The Cycle of Hatred: A Naruto Insert

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The incident with Gaara had left me too worked up to sleep, so the first watch was mine. No matter what I knew about Karin, there was no way any of us were letting our guard down until the exam was over. Karin flinched at almost everything I said to her—probably because of the lingering Tailed Beast chakra—but she at least seemed perfectly fine with Choji and Hinata. 

Either way, I spent most of my watch sitting at the mouth of our cave, looking back every so often at her sleeping form. She'd fallen asleep first unsurprisingly, followed by Choji, and then Hinata. No one had intruded on the cave since we'd split up according to the untouched kunai and, more importantly, Hinata.

If they did, they'd long since left. After the last few hours, I didn't doubt that half of the exam's participants were firmly out of the running.

Including Karin's Earth Scroll—which I'd also chosen to relinquish her of—Choji, Hinata, and I had gathered a total of seven scrolls. Four at the start of the exam, and after splitting up, I'd grabbed one, Choji and Hinata had got their hands on two.

In my defence, I'd had to worry about Orochimaru and a fucked up arm that had healed suspiciously fast before returning to find Choji completely out of it inside the cave. It was still very well raw and bloody, but I couldn't see bone anymore. Choji and Hinata had been shocked back into action at the sight of me covered in bits of gore and drenched in blood.

I was still caked in dry blood, but maybe I'd be able to get out of my gear—or at least wash it—tomorrow. I asked Hinata to look me over for anything abnormal and it didn't take longer than a few seconds to find out what the cause of my healing was.

"It's the Nine-Tails' chakra," she'd said, informing me of the news like I'd contracted a terminal disease.

I'd suspected as much given my mangled arm healed back to normal in under an hour, but I wanted her to confirm it.

"Right," I'd said, my mouth turning dry. But I could hardly complain when I needed every bit of power I and then some to fight Orochimaru. I'd probably regret it, but at least I'd be alive to feel it. "We can shelve that talk for later. There's one more thing I want us to do before we head to the tower."

And with that thing done and among us, there was nothing left for me in the Forest of Death. The only reason the four of us hadn't booked it before darkness was Karin's mental exhaustion at the day's events. In the span of a few hours, she'd lost her teammates, been used as a medic for the same amount of time, and avoided death at Gaara's not-so-tender hands.

Granted, it was Choji who'd suggested we stay behind for a very similar reason and Karin's exhaustion convinced Hinata and I to rain-check the journey.

If it wasn't for my knowledge that Orochimaru wasn't here—because by now, Sasuke should have ran into him and the ANBU would be alerted—I'd be in the tower right now. But if taking a small rest was what it took to give Karin a slightly better impression of me, then I'd do it.

After a few more hours, I tapped Hinata awake. She fidgeted under my hand, ignoring my calls to wake up for another minute. I considered dragging her out of the sleeping bag but she sat up before the idea went anywhere.

"Is it time," she said, her question broken apart by a long yawn, "…to switch yet?"

"I gave you an extra hour's sleep because I was feeling nice," I replied.

Hinata manoeuvred around Choji's snoring, lifeless body. Karin was tucked at the very back so that if she tried anything, she'd at least wake me or Hinata up. Choji wouldn't wake up even if it was the end of the world. I slipped into Hinata's still-warm sleeping bag and got some decent enough sleep.

It wasn't great, but I'd be able to function.

We had left-over cup ramen for breakfast. No one was in the mood to hunt something, nor was it smart to do so with the fighting starting back up after nightfall. Getting to the tower only took us twenty-odd minutes. Its age was impossible to miss, worn down by years of neglect. Vines crawled up the walls, weaving through the cracked stone.

The metal doors were rusted, patches of reddish-brown corrosion flaking off when touched. I could see the remnants of faded red and gold paint that clung stubbornly to the tower's rusted surface.

"This is the place," I said, pushing open one of the doors with a slow, yawning creak.

The inside of the room was as decrepit as its outside suggested. Banners hung, shredded and frayed. At the very front of the room was a whiteboard, brand spanking new, and filled with flowing script.

