A/N: a couple people have expressed confusion over who exactly is where, so let me explain briefly. Kazuma (Shodai/1st), Hatsuharu (Nidaime/2nd), Sarutobi (Sandaime/3rd), Team 7, Kayaku (Yondaime/4th), and Tsunade are all in the future (by about three centuries for Kazuma and Haru). They are sitting in a classroom listening to Yamanaka giving a lecture all about them.
I had intended for this to be a quick one-shot when I got the idea for it. A full month later it's still a one-shot, but a lot longer than I had intended, and I've already started work on a collection of one-shots that will be set in the same universe, most of them about events that will be mentioned herein.
I use Japanese terms liberally throughout, so I've included a list of terms at the bottom in addition to what translations I do on the spot. Also, in case there's any additional confusion:
Souma Kazuma: Shodai/1st
Souma Hatsuharu (Haru): Nidaime/2nd
Yamagata Sarutobi: Sandaime/3rd
Uzumaki Kayaku: Yondaime/4th
Mini-Kayaku: Naruto
Souma Tsunade: Godaime/5th
Hyuuga Yahiko: Hachidaime/8th
That should be everything. As always, only the idea for this particular story (as were as the names, histories, and personalities of Shodai and Nidaime, plus Sandaime's family name) are mine. Everything else is Kishimoto-san's. Special thanks to Kelsey, Audrey, and Natalie, who endured spontaneous requests to read, proof, and/or listen to bits and pieces of this monster and it's spawn as I hammered it out, and who (in Audrey's case, anyway) has agreed to draw some of the characters for me.
-Rhys
Edit 2/21/06: fixed minor punctuation, added definition of Hiraishin no jutsu.
Old History
The Leaf-nin settled into their seats as the class came to order, curious as to why the Hachidaime Hokage, Hyuuga Yahiko, had insisted that this in particular would be an informative lecture for them to sit in on. Kazuma and Hatsuharu ended up in the center of the group, seated on either side of the pink-haired genin who'd arrived with the white-haired man, the mini-Kayaku, and the broody Uchiha, all three of whom were seated in front of them. Sarutobi, Kayaku, and Kazuma's granddaughter Tsunade, now a full-grown woman, were seated behind them.
The class's sensei was a positively tiny woman with platinum blonde hair held back from her elfin face by a hitai-ate proudly – and somewhat oddly – sporting the symbol of Sunagakure no Sato. Her crystal blue eyes twinkled merrily at them from their shadowed sockets, the shadows only deepened by her dark-tanned and sun-leathered skin. Her black mesh undershirt hugged her arms and belly, exposed by the off-white halter top and skirt she had donned. The skirt itself was belted to her minute waist by a second hitai-ate, this one representing Konoha. From her head to her toes, she was a study in contrasts, and looked distinctly out of place in the hall full of relatively pale Leaf-nin.
The Sand-nin grinned up at her students, ranging in age from seven to an elderly couple of eighty-five, and her ice-white teeth sparkled. "I'm accustomed to picking up the stray student here and there," she began, "but certainly never in these numbers. Welcome, all. For those of you who are newcomers, my name is Yamanaka Moriko, and yes, I'm wearing two hitai-ates. I'm a registered ninja in both Konohagakure no Sato and Sunagakure no Sato, just like the Nara family. It's part of the treaty alliance between the two villages, and something we'll be discussing a little today."
Yamanaka glanced up at the clock briefly, then leaned back on the edge of the desk at the front of the room. "Two days ago, we started a unit on the Hokages of Konoha, past and present. We'll be covering the Rokudaime and Nanadaime today, but let's review a little first."
Kazuma settled more fully into his seat, understanding dawning. Of course. What better way to get his guests caught up to speed than for the Hachidaime to have them sit in on lessons on themselves? It may not give them the most thorough recounting of history they could ask for, but it would certainly give them an overview. He glanced around him. By that reasoning, most of those in the odd-ball group must also be (have been? will be?) Hokages. He knew at least three – Sarutobi, Haru, and himself. He could guess three others – his granddaughter, Kayaku, and the white-haired man – but who was the seventh? Or maybe he or she hadn't joined the group in the future.
The sensei was speaking again. "The Shodai Hokage was a gentleman by the name of Souma Kazuma, though he was also later known as the Founder. Which makes sense – Shodai was most well-known for putting an end to his era of wars and creating Konohagakure no Sato, which became first the primary and later the only shinobi village in Hi no Kuni. Oddly enough, his trump card was the jutsu Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan (Wood Element: Birth of the Trees). It was how the forest that at one time surrounded Konoha – and still does, if at a greater distance – came into being. He died from a cold, of all things, at the age of 63 during the hardest winter Konoha ever endured."
