The Hokage entered the meeting room followed by Iruka with some files. Cat nodded silently acknowledging Sarutobi's presence and moved to wait in the corner. Naruto looked up from where he sat and paled at seeing his primary instructor there as well. He flushed and tried to hide in his seat as Sarutobi sat and motioned for Iruka to sit as well.
"Naruto, what you told me earlier tonight was entirely correct. Mizuki himself did admit to telling you to come here and take the scroll. In this village, we do not lay the blame on the subordinates for following what they believe to be the legal orders of their superiors. Therefore, you are not to be charged with treason. You trusted Mizuki and he betrayed you. Naruto, I am disappointed in your actions but you have not betrayed my trust." Sarutobi smiled gently at Naruto. The boy smiled weakly and a few tears ran down his expressive face. 'Yes, he needed that reassurance. In spite of all his bravado, he is a fragile boy.'
Iruka opened the file with Naruto's name on it. "Naruto's grades in the Academy are definitely not the best, Hokage-sama. He has failed the exit examination three times now. He grades show him as poor in taijutsu, poor in ninjutsu, inadequate in genjutsu, poor on throwing weapons, inadequate in tracking and evasion, inadequate in stealth, poor in written work."
"Hmm, I thought Naruto was doing much better than that in his grades." Sarutobi glanced over at Naruto who wilted slightly under the glare.
"Begging the Hokage's pardon, "Cat spoke up. "Umino-san is incorrect in Uzumaki-san's ability in stealth, tracking and evasion. I personally have observed several of his 'pranks' and other ANBU would concur with me that for his training level, his rank should be 'outstanding'."
Sarutobi looked over at Cat, equal parts of concern and dismay at her information. "Are you sure, Cat?" he inquired.
"As I said, Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san has shown outstanding ability in regards to stealth, tracking and evasion in his many dealings with the after-effects of his pranks. Normally, it takes a jonin or a half dozen chunin working in concert to corral him. We ANBU, who are assigned to observe him, remain away from such things as ordered by you. The sole exception to the trouble in capturing Uzumaki-san is Umino-san here. He can apprehend the boy on his own. We feel that it is a deliberate action on Uzumaki-san's part in those cases. There have even been cases where he has managed to elude his ANBU watchers for up to 5 minutes as well. He normally is quite aware of our presence nearby but rarely the exact location. We put that awareness to experience and some innate ability."
"Iruka, who is the person grading Naruto in the areas of stealth, tracking and evasion?"
"That would be Mizuki, Hokage-sama," Iruka responded.
"Cat, why is this the first I am hearing about such ability on behalf of Naruto?"
"It has been documented in many reports submitted by myself and others, Hokage-sama. We all assumed you knew and were not showing favoritism in regard to Uzumaki-san. His pranks cause ill-will for himself even if they are just attempts at attention."
Sarutobi frowned deeply and almost growled as he rose and stalked out of the office. He returned minutes later carrying several files, all labeled Uzumaki Naruto. He passed one to Cat and asked, "Is this one of your reports?"
Cat briefly scanned the report. It was regarding a prank by Naruto two weeks prior. "This is not the report I submitted, Hokage-sama. The general wording is mine but many details have been edited out and the amount of damage incurred has been altered. In this incident, only a single vendor's cart was touched, not a half dozen as the report states. There was no damage to the vendor's wares and this report states near complete destruction."
Sarutobi had a true frown on his face now. "Your reports all go through Koga-san, Cat?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"He is one of Danzo's former Root members. It seems several people are trying to get Naruto into bad graces all over. But one rabbit might have flushed one another out for me. Danzo has a standing request to have Naruto assigned to his training program. I have consistently forbidden such a thing. The Fourth would roll in his grave if I did that to Naruto."
Sarutobi sighed. "Cat, round up several of the others who have filed reports on Naruto whom you trust. In the morning, I want you all to go over all of your past reports filed on Naruto in my office over the past two years. I wish to know the truth on what they say against what you actually wrote."
"Naruto, tomorrow we are going to have all of your skills re-evaluated by people I trust in all the areas not taught by Iruka alone. Be back here at noon tomorrow."
"I'll escort Naruto home and bring him back here in the morning, Hokage-sama," Iruka offered.
Sarutobi just nodded. The teacher led his student out of the building. "Come stay at my house tonight, Naruto. Things are going ot be bad tomorrow and keeping a close eye on you might be the best thing right now."
"Why are things going to be bad, Ikura-sensei?" asked Naruto.
"Because some people have done the worst possible thing to do in Konoha, they intentionally lied to the Hokage. It also looks like they did the second worst as well."
"What is that?"
"They put it in writing."
Koga walked into his office to begin another boring day of work. Being a secretary in the Hokage Tower was not a glamorous job for a former ninja and Root agent but he could think of worse. At least the new Academy class graduating would mean he could funnel a few of the more promising of the true test failures to his master Danzo, and Root.