"If you lack Heaven, enrich your knowledge and prepare," I murmured.

Karin inched closer, adjusting her glasses. "If you lack Earth, run the fields in search of it. Those who possess Heaven and Earth will know the way."

Choji gave a long shrug. "We have the Heaven and Earth Scrolls and the proctor said we needed those to pass."

"Let's open them," I said, taking out a medium-sized scroll from the inside of my flak jacket. Opening it, I unsealed its contents, revealing a pyramid of Heaven and Earth scrolls stacked atop one another. Taking the Earth Scroll at the very top, I tossed it to Hinata. "Hold onto that—it was the Earth Scroll the proctor assigned us in that shed."

She caught it. "Any reason why?"

"I'm feeling poetic," I said, smiling.

"And I'm assuming you'll grab the first Heaven Scroll we found?"

"Of course. Who d'you think I am?" I threw the other one to Choji and left the rest on the floor. "Open them!"

"It says… person?" said Choji, furrowing his brow. "What the heck does that mean?"

The scrolls started to smoke, hissing ominously. Karin leaned over with a deep frown. "That's a summoning formula. Throw those scrolls, hurry! I don't think the exam's over yet."

Without another word, they lobbed both scrolls across the room before the jutsu was complete and stood at guard. Despite my amusement, I kept a kunai in hand—with all the things that had changed from my memories, maybe there was a final battle to the Forest of Death's exam.

A purple-haired chunin stepped out of the smoke. Her hair was tied into a high bun and she had a hand against the circular red glasses on the bridge of her nose. Unlike the proctors, she wore her standard-issue gear and chunin vest.

"Well," said Hinata, activating her Byakugan, "Have we passed?"

The woman didn't answer, instead looking over at us. "There's one person here who shouldn't be."

Karin flinched.

"We've taken her scrolls, she's just with us to get to the tower, that's all," I replied.

The woman looked at me, a measure of something flashing her brown eyes for a second. "...You've not had an easy time, I see."

I grinned—more at the prospect of a stranger from the Leaf treating me decently than the joke I had cooking. "None of this is mine, I swear."

"He's lying," Hinata deadpanned, "Most of the blood on his right arm is his, thanks to a malformed jutsu."

Choji snorted loudly.

I turned on my heel. "Hey, it's a work in progress!"

"Malformed, work-in-progress," she replied, "Same difference."

The chunin smiled, her arms resting at her sides. "You three have changed so much since I last saw you." We stopped our bickering.

"Do we know you from somewhere, ma'am?" Choji asked.

"Somewhere," she said. "In any case, you who have gathered both Heaven and Earth have passed the test, but do you know what those words behind you mean?"

I nodded. "Chunin is the minimum rank required to lead a squad. You have to be strong enough to protect your subordinates, and know enough to make the correct decisions."

"The message on that whiteboard was left by Lord Third. Heaven is knowledge, Earth is power. Neither will cut it at chunin rank, not by themselves; only with both are you fit to shoulder the lives of others." She smiled. "My instructions end there. Congratulations on passing the second stage of the Chunin Exams, Team Asuma."

I could feel the tension vanishing from the room at the declaration but knew things weren't over yet. Maybe we'd gathered enough scrolls to end things at the Forest of Death for today, but I wouldn't be able to tell until this stretch was over. That meant we had four days to kill in a tower containing Gaara.

I reckoned Lord Third was in here somewhere, along with the rest of the jonin, so it wasn't likely anything would happen.

As we turned to leave, the chunin woman cleared her throat. "Do you not recognise me at all, you three?"

"Pardon?" I asked.

"Especially you, Naruto… though I wouldn't blame you for forgetting me at all."

I blinked. "I'm sorry… but should I know you from somewhere? Your face is familiar but…"

"I'm Fujino Shimizu," she said, and all at once memories that I'd long since tossed into the abyss came flooding back.

Of days spent seething in impotent rage and stinging betrayal, pity and satisfaction at the consequences—and ultimately… I'd moved on. Her reveal had completely floored me, and not just me, but Choji and Hinata too.

