"I still can't believe that my old friend Kakashi lost to some kid like you." Guy suddenly spoke up, his voice quiet.
Looking up Naruto was surprised to see that the man's eyes were steely as he met Naruto's gaze.
"Know this Pain. One day we will fight, and on that day I expect you to show me the same strength you used to defeat Kakashi."
...
Naruto blinked at that, he had been expecting something a lot more vehement and threatening, especially considering how wrathful the man had seemed before.
"I have no doubt we will meet on the field of battle on opposing sides at some point, when we do you are more than welcome to try and kill me."
Guy nodded resolutely at that, before he turned on his heel and left, not saying another word as he walked out of the room.
"Well you're fucked." Anko said bluntly as she turned to look at Naruto, a bemused expression on her face.
"We'll see." Naruto replied dryly, before he turned his attention to Kushina, who had been suspiciously quiet so far. Upon meeting her gaze he was surprised to see how conflicted she seemed.
"Problem Kushina?"
"Back in Wave…" Kushina said, ignoring the others as she instead focused in on Naruto. "Back in Wave after you killed Kakashi you had a chance to kill his genin team, yet you didn't, despite you knowing that they would return to Konoha and tell Minato what had happened.
If you had killed them then it is unlikely we would have been able to discover who attacked them, you would never have had an increased bounty and would have never been on Konoha's radar. Why did you do that?"
The other three remaining Konoha Jounin paused as they heard that, having not though about that before.
If Grimm had killed Mito, Sasuke and Sakura then Konoha would never have been able to find out he was responsible, after all the Elemental Nations was a big place and Konoha had made many enemies over the years.
If Grimm had killed those three kids he could have made life so much easier for himself, yet he didn't?
Naruto paused as he heard this, his mind moving a mile a minute as he pondered over what he could say.
He could come out and say, 'Well that's because I didn't want to kill my sister, mum!' but somehow he didn't think that now was the right time for such a reveal.
Firstly because he had just admitted to killing Kakashi, a close family friend, his father' old student, and his sister's teacher.
Secondly because he did not know which way Mei would choose, meaning he could very soon be ordered to attack Konoha, and although he would not even dream of hurting his mother or his sisters, he would have no qualms about killing any other Konoha citizen which would put him on the opposing side to his family.
The final reason though was because he didn't want to reveal his connection to her, partly because he didn't want it to get in the way of his mission in Konoha and also because he had built a new life for himself, and didn't want to give up the life he had built for himself.
Especially since he thought it very likely that the Shinobi Council would name him a Missing-nin despite him never having been a Konoha Shinobi.
Why? Because he had a powerful bloodline ability, deep roots here in Konoha, has killed an Elite Jounin and who knows how many other Konoha Shinobi and had fled the Village and joined Kiri.
All of this passed through Naruto's mind in a single moment, as he met Kushina's curious and cautious gaze. 'Any ideas You?' Naruto thought, hoping to get some advice from You, his inner self.
'Fucked if I know.' You replied lazily, not really paying attention to what Naruto was doing, as he instead busied himself playing with the souls Naruto had devoured and whatever else You decide dot do with his time.
'I am you after all we think the same way, that being said, best to keep quiet. I don't want to have to deal with all the angsty fallout or hurt feelings. Just keep your mind on the mission and ignore all other distractions."
Naruto let out a sigh at that, sometimes he felt like his life was nothing more than an amusing show to You.
His inner self, was a strange and capricious person, and not all that helpful when it came to anything other than fighting, killing, devouring and messing around with souls, and of course making puns.
Switching his attention back to Kushina, Naruto gave her a shrug. "They were children."
"That would not have normally stopped a Shinobi." Kushina replied.
"True, and like you said I could have very easily chosen to kill all three of them. Yet I didn't, I saw them and decided that killing the last Uchiha and the Hokage's daughter would not have been the most sensible thing to do." Naruto replied before he turned to leave.
He was after all the proctor for the next part of the exam, and he had a certain genin he wanted to track down.
"So you knew who they were." Kushina spoke again, not letting the matter drop as she pinned Naruto with her gaze.
"Yes. Tell me Kushina would you have preferred it if I had killed them?" Naruto asked bluntly, getting a shocked look from the red haired woman as he did so.
"OF course not!" Kushina replied vehemently.
"Then be thankful I didn't. Also maybe reduce the bounty you have on my head to, I would certainly appreciate that." Naruto replied.
Idly licking his lips as he glanced over at the screens and saw that the exam had started, and all the students were now sitting at desks.
"What for not killing children…?" Kushina asked incredulously, before she let out a snort.
Naruto shrugged in response before he turned to leave. "Well I've got to get going, I am a proctor for the next part of the exam after all."
Kushina, Asuma and Kurenai all tensed as they heard that, and he couldn't blame them, they had just found out that the ruthless and notorious Hunter-nin, Grimm, was going to be in close proximity to their genin teams.
A very small smirk spread across Naruto's face as he saw their reactions before he said. "Don't worry 'Guest Rights' works both ways.
Just as you cannot attack me during the Chunin Exams and my being a guest in your Village, neither can I harm any of you. You have nothing to worry about, didn't we just talk about how I didn't hurt your genin?"
Kushina nodded abruptly at that, Asuma and Kurenai however both remained quite tense.
"Wait a second and I will come with you!" Anko, the pretty violet haired women said, getting a searching look from Naruto as she did so. "I'm also a proctor for the next stage of the exam! "
"Wonderful." Naruto replied dryly as he turned to leave the room, very obviously rolling his crimson eyes as he did so.
"Oh don't looks so Grimm about it." Anko replied cheerily as she saw Naruto leaving the room, quickly following after him, exchanging a quick yet reassuring smile with the other three as she did so.
"If we put our heads together we can come up with a really flashy entrance. Plus I bet you will be really good at the intimidation angle, you know giving them a red eyed glare and stuff."
Naruto didn't verbally reply as he exited the teachers' staffroom and began heading down the hall. That being said his lips did twitch upwards as he heard what Anko was saying.
"Come on wait up, don't be such a Pain!" Anko called as she chased after him.