In the Hokage's office.
When Sarada woke up, the sun had already set, releasing a groan, she grabbed the blanket that had been placed on her and pulled it closer to her face, burying herself in it. 'A familiar smell …' She thought, 'It's nice.' With her thought, she took a sniff of the blanket that was close to her nose and curled up comfortably. Moments later, a jolt of panic shot through her body when she realized why she felt the smell to be familiar, 'It's Seventh-sama's smell!'
Panickingly throwing the blanket off of her body, she quickly sat up with wide eyes, instantly feeling disoriented due to the jerking movement.
"Morning, Sarada," Naruto's voice only sent her into even more panic as she quickly got off of the couch, barefoot, with disheveled clothes and without her glasses.
"I'm so sorry for falling asleep in your office, Hokage-sama!" She shouted, bowing at a right angle. It would've felt sincere, but she was a bit off from Naruto's face and was bowing to one of the decorations on his desk instead of him.
Her actions made Naruto chuckle as he said, "Fix your clothes and wear your glasses, Sarada. It was understandable that you fell asleep after my treatment."
If she was initially blushing a little, then now, her entire face was red as she realized the state that she was currently in, "I'm sorry!" Apologizing with a squeak, she quickly fixed her vest and top that had been pulled up, revealing quite a bit of her belly. Also fixing her socks and shorts, she quickly grabbed her glasses. That was when she recalled the circumstances that she had fallen asleep under.
"I-I should get going, Hokage-sama," Sarada didn't think she could face her idol in her current mental state and decided to flee after quickly wearing her shoes.
"Hold up," Naruto said, I need to check something first. Come here," Sarada couldn't find any resistance against those words in herself and took shaky, hesitant steps toward the desk while firmly looking down, unwilling to look at Naruto.
'What is wrong with you, Sarada?! How could you do that in front of the Hokage?! He must think I'm disgusting now. There goes his offer to make me his disciple …'
Her thoughts were spiraling out of control as her feet moved to bring her to Naruto's desk and around it as she stood right beside his chair.
"Look at me, Sarada," Naruto said, making the girl stiffly look up at him with a red face, her eyes full of embarrassment. Naruto met her black orbs with his deep blue ones as his left, original, hand made its way to Sarada's cheek.
Warm. She thought as Naruto grabbed her cheek and tilted her head slightly higher such that she was looking at the wall instead of Naruto.
"Lower your eyes," He told her as she followed his words to meet his gaze again with her head still tilted up, "Activate your Sharingan." He said.
Just as Sarada closed her eyes to activate her dōjutsu, a knock on the door made her jump back from Naruto, as if she had been doing something wrong.
"Who is it?" Naruto asked with a chuckle. The amused expression on his face only embarrassed Sarada further, "If you want to be my disciple and the future Hokage, Sarada, the first task is to stop being so jumpy all the time. You have to be calm and collected in even the most stressful of situations," He told her as the man who knocked on the door answered.
"It's me, Hokage-sama," It was Shikamaru, "There is news from Kiri."
"Stand beside me," Naruto pointed to the spot beside his chair and said, "Come on in, Shikamaru." Sarada hesitantly stood right beside him, feeling like an aide to the Hokage as the door opened.
"Oh? She's awake," Shikamaru noticed Sarada, "Morning kiddo. All rested up?" He teased her.
"I-I don't know what happened …" Sarada tried to defend herself with a shy stutter, "Something just came over me."
Naruto chuckled and ignored her stuttering speech before looking at Shikamaru, "Anything important?"
"No, they just sent their participant list and the guest list," Shikamaru said.
"Leave it with me, I'll review the participants," He said, "Anyone other than the Mizukage coming as Kiri's guest of honor?"
"Just her aide, that's all," Shikamaru said while putting a sheet on Naruto's desk, on top of the smallest fifth pile that only had four papers for now.
"Okay," Naruto said. "You can clock out if you want, we don't have much more work that needs your active presence."
"I will gladly accept your dismissal," Shikamaru said with a laugh. "Also, send the girl back in time, I sent Sakura a message that she's with you, but still."
"Got it," Naruto said with a light laugh, "maybe I'll go meet her."
As the two talked, Sarada stood by like an obedient aide without participating in the conversation.
Soon, Shikamaru left, leaving Sarada alone with Naruto, "So where were we?" He said rhetorically while turning to face her. By now, the girl had somewhat composed herself and wasn't as embarrassed or stuttering.
"You wished to examine my Sharingan again, Hokage-sama," Sarada said answering despite Naruto's question being a rhetorical one.
"Yes, show me," Naruto nodded while bringing his hand to her cheek.