"Fujino-sensei from the Academy," Choji guffawed, "What happened? Why did you leave?"

Fujino's smile was tight-lipped. "I resigned after interferi—"

"We don't need to know, do we?" I said. "Not really, anyway. Go on ahead and grab us a room, I'll get the rest of the Heaven and Earth Scrolls."

Ignoring their suspicious looks, I watched Choji, Karin, and Hinata vanish down a corridor, leaving the unsealed scrolls on the floor.

"You've every right to hate me," said Fujino, looking away.

I looked her in the eye. "Not anymore. I forgave you when I got your letter."

"You seem to be doing well for yourself."

"Think so?" I snorted. "I'm covered in other people's blood and guts. I'd argue the opposite."

She smiled.

"Why are you here? I can't believe it's random."

"I finished my punishment a few years ago. Lord Third then put me on a probationary period for another year, after which I was requested to attend the exams as a proctor." Fujino shifted slightly under my stare. "When I saw your name on the list for the second stage of exams, I asked to be the chunin they'd sent to congratulate you—or ambush you in case your team broke the rules."

"What a reunion that would've been," I said, chuckling.

"So, where to from here?" she asked, her gaze steadying.

I shrugged. "Wherever you were going before this. You live your life, I live mine. Honestly, I let go of my hate for the villagers ages ago. Keeping my hatred for you after everything that happened to me would be nuts."

"It wouldn't," she replied, "And it's easier said than done, believe me. For what it's worth, deep down, they know you're not to blame. They know, but the pain… of losing someone you love, it's—"

I sighed. "I get it, believe me, I get it. Just because I got saddled with the thing, doesn't mean I didn't lose anyone either. People lost their kids, their brothers, their husbands and wives… me? I lost my parents."

Her shoulders straightened, and I could see the muted guilt in her eyes resurfacing, even if she wiped them away.

"You asked me where we go from here? I say we go the way we've always gone: forwards. At some point, the pain dulls, we move on, and find something to fill the holes left behind."

She stared at me long and hard. "You never seemed like a six-year-old to me when I taught you. Your eyes looked so much older—and you're still like that, even now."

I smiled, tucking the empty sealing scroll into my flak jacket. "Goodbye, Fujino Shimizu. I won't miss you, but I won't hate you."

"That alone is more than I deserve," she said, her voice thick with emotion.

I saw her often over the next few days as I explored the tower. We weren't quite strangers, nor were we acquaintances. It left Choji and Hinata curious to the point of irritation, but I strung them along with a smile with Karin none the wiser.

Soon, the second stage would come to a close, and I'd be able to pin down Lord Third for a much-needed conversation.

.

— — —

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Hiruzen hadn't expected to be pulled away from Hokage Mountain until the very end of the Chunin Exam's second stage. But when two ANBU agents appeared at his doorstep in the dead of night, he knew something had gone wrong. In the world of shinobi, being an ally meant close to nothing.

Hatred remained, buried and festering, waiting for the right moment to surface. He had incurred a great deal of hatred over many years, some of which he expected to surface before he left this world. Inviting so-called allies into the village was a dangerous game, but one the Leaf needed to play to ward off the threat of a war for a little longer.

Hiruzen had taken as many precautions as possible; he kept foreign shinobi under discreet ANBU watch and made sure each was thoroughly accounted for. Some things, however, just couldn't be anticipated due to human error; Orochimaru was hard to anticipate even when Hiruzen knew he was there.

Anko gave a pained wince, a hand to her neck.

"Does that Cursed Seal still hurt?" he asked, pacing in front of an array of screens monitoring the tower's various floors.

"Not as badly as before," she said, looking away.

Hiruzen hummed. "Before leaving the village, Orochimaru displayed an obsession with the Sharingan. Either that or he is finally lashing out against my decision to endorse Minato as Hokage."

Anko looked up. "He's here for Sasuke Uchiha—and admitted as such to me."

"The Sharingan then. I suppose Sasuke would provide an easier target than Itachi," he replied, thoughtful. "I see the village as my family and that includes you as well, despite what you might believe."

