brain.

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