Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Imouto Trilogy :: Hatake :: Even After All These Years ❯ Chapter 4: The Hokage ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: Back again! You'll notice that I've been updating everyday. This is because I have this story up on FF.net up until chapter 7. Once I get up to chapter 7 on here as well, I'll be updating once a week.

 

Sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it's kind of a transitional chapter. Also sorry if the chapter confuses you a bit since Kyomi's thoughts on her decision (which you'll find out about in a moment) kind of go back and forth between liking what she did and dreading it. Well, enjoy the chapter and please read, review, and enjoy! Ja ne!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

 

Claimer: I do own Kyomi and the story plot.

 

(1) - Aniki means older brother.

(2) - Jinchuuriki means host, though literally it is "power of human sacrifice". Jinchuuriki are the human containers for Biju, the tailed demons.

 

Thanks to my beta reader, BattleStations!

 

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Even After All These Years

 

Chapter 4

The Hokage

 

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"Yes, Hatake-san?" the Godaime Hokage asked as Kyomi stood before her.

 

All of Kyomi's muscles were tense as she forcefully stopped herself from fidgeting. What in Kami's name made her come do this? This had to be the worst idea that she'd ever had. Kyomi knew that she used to be prone to impulsive decisions, but she though she'd squashed that long ago when she was first promoted to Jounin, and even more so when she was accepted into the ANBU corps. It seemed that that was not the case however as this was most certainly the most hair-brained, bull-headed idea she'd ever come up with.

 

Well, it was too late to turn back now. She might as well continue with the madness.

 

"Hokage-sama," Kyomi greeted with a deep bow. "I..." She faltered for a moment. The Godaime raised an eyebrow at this. ANBU, and Kyomi in particular, were not known for being hesitant. Under the Godaime's inquisitive gaze Kyomi straightened her back--and her resolve--and continued.

 

"I want to-- to take on an apprentice."

 

Kyomi winced slightly. Had that last part come out in a slight rush? The silver haired kunoichi suddenly wished that she had her mask with her. It would have been at least something to protect her from the Hokage's suddenly deadpanned stare.

 

"An...apprentice...?" the Godaime Hokage slowly repeated. Kyomi nodded tersely, sensing the Godaime's surprise and not liking it. Now she really wished she had just turned back. Damn her stupid impulsiveness! It was supposed to be gone! This was exactly what had gotten her into so much trouble when she was younger.

 

Kyomi kept a blank face up while the Godaime began to ponder her request. There were a few minutes of silence in the medium-sized office before the Godaime suddenly looked back up at the ANBU standing before her.

 

"Is there a particular person that you have in mind?" the blonde Hokage questioned.

 

"...Yes, Hokage-sama," Kyomi replied. "There is a Genin I have met who has caught my interest. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

 

The Godaime immediately chocked when she heard the name, her eyes going wide. "Naruto-kun!" she gasped. "You want to take Naruto-kun as your apprentice?!"

 

"...Yes..." Kyomi said, blinking in surprise. The Godaime Hokage knew Naruto? That was surprising--and rare. Why would a Hokage know a mere Genin?

 

The Godaime's mouth continued to flap open and closed for a few seconds, her expression completely shocked. Just as abruptly as her shock had come however, it passed and her eyes suddenly narrowed.

 

"Why?" the Godaime bit out tightly.

 

Kyomi blinked again, surprised once more. "Erm, I met Naruto-kun this morning at a ramen stand. We got to talking and he eventually took me to meet his sensei, who in fact turned out to be my aniki(1), Kakashi-kun. Kakashi-kun was unable to train Naruto-kun that day because he was going to be working with Uchiha Sasuke and so he asked me to train Naruto-kun for a while. I did so and...well..." Kyomi fumbled with her words for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Quite honestly, Hokage-sama, he...he reminds me of myself...when I was younger..."

 

This time it was the Hokage's turn to blink in surprise. She sank back into her chair--she had been leaning forward over her desk before--relaxing slightly. "I...can understand that," she said. "I suppose then that you have no qualms against who he is...what he is..."

 

"...Huh?" Kyomi said intelligently.

 

The Godaime stared at her. "You know, about him being a Jinchuuriki(2)?" Kyomi continued to stare. The Godaime did as well. "You..." the Godaime Hokage continued slowly. "...You don't know?"

 

"Erm, I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I'm not quite following."

 

The Godaime continued to stare for a moment, her face blank, causing Kyomi to shift uncomfortably under her stare. Finally the Hokage sighed again.

 

"You know about the attack on Konoha by the Kyuubi no Kitsune, correct?" she asked.

 

"...Yes. My Genin team was deployed on the back lines."

