Kakashi, who had been prepared for what was about to happen, reacted much easier, "I'm Kakashi, I am your new teacher from now on."
"Teacher? Why do I need a teacher? Do I have to go to school too? Will I get to make friends there?" Naruto asked innocently, causing emotional damage to both Kakashi and Haruto.
While the damage was terrible, it did one thing well, it snapped Haruto from his shock and surprise.
Seeing Kakashi stunlocked, and noticing Naruto's wariness about being sat down to watch a forced cutscene to cut down on his free time everyday, Haruto stepped forward and spoke up. "Listen here shorty! Don't you want to be the Hokage?"
"Shorty!? Who's a shorty!! You're the shorty!!" Naruto growled and waved his hands around aiming to punch Haruto but Haruto easily controlled him by putting a hand on Naruto's head.
"Don't you want to be the Hokage?" Haruto repeated, causing Naruto to calm down and look at him with clear searching eyes.
"Will you teach me how to become the Hokage?" Naruto asked softly, hope filling his eyes.
Haruto nodded, "That there is not just any random teacher! He's the student of the Great Fourth Hokage. If you learn from him, you'll get a direct shot at becoming the Hokage yourself once you've mastered all his tricks at being a shinobi!"
Naruto's eyes gleamed with shock and surprise and to really drive the point home, Haruto spiced things up a little, "Look, if you really don't want this shortcut shorty, we can give it to someone else… are you sure we should pass it to the next person?"
Naruto's whiskers trembled in irritation at the mention of shorty once more, but he looked at Kakashi with stars in his eyes at this point, he was about to nod and accept their offer when a sudden voice at the back of his voice reminded him about something.
'Grandpa used to say that I should be more wary of strangers…'
'Are these two here to use me in some way…'
Naruto looked back up at Haruto and Kakashi, and with a trembling voice asked them a small question, "Why me? Why didn't you choose little Timmy down the road?"
The question stunned the already stunned Kakashi who had been surprised that any of Haruto's plan had even worked.
'Should I reveal to Naruto that he is the Fourth's son?' Kakashi asked himself.
He glanced at Haruto expecting him to be stumped or even shocked or surprised at Naruto's question but Haruto was surprisingly calm.
Haruto stepped up and opened his mouth to speak.
'What is he going to say?'
'Does Haruto already know Naruto's connection to the Fourth Hokage?'
'Is he about to reveal it?'
"Have you ever noticed your wounds healing super fast?" Haruto started off with a question. "When someone pushes you in the play ground, or when you fall while pretending to be a bad ninja and when others beat you up… did you notice your wounds healing really fast?"
Kakashi's eyes widened.
Did Haruto know Naruto was the container of the Nine Tailed Fox, that Naruto was a Jinchuriki?
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise too as he nodded.
Then Haruto's expression turned serious as he continued speaking, "Kakashi-sensei has noticed this quality about you… and has been observing you for the past some time…"
Naruto's eyes widened as he blurted out, "Oh! It was you!! I've always felt someone looking in my direction!! Turned out it was you!"
Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at the revelation that Naruto had noticed his ANBU followers but Haruto did not break character.
"Precisely. Kakashi-sensei has been there all along and now that the time is right, is revealing himself to you, do you want to know why?"
"Why!?" Naruto instantly asked, leaning in since he was very interested.
"It's because Kakashi sensei's keen eyes have discovered that you possess the Golden Sage Body!" Haruto declared seriously. "You have the potential to become the strongest! Not just in the village but in the world!"
Naruto's mouth hung loose.
Kakashi's mouth hung loose as well.
"I possess that?" Naruto asked cutely, his head tilting as he looked at Kakashi.
Kakashi gulped audibly but eventually after a strange bout of silence, nodded.
Naruto's mind exploded as a result. It was like fireworks had gone off in his mind.
"I knew it! I always knew there was something special about me! I knew it!" Naruto said loudly, he looked happy, jubilant, joyous, every possible way to be happy all at once.
And even though he couldn't put it into words, he felt like he had been validated.
Almost as if all his suffering his entire life, the stares from people, the constant whispers that accompanied him with people pointing at him and talking about him, felt as if it meant something.
Tears came to Naruto's eyes as he began to sob uncontrollably.
Kakashi became flustered at Naruto's sudden outburst but Haruto stepped in to quickly smooth things over. He brushed Naruto's hair and wiped his tears before speaking to him in a calm rock steady tone, "Go get dressed quickly, then we'll go meet the new Hokage-sama."
"Un…" Naruto nodded and quickly rushed back into his house. He forgot to close the door so the storm inside was fully displayed to the two of them outside causing them to wince at Naruto's living condition.
"Is that an underwear being washed along with the dishes?" Kakashi asked slightly unsure about what he was seeing.
Haruto noticed something else, "Why is there curdled milk spilled on top of the refrigerator? And is that a castle made out of half eaten ramen bricks?"
***
Kushina's hair was flaring as she glared at Hiruzen, Minato on the other hand tried to control his hand that was twitching to grip his three pronged kunai in his tools pouch. "There's probably an explanation for this Kushina…" Minato mumbled weakly, although it was unclear if he believed his own words.
Everyone then looked at Hiruzen as he brushed his goatee, "Hahaha~ Naruto has always been a rowdy child hasn't he…"
That was it, before anyone could say another word, Hiruzen was on the ground getting his face pummeled by an angry red hot habanero mimicking the nine tails.
Minato too looked at Hiruzen with a bit of hurt.
Hashirama attempted to stop Kushina from pummeling Hiruzen into what looked like a second death, but both Mito and Tobirama stopped him from interfering with a shake of their heads.
Sigh… 'I guess my brother's student earned his beatings after all.'
"By the way…" Hashirama started, "What's a Golden Sage Body? Do I also have it? I can heal from injuries really quickly too!"
Pffffft!!!
Izuna spit out his drink and began coughing because he choked.
Tobirama glanced at his brother and shook his head slightly before explaining, "He was lying brother… to try and get Naruto interested in the job offer."
Hashirama felt a light bulb flicker in his head but soon his joyful face turned into a frown.
"So Naruto-kun's going to join Kakashi in the ANBU I.T department?"
Tobirama nodded.
Kushina, who had beaten up Hiruzen to her heart's content, also looked at the screen with worry for her son.
"I hope it doesn't come to that…" Minato said, glancing slightly at Sakumo who shivered involuntarily.
***
You can now read 10 advanced chapters on my patreon for just $3!!! Thank you for your support everyone! pa treon.com/hooin_kyoma_au