She nodded, looking away again and Hiruzen nearly laughed. Even as an adult, her pride was a thing to behold.

"What should we do about Orochimaru, Lord Hokage?" asked Kawazu, one of two ANBU agents who stood behind the small couch Anko sat on.

Hiruzen looked at Kawazu, and then her partner, Gama. "For now… nothing. If he is to be believed, Orochimaru a vested interest in Sasuke Uchiha and threatened Anko not to disturb the exams. Monitor him, but otherwise do nothing." He looked at Anko. "Are you fit to conclude the second stage of the exams?"

"I-I am," she said, shooting to her feet. She let go of her neck, evidently still in pain, and grinned. "This doesn't even hurt anymore, sir!"

"You youngsters. I suppose it's fine then," he said, walking to open the door. "Let's congratulate the remaining fifteen candidates."

"Five teams?" she muttered as they walked. "I expected the number of teams to fall into the single digits. "Sixteen ended up eliminated, then."

Hiruzen smiled at the obvious satisfaction in her voice. "You may be interested in knowing that both our rookie teams passed."

"Both of them, huh? That's certainly impressive." A dark look passed over her face. "I won't let Orochimaru ruin an innocent child's life the way he did mine."

"Enough of that, Anko. Banish him from your mind as much as possible. That mark may give him power over you, but only as much as your mind allows—firm yourself." Hiruzen ordered, though privately he considered that they may already be too late. Even Minato and Kushina hadn't found a way to remove Orochimaru's cursed seals before their deaths and Jiraiya hadn't either.

With Sasuke Uchiha already marked… it was only a matter of time until Orochimaru began to work through his cursed seals.

She nodded, but there was a stiffness to it that she failed to hide. "Yes, sir."

Hiruzen watched over the closing proceedings in silence; his turn to speak would come at the very end. He counted sixteen genin instead of fifteen—though the girl wore a Hidden Grass forehead protector. Naruto met his gaze, damp need pooling in his blue eyes.

"Lord Third, if you'd please?" Anko asked, stepping back.

He cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. Before I announce the third task, do humour my ramblings." He scanned the faces before him, some more tired than others. "Raising the bar and deepening friendship amongst our allied nations… it wouldn't do to misunderstand this phrase. Put bluntly, the joint Chunin Exams between our allied nations are merely a substitute for war."

It was an old lie, a lie that he had told others so many times that Hiruzen had almost started to believe. A mere game would never be a substitute for war, no matter how much he wished it was so. The Chunin Exams were nothing more than a cattle show that the Leaf hosted, and only the minor allied villages joined up to show off to rich merchants, Daimyo and feudal lords.

None of the Great Five would send their best and brightest into the heart of the enemy, and even the presence of the Sand Kage's children here had not gone unnoticed by Hiruzen. Were it not for the Leaf siphoning the Sand's division funding after the Great War, he doubted they would be here.

The Sand had always been the weakest of the Great Villages, or strongest of the minor villages, depending on perspective.

"W-What do you mean, sir?" asked Sakura, voicing a question he could see forming on many faces in the room.

"To avoid what would otherwise be a futile whittling of one another's military strength, our neighbouring countries once picked a specific time and place to do battle—that is to say, the Chunin Exams began with such a purpose in mind." Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe to let his words settle over the gathered genin, but it no longer brought him the pleasure it usually did. It tasted bitter, even. "However, these exams also exist to promote those among you worthy of chunin rank and allow shinobi carrying the pride of their nations to do battle.

"The third task invites the various Daimyo, nobles, and other prominent figures to bear witness to the future of their country's military," said Hiruzen, putting aside the pipe. "They will watch your battles with great interest, I'm sure. Nations deemed to have strong potential shinobi will be showered with mission requests—and, of course, the opposite is also true."

A genin resembling a striking resemblance to Maito Gai in style, if not in appearance, raised his hand. "Why did you refer to these exams as a deepening of friendship then, sir?"