 

The Hokage started for a moment and then relaxed again. "That's right; you were already a Genin at that time, weren't you? Well, anyway, I'm sure that you also know how the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed into a newborn by the Yondaime Hokage."

 

Kyomi nodded in affirmation. "Yes," she said. "As I was already a kunoichi I was included in the law made by the Sandaime Hokage banning everyone from speaking of the sealing." Kyomi paused for a moment. "But what does that have to do with Naru-" Kyomi suddenly froze, calculations of Naruto's age flying through her mind. She gasped, "Wait! Naruto is...!"

 

The Godaime Hokage watched Kyomi over folded hands, waiting to see her reaction. She had to wonder if Kyomi's view would change on Naruto after this revelation. Would she hate him like the rest of the villagers? Or would she, like her brother, see him for who he really was? The Godaime was also quite surprised that she hadn't known who Naruto was right away. It probably couldn't be helped though; she was out of the village on missions most of the time so she had probably completely forgotten whom the Kyuubi no Kitsune had been sealed in.

 

"...Well, that's interesting..." Kyomi suddenly said, breaking the Godaime out of her thoughts. Kyomi looked up and met the Godaime's honey brown eyes and a small smirk slid across her face. "And it explains a lot. He also must be pretty emotionally strong, then. It adds to his potential."

 

The Godaime had to stop a sigh of relief from escaping her. She returned the silver haired ANBU's smirk. "Yes, it does. Did you know that he was able to master Rasengan in a week?"

 

Kyomi's composed stance fell apart in a second as she openly gaped at the Hokage. "He knows the Yondaime's Rasengan!" The Godaime just continued to smirk. "And he learnt it in a week?! It took the Yondaime Hokage years to master it!"

 

"Mm-hmm," the Godaime agreed, still grinning. "The brat was able to get Jiraiya to teach him. He also got the toad summoning contract from him."

 

Kyomi continued to gape. This was certainly a new development. Naruto was a lot more powerful than she had originally thought. And yet Kakashi still wasn't teaching him very much...? Kyomi was going to have to have words with Kakashi when she got home. At least Naruto did have Jiraiya to teach him though...

 

'Jiraiya-sama must be the Ero-sennin that Naruto spoke of before,' Kyomi thought amusedly. 'While a bit rude, I must say that it certainly fits...'

 

"...Well," the Godaime began. "I must say that I think that you'd be a great teacher for Naruto-kun, especially with your unbiased view on him. The only problem is with your status as an ANBU. You're on missions most of the time so I'm worried about the amount of time you'll have to actually teach Naruto."

 

Kyomi hesitated. "I...I'm willing to take fewer missions..." She honestly wasn't sure about whether our not she'd physically be able to stay in the village for longer amounts of time. Kyomi wasn't sure she'd be able to take the memories it might stir up.

 

'But then, I can't just keep running away, can I?' Kyomi suddenly thought. 'It's been years now. If I can't get over what happened then I'm no better than how Kakashi-kun is with Obito's death.'

 

The Godaime Hokage nodded. "That sounds good. I'll put you on minimum duty as soon as your off time is over." The Godaime smiled up at the younger kunoichi. "Congratulations, Hatake-san, on getting your first apprentice."

 

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As Kyomi walked down the streets of Konohagakure no Sato she couldn't help but grin. While she still wasn't quite sure why in Hell she'd decided to take Naruto as her apprentice, she was somehow...happy...with the decision. While Kyomi had certainly never been as loud as the blonde, Naruto still did remind her quite a bit of herself when she was younger. If only Naruto was a known prankster, then it'd be even better. Oh the things they could do to Kakashi together...

 

Kyomi had to stop herself from cackling out loud.

 

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On a whim, Kyomi decided to go back to where she had last seen Naruto to see if he was still there. She highly doubted that he was though, as it had been nearly two hours since she had left, and he would easily have been out of chakra an hour ago. As she neared the training ground however, Kyomi saw that this was not the case at all.

 

The blonde Genin was laying spread eagle on the grass, his chest heaving from exertion. Kyomi was honestly surprised that he hadn't already passed out.

 

"Yo," Kyomi said, abruptly appearing over Naruto. The said shinobi let out an undignified squawk, quickly jumping to his feet. As he slowed his racing heart, Naruto glared at the laughing kunoichi.

 

"That wasn't funny," Naruto muttered half-heartedly.

 

Kyomi grinned, "Sure it was!" She paused for a moment, her face going serious. Naruto stared at her, confused at the sudden mood swing. Kyomi then began walking towards the nearby little red bridge, wordlessly jerking her head for Naruto to follow her.