Sarada nodded before closing her eyes. As Naruto's comfortable and warm chakra entered her body, Sarada barely stopped herself from purring comfortably and focused on activating her Sharingan. Her eyes opened as Naruto saw her crimson pupils with whirlpools in them as her single tomoe rested right after the secondary pupil in the eye of each whirlpool.
Naruto hummed and Sarada felt a weak sting in her eyes as the tomoe started tracing their old path and appeared at the boundary of the whirlpool that then disappeared, leaving her original Sharingan with the single tomoe in its place.
"Good, you can deactivate them now," Naruto said, much to Sarada's surprise.
"Oh? Okay," She nodded, not knowing how to feel. On one hand, she was anticipating the previous experience that had left her weak in her legs and made her feel all sorts of things. But on the other hand, she felt that this whole situation was embarrassing on so many levels.
As she deactivated her dōjutsu, Naruto said, "You can stand beside me and watch me go through these documents if you want or you can sit on the couch for an hour or so. I will take you to your house then."
"I-I wouldn't want to inconvenience you, Hokage-sama," Sarada said, "I can go back myself, it's not a big deal."
"Stay," Naruto said, "I'm planning to go meet Sakura-chan after finishing some of these documents anyway."
Sarada nodded before asking, "Would it really be fine if I watch you work, Hokage-sama? Aren't these documents confidential?"
"You think so?" Naruto laughed heartily, "This shit is nothing but people drowning me in paperwork so that I don't have the time to do anything else. Do you really think that something like this — approval for a civilian to adopt a child from the orphanage — needs my approval? The Orphanage has an auditing system to see if the to-be guardians are good enough. Asking for my approval for this is completely meaningless."
Naruto spent some time telling Sarada about the truth of the matter as he continued taking care of the documents. By the time an hour was over, the piles on Naruto's desk didn't seem to have changed at all, but Sarada felt that she had already learned a lot about how everything works.
"I am truly grateful for the opportunity that you have given me, Hokage-sama," Sarada bowed to Naruto again.
"No need," Naruto said, "I said I'm going to train you to be the next Hokage, this is the most basic stuff." He stood up from his chair, making Sarada step back as he grabbed his white Hokage cloak and put it on his shoulders. "Anyway, let's go, shall we?" Naruto said while looking at Sarada.
…
Meanwhile, with Naruto's other clone that was in Orochimaru's lab.
"Hokage-sama," Karin respectfully bowed to Naruto as he entered her lab alongside Orochimaru.
"Karin," Orochimaru said, "The Hokage has something important to talk to you about. Please entertain him to the best of your abilities. I shall be taking my leave."
"Of course," Karin nodded to Orochimaru before turning back to Naruto, "Please, let me know what you need, Hokage-sama."
"I heard from Orochimaru that you are working on a method to reproduce your healing ability, Karin," Naruto said, "It is a commendable project to undertake."
"Please don't get your hopes up just yet, Hokage-sama," Karin said, wincing, "I don't have anything concrete yet. It's an idea merely in its infancy stage for now."
"Still, it's the thought that counts," Naruto said, "With something like that, high-level mission casualties would drastically decrease. Let me know if you require any support from my side for your project without hesitation, okay?"
"Of course, Hokage-sama. As long as I have something to show for it, I will be applying for a grant from the research foundation," Karin said.
"That's very good," Naruto nodded, "But for now, I have a special request mission for you."
"Oh," Karin said, "I understand. What do you need, sir?"
"This isn't the place for that conversation. Not to mention I'm just a shadow clone," Naruto shook his head, "You are to report to this safe house in Konoha within the next five days. It has to be before the start of the chunin exams." He handed her a piece of paper with an address on it.
Karin felt that the mission had to be something extremely confidential for Naruto to be giving her the address of a safe house instead of calling her to the Hokage's office, "I understand, Hokage-sama. If need be, I can leave right now." She offered.
"No need," Naruto said, "I will be busy for the next four days anyway."
"I understand," Karin nodded, "Anything else, sir?"
"Make sure that you aren't detected by anyone in the village," Naruto said, "Including the border patrol. As for the detection barrier surrounding the village, show me your wrist."
"I understand," Karin nodded, extending her right arm out to Naruto who held her fist and pointed his finger at her wrist.
"This is a one-time use seal that will allow you to bypass detection by the barriers," Naruto said, "Don't mess up because it will dissipate after you pass through the barrier. Repeat your task to me."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Karin nodded, "I am to report to Konoha at this safehouse in five days where your real body will assign me the mission. Also, I have to stay undetected while entering the village."
***
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