"What do you mean, you let two rogues be the proctor for the finals?" Genma asked as the jonin of Konoha stood in front of the hokage.
"Exactly that, I think that these two will be good proctors for the exams and that it will free up one more of our jonin to keep an eye on any suspicious people when the time comes." Hiruzen explained.
"How do we know that they are capable enough?" Anko asked, still not sure about the whole thing.
"Apart from the fact that half of you haven't even noticed us yet?" Fuu decided to speak up. All eyes shot up to the ceiling, where the two masked shinobi hung upside down, their chakra suppressed.
"I'm sorry." Anko conceded silently, bowing her head slightly.
"It's fine, we understand your reservations." Naruto replied, the pair letting themselves fall down and landing between the jonin and the Hokage.
"I don't. I am your leader. You are supposed to trust me, so when I say that they are good enough, you are not supposed to question me or them." Hiruzen was clearly annoyed that his subordinates did not show him the respect he and his position deserved.
"They will have a chance to prove themselves before the exams. Ibiki has asked to be replaced for the first part of the exams, since he has too much to do with his regular position. I decided that I want my former student Tsunade to come back and hold the written part in his stead." This got many gasps from the jonin. Tsunade Senju was notoriously hard to track down and even harder to convince to come back to Konoha. Looking at the two rogues they saw no emotion behind their masks. Either they had known about this mission beforehand or they didn't know about Tsunade's reputation, although the latter seemed to be rather unlikely.
"Alright, you are dismissed. Wolf, Eagle, stay behind." The jonin quickly cleared the room as Naruto and Fuu took a seat in front of the Hokage's desk.
"I will have the latest news on Tsunade by tomorrow morning. When will you head out?" Hiruzen asked, the two rogues nodding at each other.
"We will meet you at the gate at sunrise." Fuu stated earning a nod from the Hokage.
"Ok, you are dismissed."
"I still can not believe that these two managed to convince you to come back." Shizune said as Tsunade and her waited for their dinner.
"Well, we made a bet and I lost. Besides, it was about time that I faced my fear. Yes, losing Nawaki and Dan still hurts, but I can't run from my emotions forever. Somehow these two rogues managed to convince me that I can overcome my fears and help Konoha to reach glory once again." Tsunade explained, smiling as she remembered her late lover.
"Change of topic; who do you think will win the finals?" The sannin asked, her memories turning sad as she remembered holding the dying form of Shizune's uncle.
"I don't know. The kids from Suna are very strong, but we have experienced genin in the finals this year. Sasuke will be promoted for sure and I think he will show the world what he can do. Shikamaru can never be counted out, he will always find a way. The two Hyuuga girls seem to be greatly skilled. I haven't seen much of the Yamanaka heiress, the Inuzuka heir or the Aburame boy, but I think they will be just as skilled, because their families should have them trained from a young age." Shizune summarized what she had seen in the exams so far.
"I agree with most of that, although I think that the younger Hyuuga is more skilled than her sister, but that is just a feeling I have from what I have seen so far." The sannin replied.
"What do you think about the two rogues?" Tsunade wanted to know after the waiter had brought them their food.
"What do you mean?" Her apprentice replied between bites.
"Well, they seem very young and yet they have this aura of caution around them that I have only seen in seasoned rogues or high ranking shinobi. The masks are also weird, someone has to know their identity, Hiruzen won't tell me, but I am sure he isn't the only one that knows it." The blonde said, still a bit angry at her former sensei that he didn't trust her with the identity of these two.
"I agree that they seem very young for the expertise and routine they show, however keep in mind they are henged, so they could be a lot older than what they seem like. I suppose I could try to see if any of the other jonin know them, it wouldn't be too weird if I want to hang out with them, since they are approximately my age." Shizune proposed, wanting to know the identity of the two as well.
Her master only nodded as the conversation shifted to more casual topics while they ate.
"Hi, you're Shizune Kato right?" The red eyed woman asked as she saw Shizune walking by her on the street.
"Yeah, that's me. You are Kurenai Yuhi if I am not mistaken, Konoha's genjutsu mistress." The chunin replied smiling.
"I heard that Tsunade is going to stay in Konoha, does that include you?" Kurenai asked, not irritated that the other woman had known her, since it was common for shinobi, especially wandering ones, to know the bingo book by heart.
"Naturally, since I am her apprentice." The answer made Kurenai smile.
"Great, it'll be good to have another woman in the force. I'm going out to the bar with a few comrades, want to join us?" The black haired woman asked. Shizune was surprised to hear that, her job was going to be much easier than she had thought.