 

Once the two were half way over the bridge, Kyomi turned and leaned against the railing, staring at the water below. Naruto stood in the middle of the bridge, still completely confused. The two stood in silence for a few minutes--something that made Naruto begin to fidget--before Kyomi finally spoke.

 

"...Hey, kid," she said, her voice slightly rough. "How would you..." She trailed off, paused for another few seconds, and then finally turned around to face Naruto, her back resting against the bridge's railing. "...Would you like to...become my apprentice?"

 

Naruto froze up and stared at Kyomi, completely shell-shocked. He stayed that way for several minutes, unmoving, unblinking.

 

"Erm, kid...?" Kyomi said, suddenly very nervous. What was with his reaction? Was he going to refuse? That seemed to finally snap him out of whatever trance he was in.

 

"W-why?" Naruto stuttered. "Why do you want me to be your apprentice? You're an ANBU! Why wouldn't you choose Sasuke?"

 

Kyomi winced slightly, especially when she heard the bitterness that tinged his voice with his last sentence. Quickly however, she put her smirk back up. "Why?" she repeated. "Because, despite the way others always look to the Uchiha, I can see that you've got potential. And a hell of a lot of it too. Any other person--including Sasuke--would have passed out from the chakra control exercise you've been doing, especially for the amount of time you've been working it. Despite this little detail however, you're still standing in front of me right now, looking only slightly fatigued. Now tell me, could Sasuke do that, hmm?"

 

Naruto stared at her for another minute, his mouth hanging open, before he was finally able to gather his wits. "T-thank you," he stuttered. "I..." He bowed down deeply. "I'll gladly accept your offer."

 

Kyomi rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, a bit uncomfortable. "Uh, great!"

 

Naruto grinned up at the older kunoichi--who was now his official teacher--before suddenly looking down, thinking deeply. "Hey..." he said.”Does this mean you'll get to teach me more jutsu?"

 

"Umm, I guess it does..."

 

"AWESOME!" Naruto yelled, throwing his hands into the air and bouncing up and down. "You'vegottoteachmetonsandtonsofsupercooljutsuandthenIcankickSasuke'sbuttan dbecomeHokageandeveryonewillfinallyacknowledgemeandI'llbethegreatestninjaEV ER!"

 

Kyomi stared at the hyperactive boy--who was currently jumping up and down and running all over the place, rambling and shouting all the while--getting a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

 

'Great,' Kyomi groaned in her mind. 'What have I gotten myself into now?'

 

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Kyomi let out a sigh of relief as she closed the door to the apartment that she shared with her older brother. She leaned against the door for a moment, enjoying the peaceful silence. She never could have guessed that a 14 year old boy could have so much energy--and especially after hours of intense training on his chakra control!

 

Kyomi still wasn't entirely sure that it had been a good idea to take Naruto on as an apprentice. Sure, even after only one day of knowing the kid she already really liked him--a difficult feat to be sure--but to teach him? ...Well, at least this meant that she could tell him to do basically whatever she wanted. Kyomi grinned evilly at that thought. That was just one other upside to this whole apprentice thing.

 

"Kyomi-chan!" Kakashi abruptly said, popping in front of the kunoichi from out of nowhere. "You're back! I thought that you'd be home sooner than this." Kakashi grinned at her, his eye curving in amusement. "How did your training session with Naruto go?"

 

Kyomi immediately froze up. 'Crap!' she thought. She had completely forgotten about Kakashi being Naruto's sensei. Even though Naruto would still be going on missions with his team and seeing Kakashi everyday, Kyomi was effectively taking over his training, and thus she was basically taking one of Kakashi's students from him. How on earth was she going to explain this to him?

 

"Um...about that..." Kyomi said cautiously, slowly moving away from the door and around Kakashi. "...There's something that I need to tell you..."

 

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Preview of Chapter 5: The Aniki

 

In a slight daze Naruto plopped down on his busted up old couch. It creaked dangerously from beneath him, but he paid it no mind. Someone had offered to be his instructor. They had actually offered. They weren't assigned to him, like Kakashi, and he hadn't had to beg for them to teach, like Ero-sennin. No, this person had come up to him personally and offered.

 

Naruto slowly moved so that he was laying down on the couch, still caught up in his thoughts. Already Kyomi was beginning to teach him a jutsu. He couldn't remember if Kakashi had ever taught him one! Granted, Kakashi had taught him the tree-walking exercise and had gotten his Taijutsu to drastically improve--he was at least high Chuunin level, if he did say so himself! And his Kagebunshin (Shadow Doppelganger) jutsu helped a lot with his brawling style--but it still wasn't the same. But now he had someone to really teach him one-on-one!