"I did say that it wouldn't do to misunderstand the meaning of friendship, young man," said Hiruzen. "These exams are a substitute for the chaos and massacre of war. The cost is certainly lesser by a significant magnitude, but so are the stakes and results. In the end, it is merely a custom by which peace exists through the measured removal of life according to agreed-upon terms. Such a thing is friendship in the shinobi world.."

To Hiruzen's surprise, the Sand Village's Jinchuriki spoke up next. "You mentioned the removal of life?"

"I did," he replied, noting Naruto's frown. "This is where I'd like to explain the third task. From here, whether you advance will no longer depend on the performance of your teammates. In other words, the time for individual battles is upon us." When he finished speaking, two chunin proctors wheeled in a moving table, placing it in between himself and the candidates. "I will call out each of the passing genin teams. When you are called, approach the box and remove a ball."

"O-One moment, sir," said Sakura, raising her hand. "If my team's progress isn't dependent on mine, does that mean I can choose to forfeit here?"

Hiruzen blinked. "You may if that is your wish."

"Okay, then I forfeit." She looked at Kakashi with a morose smile. "I don't see myself winning against anyone here. The Forest of Death pushed me to my limits."

"That's fine, Sakura. Knowing when not to fight is a skill many shinobi could stand to learn," said Kakashi. "I'm proud of you."

She beamed at him, or at least tried to, for her smile came out brittle and weighed down by disappointment. It was always a shame to see earnest childhood crushed by reality. Ignoring the pang of regret that stabbed through his old heart, Hiruzen continued.

"Is there anyone else who wishes to forfeit?" he asked.

"Me," a hand slowly rose and I craned my neck to see Kabuto's raising his arm. "It's a shame, but I don't think I can go any further. At least this time, my teammates won't be dragged down with me."

"Very well. Team Shuji of the Waterfall, approach." One by one, the five teams removed a ball. The proctor at his side noted down each person's number before calling up the next person, and once the last candidate had gone, Hiruzen continued his explanation. "You will fight in a tournament one month from now and based on the numbers you drew the matches are:

"Neji Hyuuga (1) vs Hinata Hyuuga (2)

Sasuke Uchiha (3) vs Rukia of the Waterfall (4)

Fuu of the Waterfall (5) vs Tenten of the Leaf (6)

Rock Lee (7) vs Shuji of the Waterfall (8)

Choji Akimichi (9) vs Kankuro of the Sand (10)

Naruto Uzumaki (11) vs Temari of the Sand (12)

Gaara of the Sand (13) vs Shino Aburame (14)"

Almost immediately, the gathered genin spread out, eyeing their opponents with utmost caution. It was an amusing sight considering their hesitance towards the true intentions behind the Chunin Exams.

"Prepare yourselves as you wish. Take the month to rest or to train, the choice is yours. The venue in question will be communicated to the jonin a fortnight before the tournament begins," he said as he moved towards the door. "Our visitors may wish to explore our humble village as well—that too is an adequate use of your time."

Gai's sole booming laugh was proof that Hiruzen's joke had fallen flat on its face, so he exited the room with a long sigh.

"Lord Third!" Naruto jogged towards him, followed close behind by the red-haired girl from the Hidden Grass. Hiruzen stopped and removed his pipe from his mouth. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course," he replied. "Follow me." Once they were seated in the same camera room that he and Anko had come from, Hiruzen turned to face Naruto. "What's the matter?"

The girl looked at him fearfully but soon turned her accusing gaze onto Naruto. "I've got reason to believe that Karin here is an Uzumaki."

"Truly?" Naruto had never struck him as the kind of child to lie, especially about something as dear to him as his mother's clan. "Gama?" the ANBU agent in question fell into view from the ceiling. "Take Miss Karin to my office so we may have a deeper conversation at length."

"Uh…" She looked between himself and Naruto with tears in her eyes. "I-I haven't done anything wrong, have I?"

Hiruzen smiled. "Nothing of the sort, my dear. But you see, the Uzumaki are a clan with deep ties to our village and Naruto here is one of the only remaining Uzumaki that we know of."

"...It was true, then?" she asked Naruto.

"It was," he replied. "But Lord Third will explain it to you in a moment."