"Yeah sure, if it's alright with the others as well." She replied, feigning insecurity.
"They won't mind, I'm sure of it." Kurenai replied.
"Great."
They made their way to the bar talking about Shizune and what Tsunade and her would do while out of the village. When they got to the table where everyone else sat, Kurenai smiled.
"Let me introduce everyone. This is Kakashi Hatake, jonin, next to him is Anko Mitarashi, tokubetsu-jonin and this handsome guy is Asuma Sarutobi, also jonin. Everyone, this is Shizune Kato.." she trailed off, not knowing what rank the new woman had.
"Chunin." Shizune added with a smile and a small bow.
"I invited her along, since she will be joining the regular forces with Tsunade." The Genjutsu mistress explained, as the two sat down.
Everyone smiled at Shizune, before going back to their conversation.
"Anyways, I would have expected that there would be a few more people passing the second stage. After all, only six teams of the original eighteen made it through the forest in time." Kakashi said.
"Yeah, but it was to be expected that there would be more teams eliminated than the minimum. Your team also arrived with three scrolls on them." Asuma replied with a grin on his face.
"Yeah I guess so." The masked shinobi admitted sheepishly.
"I think Sasuke will have a good chance at winning the tournament, but the sand kids seem to be extremely strong and I have no idea about the team from Kusa." Anko stated, as she took another stick of Dango that was sitting in front of her.
"The Kusa team is not that strong individually. They work extremely well as a team but don't have any particularly high skills as a solo fighter." Shizune threw in, causing everyone to turn their heads to her.
"What makes you say that?" Asuma asked
"Well, Tsunade and I have watched them for a bit while in the forest, one of them was nearly defeated by a giant spider before the other two came. Together they managed to kill it. When they ran into another team, they purposefully didn't split the fight into one on one duels, but kept it together so that they could use their superior teamwork to defeat their opponents. Of course, I am not saying that they are completely helpless in a one on one situation but that is what they have shown us for now." The black haired woman summarized what she had gathered from her observations.
"Hm, I guess we will have to keep that in mind when betting." Anko stated happily, ordering another set of Dango from the waiter.
"I just hope that the two proctors can stop the fights quick enough should something happen." The chunin worried, earning a chuckle from Kakashi and Asuma.
This caused everyone to look at the two for an explanation. Of course Shizune knew that the two rogues were more than quick enough to stop the genin from fighting but she hoped that somehow that would cause the others to spill some information.
"They are quick enough, trust me. They both have grown a lot since they went rogue." Kakashi said, instantly getting a worried look from Asuma while the others tried to make sense of his words. Shizune almost smiled as her plan had worked, she now knew that Kakashi and Asuma knew the identity of the two rogues and also that they apparently were originally from Konoha.
Asume quickly steered the conversation away from that topic and asked what Shizune would be doing after the exams had finished and if she knew in which field she would be posted. The evening went by talking and drinking, or in Anko's case eating and drinking without any more opportunity for Shizune to gather more information on the two rogues.
"So they are from Konoha and can not be too old if Kakashi knows them. Also if he says that they have grown it would suggest that he knows them since they were kids and he was an adult. How old is he? Thirty? So they would have to be from Konoha and left after Kakashi became jonin. That would leave maybe ten years before now as a time frame. I don't know about you, but I don't recall that anyone has left Konoha during that time." Tsunade voiced her math as Shizune and her sat in their hotel room.
"Well, not an active shinobi at least." The raven woman agreed.
"What do you mean?" The sannin asked.
"Well, remember almost four years ago when we got a message saying that one academy student was banished because he helped Mizuki Touji steal the scroll of sealing? And afterwards I received another scroll saying that his punishment had been cleared and that he was supposed to come back to the village. In the scroll it also stated that he was the son of Minato Namikaze." Shizune recalled, going through her bag with official letters until she found the two she was referring to.
Meanwhile Tsunade was shocked.
"What do you mean the son of Minato? Why didn't you tell me about this?" She asked, angrily jumping up, looking for her coat.
"What? I did tell you. I read you the letter!" Shizune shouted back, confused why that was such a big deal.
"Don't you realize what this means?" Tsunade asked, as she calmed down a bit, combing her fingers through her hair.
"Oh my..." Shizune whispered as her brain connected the dots. From the two rogues being allowed to proctor the exams, over Kakashi knowing them, to Wolf performing a Hiraishin to get Tsunade to come back to the village. Her eyes went wide.
"You mean they let the son of the fourth Hokage become a rogue?" She asked, her voice almost a whisper.
"We'll have to find out." Tsunade replied, taking her haori to go and ask the Hokage about it.