Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
March, x788.
"So, you're telling me that one of the academy's teachers was planning to get Naruto killed and escape to Orochimaru's side?" Hiruzen asked angrily as he stared at the captain of the Anbu who rushed to the academy after feeling the Nine-Tailed Fox's magic power. "And how did no one notice this Mizuki's traitorous thoughts before this?"
"He hid them well.. very well, in fact." The Anbu captain replied in a stoic tone. "Not even Iruka Umino, who worked with him on a daily basis was able to see through his façade, Lord Hokage. But isn't it more important to discuss Naruto Uzumaki? Perhaps after twelve years, the [Seal] is weakening."
In response, Hiruzen glanced at Alfonzo, who arrived in his office with Kakashi around the same time the Anbu stormed the testing room in the academy. After receiving a nod from Alfonzo, Hiruzen released a heavy sigh.
"You can leave that matter to me." Hiruzen said sternly. "For now, this is an S-Class secret. Make sure that Iruka and the Anbu in your squad know, as well. Dismissed."
"Sir!" The Anbu Captain replied before quickly disappearing from the office.
Once the Anbu Captain was gone, Hiruzen picked up his pipe. Then, he took a long drag. After holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment, he exhaled a large cloud of smoke. Then, he once again turned to look at Alfonzo.
"so, you really did it, huh?" Hiruzen asked in a tired tone. "You really manage to help him control the Nine-Tailed Fox's power."
"To an extent." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "But other than getting him started on the right path, there's not much more I can do about it."
"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked while narrowing his eyes.
Kakashi was focused on Alfonzo's next words, as well.
"Well, all I did was introduce the two to each other." Alfonzo replied. "Everything else is up to how well Naruto can get along with him. But considering Naruto's personality, I don't think it will take all that long."
"Introduced them? Get along? Why is it that I can understand all your words, but when you string them together into sentences, they don't make any sense." Hiruzen asked in a dumbfounded tone.
Like Hiruzen, Kakashi also seemed confused about what Alfonzo was talking about.
Seeing the expressions on Hiruzen and Kakashi's faces, Alfonzo exhaled a sigh.
"Fine then, let me start from the beginning." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. "First, you are aware that the Nine-Tailed Fox is one of the Books of Zeref, right?"
Both Hiruzen and Kakashi nodded in response.
"Good." Alfonzo continued with a nod. "Then, did you know that the most powerful of Zeref's demons, or Etherious as they call themselves, have complete personalities?"
That bit of information was news to the two experienced shinobi. So, they shook their heads in response to Alfonzo's question.
"Even if that's true, how in the world do you know that?" Hiruzen asked skeptically.
"Well, because I've met one of them." Alfonzo replied with another shrug. "He called himself Jackal. Instead of magic, he used something called a curse. The [Bomb Curse] was what he called it. And he interrupted Crawford Seam and Org's execution. Hell, Lici even killed him."
'Well, it looked like she killed him, anyway.' Alfonzo thought to himself, finishing his sentence internally. 'We both know he's not dead, and won't truly die before we destroy the respawning chambers on Cube. But I can't tell them that. That's not something I'm supposed to know.'
"And you think the Tailed Beasts are like these Etherious, I would assume?" Kakashi asked. Though, it was more like a statement than a question.
Although he did not say anything, it was obvious Hiruzen was thinking the same thing.
"That's right." Alfonzo said with a nod. "And if you consider the way they've been treated for the past four hundred years, it's obvious why they don't get along with humans."
"Still, that doesn't explain why you… introduced Naruto to it." Hiruzen pointed out.
"First of all, not 'it.' But 'him'." Alfonzo pointed out. "and I was getting to that. According to the history of your village, the First Hokage captured all the Tailed Beasts and gave them away to the other villages to be used as weapons. And even before that, the Ghost of the Uchiha, Madara Uchiha forced the Nine-Tailed Fox to battle on his behalf when he came to destroy the village decades ago."
As that was not a secret to either Hiruzen or Kakashi, they simply nodded in response.
"So, I got to thinking, that it might be possible to befriend the Tailed Beasts." Alfonzo continued. "I mean, since they had basically been imprisoned for decades, they were probably starved for friendship. So, I interacted with the [Seal] on Naruto, bringing his consciousness inside the [Seal] with me. And as it turned out, I was right."
Alfonzo smiled proudly as he reached the end of his explanation.
"but how did you come to that conclusion?" Hiruzen asked. "If you had been wrong, it could have been disastrous."
"Not really." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head. "For one, the [Seal] is still going strong. So, even if he had been hostile, which he was when we first met him, I could have just strengthened the [Seal] before setting up a one way flow for the Nine-Tailed Fox's power. But that would have only made it angrier and more dangerous for the next Jinchuriki after Naruto."
Hearing that, Hiruzen and Kakashi nodded in agreement. Though they were not well-versed enough in [Seals] to know if making a one-way bypass for the Nine-Tailed Fox's magic power was possible, they understood that, if it were in fact possible to do so, it would definitely make the Fox angrier and harder to control in the future.
"And to answer your question about how I knew befriending the Fox would work, I've read about Killer Bee, the Jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails." Alfonzo continued. "And based on everything I read after raiding Danzo's base, he should be a Perfect Jinchuriki. Meaning, he can tap into all of the Eight-Tails power. And based on his personality, the only way he could have done that is by becoming its friend."
"I can see how you came to that conclusion." Hiruzen said after stopping to think for a while. "Still, had you been wrong, it could have been disastrous for the Leaf. Maybe not now, but definitely in the future."
