For a minute, neither Hiruzen nor Shikaku could speak, trying their best to process the information they had been provided. The boy they thought had barely reached S rank was able to fight Orochimaru, and rather than running with his tail between his legs, he somehow made Orochimaru do that.
It just didn't look right. There was no way the Orochimaru they knew would go down so easily. There had to be some angle they were unaware about; alas, the blood-stained soil on the table was enough proof that whatever the boy was saying was correct.
'Unless we take the chance of him being a spy of Orochimaru and this being his way to increase the position of his spy, the only other outcome I could think is Orochimaru not taking the fight seriously... but why? If he had invested so much time in trying to control that Kaguya boy, there is no way he would leave him behind so easily, unless...' both of them went to the same conclusion after thinking things through.
Though they still couldn't believe that the boy standing in front of them was at the level to go toe to toe against Orochimaru.
"So the boy is sitting outside right?" Hiruzen asked after releasing a sigh. It was a good thing that they got another prodigy in their village. The only point which was concerning for them was that all of them are emerging from a single clan, which is already one of the, if not the most, powerful clan of Konoha.
"Yes, Lord Third," Shikaku said.
"Send him for medical examination, and send a Yamanaka and an Uchiha with him as well," he said and then asked Kaida for a proper report about the mission, the actual one. Kaida nodded and began writing the report while sitting in Hiruzen's office.
He could have used a shadow clone to do the work, but Hiruzen had specifically asked him to stay and write the report, and Kaida understood he wanted him to stay there until the checkup of Kimimaro being a spy or not was completed.
Because he knew Kaida was a little attached to the boy, and if he was a spy, they would have to take some drastic measures, and Kaida would come in the way during that time.
Nobody knew this better than him that emotions can very easily come in the way of duty.
...
While Kaida was waiting in Hiruzen's office, Kimimaro was brought to the basement of the Hokage building, with two medical ninja present there for a medical checkup, while a Yamanaka ninja went through the memories to make sure he was not a spy and what Kaida reported about fighting Orochimaru was true or not.
Since they couldn't do this on Kaida himself—aside from the fact that it would show the village didn't trust him—it would also be very difficult even for Inoichi Yamanaka because of the Mangekyo Sharingan Kaida possessed; his mental defenses are on another level even compared to other ninja.
So even if Kaida cooperated, it was not sure that someone would be able to get all of the memories from his head. It was much better to confirm them from someone who was present in the area at that time.
So after the Uchiha confirmed that the boy was not under any genjutsu, the Yamanaka started his work. During this whole procedure, Kimimaro was fully awake and cooperated as much as he could.
During the whole journey, Kaida had already given him the idea about what was going to happen in Konoha. Since they had to make sure Kimimaro was not a spy, the boy would have to go through some checkups.
Due to having a prior idea about all that, the checkup was not as daunting for the boy as it could have been. Just after half an hour, the whole procedure was over, and a report was sent to Hiruzen's office.
...
As Kaida completed his report and presented it to Hiruzen, another report was delivered by an ANBU ninja. After going through the report, a look of relief came on the face of both Hiruzen and Shikaku.
With all things considered, Konoha really got a really good deal out of all of this: a completed mission, information about a rogue ninja, a new and very strong kekkei genkai for the village, though they would have to keep him hidden unless they were ready for a war.
Though this now led to one last tricky question.
"Where is Kimimaro going to live?" Hiruzen asked. Since there was only Kaida and Shikaku in the room, the question was obviously directed to them and not specified to whom. Just before Kaida could speak, Shikaku started:
"Well, we can send him anywhere except the Uchiha clan. They already have 3 S rank, 1 Jinchuriki, and 2 Uzumaki clan members living there. Anymore and a real civil war may break out..."
Kaida wanted to counter that, to present a solution, but alas, what he said was true. With the recent power growth, the Uchiha have been getting in the absence of Danzo, other clans are really getting a little insecure about all of this.
With how things are, it is almost certain that the next Hokage will be from the Uchiha clan, unless Kakashi takes the role for himself, but the boy neither has the motivation nor the support of a clan behind him.
If the Uchiha started pushing a candidate of their own for the role, there is no way to counter that. This results in already a very sensitive situation in the village, where the whole structure is balanced on a thin rope, and any more imbalance will make the whole thing fall.
"I understand, but I am also not going to let him become a chess piece for someone's power play, so if not Uchiha, no other clan will get to keep him," Kaida said.
"I understand what you are trying to say, Kaida, but aside from a clan, the only other option is ANBU, and adding such a young boy to ANBU is not something I want to do," Hiruzen said, trying to make Kaida calm down.
"I understand, Lord Third, but there is also a third option aside from ANBU and any clan."
Hiruzen raised his eyebrow, waiting for Kaida to continue.
"I recommend Might Guy, the Green Beast of Konoha, as the guardian of Kimimaro," Kaida said with as much firmness as possible for him.
"Hmm," Hiruzen looked toward the boy for quite some time, while Shikaku was shocked how good this would be if they looked past one important factor. It is true that all of the clans will have no problem if no one, not even the Hokage, got the boy, but on the other hand, Guy is not the best parental figure for a young boy.
"Can I ask why?" Shikaku was the one to ask; both of them were curious about the reason why Kaida would choose him.
"The boy had lived a life far worse than I could imagine. Even simple things like a bed and warm food gave him too much happiness than it should have been logical. No offense, but everyone else in Konoha will either see the boy as a monster or a tool. I only know one person in whole Konoha who will be able to see past the shell and look at that frail boy; that's why I recommended Might Guy to be the guardian," Kaida explained and then with a smile, "Maybe only someone as positive as him will be able to counter all of the negativity the boy had faced in his life."
To say that both of them were impressed would be an understatement. Even though they thought there should be some reason behind Kaida's request, they never thought it would be this thoughtful.
"Fine, I will ask Guy for his opinion about this. Till then, you can take the boy with you," Hiruzen said. Kaida smiled and with a bow left the office, leaving behind the two to discuss about the mess he had created.