Slightly less afraid, Karin relinquished herself to Gama's custody, leaving the two of them alone in the room. "Before I go, congratulations on making it this far in your first exam, Naruto."

He smiled mirthlessly. "Thank you, sir, but that's not the only thing I have to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"I ran into your old student during the exam."

Hiruzen's expression hardened instantly. The light from the surveillance screens prickled against his eyelids as he set his pipe aside, focusing entirely on Naruto's words. "I doubt you mean Jiraiya or Tsunade." Hiruzen said, the edges of his mouth lifting up despite the seriousness of the situation, a moment of levity for himself to lift his own spirits but the sharp shift in Naruto's demeanour was impossible to miss and with a sigh, Hiruzen said, "Tell me everything."

Naruto nodded, glancing towards the door where Karin had just left, before turning his attention back to Hiruzen. "It was in the Forest of Death," Naruto began, his voice low and measured. "I didn't know who he was at first. I thought he was a woman from the Hidden Grass but he was pretending to be one of the participants. The moment we clashed, I knew something was off. She… his chakra, the way he fought… it wasn't normal."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, his fingers steepled as he listened. "Did he attack you directly?"

Naruto grimaced, his fists clenching unconsciously at the memory. "I was ambushed by a group of Sound genin and he made his move after I beat them." His voice dropped even further, frustration bubbling to the surface. "Messing with me was all some kind of game to him."

Hiruzen's gaze darkened, the weight of Naruto's words sinking in. "That does sound like him. And how did you escape?"

Naruto hesitated, a flicker of unease crossing his face. "I didn't. He… let me go. Said he was satisfied with what he'd seen from me. That I was like him, but before he left, he mentioned something about Sasuke."

"Sasuke? I see." Hiruzen repeated, his brow furrowing deeper. That meant one of two things. Either his old student wasn't lying when he said he wanted Sasuke, or it was a longer deception that required keeping the story straight across multiple avenues of information. 

Either one was possible with Orochimaru.

Naruto nodded. "Plans for him. I don't know what that means, but I didn't like the sound of it."

Hiruzen's silence stretched on for a long moment and Naruto shifted uncomfortably under the intensity of his gaze, but he didn't flinch. A good sign of Naruto's own fortitude despite the experience.

"This is troubling news," Hiruzen said finally, his voice grave. "If Orochimaru has indeed entered the exams under the guise of a participant, it means he's after something specific either in the village or the exams themselves."

Naruto's frown deepened, frustration in his eyes. "He's after Sasuke, isn't he?"

Hiruzen sighed heavily, his gaze softening as he looked at Naruto. "Current information, including what you've provided, indicates it is the most likely possibility, yes. Orochimaru has long desired to learn every jutsu in existence. Naturally, the Sharingan has always been of great interest to him."

"We can't just let him do whatever he wants. Sasuke's strong, but if Orochimaru—" Naruto's fists tightened again, but this time, it was out of helplessness.

"I'm well aware of how dangerous he is, Naruto," Hiruzen interrupted gently. "His knowledge of ninjutsu and his ambition knows few bounds. But that very ambition has led him down a dark path, one that he's been walking for many years now. He is my most gifted student and my greatest failure."

Naruto's jaw tightened, the unease seeming to twist him from the inside out. "So what do we do?"

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "For now, you must focus on completing the exams. Orochimaru won't act openly, not yet. His presence here is concerning, but we must proceed carefully. I will take measures to ensure Sasuke's safety, but Naruto…"

Naruto straightened at the sound of his name, the intensity in Hiruzen's voice cutting through his worry.

"You must be careful. Orochimaru's interest in you is not something to take lightly. He wouldn't have sought you out without reason."

"I'm not scared of him," Naruto said immediately, his voice firm.

"The fool is an ill look on you, Naruto. Bravery does not lie in the ignorance of danger and, despite my power, I can't protect everyone at once. Be vigilant. Trust your instincts. But don't underestimate Orochimaru. He's more dangerous than you can yet imagine."

"...I'll do my best, Lord Third," Naruto finally said.