"But I wasn't." Alfonzo replied with yet another shrug. "so, there's really no point in dwelling on it."
'If I didn't already know the canon, though things are different in this world,..' Alfonzo thought to himself. '… I would have never even tried something so bat-shit insane.'
"Anyway, just don't' get in the way of Naruto interacting with the Fox." Alfonzo said. "I believe he'll be able to become friends with him with no issue. And then, at some point, the [Seal] won't even be necessary anymore."
"But then the Fox could break out of the boy's body." Hiruzen said in a panicked tone. "And that would more than likely spell the end for the Leaf."
"If you had a friend that you trusted with your life, and you know that one of your actions would definitely kill him, would you do it?" Alfonzo asked a seemingly unrelated question.
Confused by Alfonzo's question, both Hiruzen and Kakashi shook their heads in reply.
"And that's how the Fox will feel by the time I remove Naruto's [Seal]. Or rather, when Naruto removes it himself." Alfonzo said in a solemn tone. "Trust me. The Etherious are much more pure than humans. On top of that, they all seem to feel its beneath them to deceive a human. So, even though most of them are hostile to humans, they never lie to them. They'd rather just kill them, instead."
Like that, the conversation continued with Alfonzo trying to alleviate Hiruzen and Kakashi's fears. And he eventually succeeded, to an extent. At that point, he was allowed to leave. However, Kakashi did not leave with him, as Hiruzen had asked him to stay for a different conversation.
"What do you need of me, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked respectfully.
"You already know I want you to become a Jōnin Instructor for this batch of academy graduates, again, right?" Hiruzen asked.
"That's right." Kakashi replied with a nod. "But Lord Hokage, you know my standards. Don't be surprised if no one passes my test this year, either."
"Unfortunately, that cannot be allowed this time." Hiruzen said sternly. "I will be assigning you Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki as a Genin Team."
"*Sigh* And you want at least Sasuke and Naruto trained properly, right?" Kakashi said in an exasperated tone. "And you think I'm the best to train them because of the fact that I'm Minato-Sensei's student and have a Sharingan, right."
"Although you're mostly right, I want to make sure that Sakura is trained properly as well." Hiruzen replied. "According to the Anbu, that girl has been training with the girl from Fairy Tail, Wendy, who trained under Tsunade. So, if she is trained properly, she'll be a great asset to the village."
"But I know nothing about [Medical Ninjutsu], Sir.' Kakashi said in an apprehensive tone.
"That's true." Hiruzen said with a nod. "But you're quite skilled in every other aspect of being a shinobi… Well, accept for being punctual. I'll trust you not to pass that trait onto your students."
Under his mask, Kakashi could only grin sheepishly in reply.
"Anyway, until they leave, we'll ask Miss Wendy to continue Sakura's training in [Medical Ninjutsu]." Hiruzen said, returning to his stern tone. "But keep this in mind, Sakura, with Tsunade's techniques under her belt, could grow into the most well-rounded kunoichi in the village if you train her properly. So, I'm counting on your skill as a teacher. Show me what made you one of the greatest Anbu trainers of your generation."
"*Sigh* I understand." Kakashi said in a resigned tone. "I'll do my best. Still, I don't know how to face Naruto. I was his father's student… But when things were at their worst for him, I didn't help at all."
"Just tell him the truth, Kakashi. That thanks to the orders you received, you were not allowed to help him." Hiruzen said in a grandfatherly tone. A moment later, his smile turned into a knowing one as he continued. "But don't think I didn't know about the ways you helped him in secret. For example, all those groceries that seemingly showed up out of nowhere when he was completely out of food and money."
Kakashi could only look away sheepishly in response, embarrassed that he had been caught.
"Anyway, you should go and prepare to guide your new students. "I expect you to be on time to pick them up, as well. Also, have Yamato come see me, I have a mission for him."
"*Sigh* I'll try." Kakashi replied as he stood up. "I'll find Yamato immediately, too."
After standing up, Kakashi bowed respectfully. Then, in a swirl of leaves, he vanished from Hiruzen's office.
"*Sigh* I get the feeling that those kids are gonna end up waiting for quite a while after the Genin teams are announced." Hiruzen said as he picked up his pipe again. Then, after taking a toke, he looked around his office with a frown. A moment later, he spoke once again after exhaling the smoke in his lungs. "And just who does he expect to clean up all these leaves?"
Meanwhile, back at the residence where the guests from Magnolia were staying, the Rookie 9 had gathered to tell Alfonzo and the others that they had all passed the graduation exam. Even their families were in attendance to join the celebration. Unfortunately, Sakura's parents, who were only civilians, were not too friendly to Naruto. And that lead to a small argument between Sakura and her parents.
The argument was eventually ended when the shinobi parents stood up for Naruto, causing not only Sakura's parents to be thoroughly confused, but Naruto, as well. Despite all that, Naruto was not confused for long. Instead, he started telling everyone how he caught Mizuki, and how he was actually planning to betray the Leaf, in a proud tone. Naturally, he embellished quite a bit. But because everyone was so happy about the graduation and the kids becoming Genin, they did not say anything about it.
Under Kurama's instruction, Naruto did leave the part about using his magic power out, though. And Alfonzo greatly approved of that decision. Though, he was sure it would come out that he could use it, eventually. But for now, he was just happy to celebrate with the kids he helped to train over the last several months. And he did so by going all out in the kitchen, cooking a big enough meal that everyone could eat until they were stuffed, even Choji and his father, Choza.