Hiruzen nodded, his gaze softening just slightly. "That's all I can ask. Now, go. Rest and prepare for the challenges ahead. And keep an eye on your former classmates—especially Sasuke."

Naruto rose to his feet, giving Hiruzen a final nod before turning towards the door. As he reached for the handle, Hiruzen's voice stopped him one last time. "And Naruto… thank you for telling me about Karin. I'll look into her heritage."

Naruto glanced back, a small, tired smile tugging at his lips. "She deserves to know where she comes from, just like I did."

Hiruzen watched Naruto go, his steps heavy with determination. As the door clicked shut, the room fell silent, save for the faint crackling of the surveillance screens. Orochimaru, again—looming over Konoha like a storm cloud.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair, feeling the weight of the years press down on him. Orochimaru always dredged up memories he would rather leave buried. The boy—no, the man—had once been full of promise. Ambition, intellect, raw talent. And yet, somewhere along the way, that promise had twisted into something dark.

He remembered finding the laboratories, the experiments. Perhaps if he had listened to Danzo, only forbid Orochimaru from experimenting on the citizens of the Land of Fire, instead of at all…

Or perhaps that would have been merely delaying the inevitable and Konoha would always have eventually been too small and restrictive for Orochimaru's ambitions.

It wasn't the first time the comparison between Orochimaru and Naruto had crossed his mind. Both orphans, both prodigies in their own right, and both so terribly misunderstood by the village. Hiruzen had failed Orochimaru once. Was he now failing Naruto too despite his intent to the contrary?

He exhaled sharply, the familiar guilt gnawing at him. The village had always feared what it couldn't understand. They'd pushed Naruto aside, just as they had with Orochimaru after the Great War, though for different reasons.

A demon fox. An insatiable hunger for power and a warped moral compass to survive at all costs. Beneath that… there was a similar loneliness. A similar longing to prove themselves. Hiruzen had watched it all unfold once. Perhaps, in another life, or perhaps if they had not been his first students, he might have been able to guide them better.

Kept Orochimaru on a path where his brilliance wouldn't be so corrupted by humanity's darkness.

Kept Tsunade from losing all her faith in the village and her own abilities.

Kept Jiraiya from constantly flagellating himself over his own mistakes. In the end, he let all three slip through his fingers and the village paid the price for his mistakes.

Naruto was different, though. He had to be, even if Hiruzen had to see to it personally. The same potential boiled within him, the same drive, but Naruto had something Orochimaru lost long ago—a heart that still believed in people.

Even after years of mistreatment, he hadn't allowed himself to sink—and that was what gave Hiruzen hope. He wouldn't fail him like he did Orochimaru. With hindsight, he could see where he failed and would be able to avoid those same pitfalls.

His fingers tapped restlessly against the armrest of his chair. The thought of Naruto running into Orochimaru chilled him. What might have happened had Orochimaru chosen to break him the way he'd broken so many others? What if that flicker of understandable darkness in Naruto was stoked instead of snuffed out?

Hiruzen shook his head, forcing the thought away. He wouldn't let that happen. He had already allowed one of his students to walk the path of ruin and refused to lose Naruto to the same fate.

It seemed the exams were proving more dangerous than even he had anticipated. Orochimaru was already playing his hand. Sasuke's name lingered in his mind. Another child, standing at the edge of a precipice, and Orochimaru's whispers were surely beckoning him to jump.

As Enma had warned, his failure to stop Orochimaru years ago was plaguing him at the worst moment. The consequences of his own feeble heart were spreading, and if he didn't act soon, it would be too late. Suddenly, the room felt too small. He rose from his chair, his decision made.

The next generation deserved a chance—a real chance—to face the future with more than just raw determination. They needed guidance, training, and time. Time to strengthen themselves, not just physically but mentally.

And perhaps the one child he'd failed that most carried the weight of the world on his young shoulders, but he would not bear it alone. Hiruzen's old bones creaked as he made his way to the door, stopping just before the threshold.

"Asuma will understand," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, "When the month break begins, I'll train him myself."