Kazuma raised a mournful eyebrow, but otherwise remained expressionless as he very carefully did not glare at the white-haired sibling he knew was laughing at him. Inwardly, however, he was mortified. All that, and he died of a cold? How more undignified a death could one have? When Haru finally snorted out loud, he reached around the kunoichi and smacked his brother upside the head. The kunoichi just shook her head and chuckled.
"The Nidaime Hokage," Yamanaka continued, "was Shodai's younger brother, Souma Hatsuharu, also known as the Peacelord. The name probably stems from the fact that absolutely nothing happened during his reign – nothing of any significance, in any case. Nidaime's reign was marked by nothing by peace and prosperity. He is the least known of all the Hokages – we're not even sure how old he was when he died, only that it was ten years before his brother, as a result of wounds received from a literally random assassination attempt. He was best known for being able to perform high-level suiton no jutsus even without water being present.
"The Sandaime Hokage was the Souma brothers' prodigy student, Yamagata Sarutobi. He was told by his predecessor that he would be the next Hokage when he was fourteen, and was sixteen years later at the age of 30. He was called the Professor for knowing and using all the jutsus in Konoha. When he was 24, he was assigned the genin team that would eventually become known as the Legendary Sannin; the white-haired Frog Tamer, Jiraiya-sama (also called Ero-sennin), Shodai's granddaughter Tsunade-sama, and Sarutobi's prodigy student, Orochimaru. The Sandaime was one of the most beloved Hokages Konoha has been blessed with, and was one of only two to both step aside and serve a second time, the other being the Nanadaime."
Again, Kazuma cocked an eyebrow, but this time with curiosity. The first two 'Sannin' had merited a '-sama;' why hadn't the third?
"When he stepped aside, his successor was Uzumaki Kayaku, Konoha's Yellow Flash. Appointed at the age of twenty, he was the shortest-reigning Hokage at two years. His teacher had been Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin, and his genin team had included the genius Hatake Kakashi, later known as the Copy Nin, who made chuunin at age six, and Uchiha Obito, who gave his Sharingan eye to Kakashi just before he died. He was known for developing an enormous number of jutsus, the two most well-known being the hiraishin no jutsu that gave him his name, and the Rasengan. The Yondaime was killed at the age of twenty-two when he sealed the Kyuubi no Youko assaulting his village into a boy that we suspect may have been his own son."
The kunoichi and the two boys seated in front of her started, then whirled in their desks to gawk up at Kayaku. The Yondaime raised his hand behind his head sheepishly. Suspect? Kazuma thought. Good grief, the boy's his mirror image.
"The Sandaime resumed the office of Hokage upon the Yondaime's death, and ruled for another thirteen years. He was killed during the first chuunin exam of the Rookie Nine, which turned out to be a cover for the villages of Suna and Oto to invade, led by Otogakure no Sato's founder, the Legendary Sannin Orochimaru. The battle ended with the souls of Shodai, Nidaime, Sandaime, and Orochimaru's arms sealed in Shinigami's stomach, and the First Siege ended with a crack in the Sandaime's face on the monument."
"Wait a minute – his arms?" Haru muttered. The kunoichi's eyes had turned downcast.
"Sarutobi-sama was succeeded the second time by his student, Legendary Sannin Tsunade-sama. Konoha's Godaime was best known for her healing touch (despite her hemophobia), her titanic strength, her love of and lack of skill at gambling, and her bust." Kazuma blinked, mildly perturbed. This was his granddaughter. And despite what he'd seen before the lecture had begun, he really didn't want to know that the gurgling blonde baby his daughter had presented him with mere days ago would become famous for her chest!
Yamanaka, however, wasn't reading him. "Tsunade-sama never taught a genin team, unlike the other Sannin, instead choosing to leave Konoha with her apprentice when her brother and lover were killed. Her henge no jutsu left her with a physical appearance of twenty-five, even at the age of fifty. She was the oldest appointed to the office, and served the second-shortest term. At the end of her reign, Orochimaru laid waste to Konoha a second time, this time in concert with the Akatsuki, the Hachibi no Inuyoukai, and a ryuuyoukai. The Godaime fell in battle with the Hachibi and the ryuuyoukai, borrowing the Yondaime's jutsu to seal the Hachibi within Hashi Hisano and slaying the ryuuyoukai. Orochimaru and Jiraiya-sama were both killed that same day as well; the latter against five of the nine Akatsuki, and the former against the Godaime's second apprentice, who succeeded her as the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato."
She paused, giving her students a moment to catch up. "That was all old stuff, and really only a brief summary – well, except for the Nidaime – that's truly about all we know of him." Kazuma wasn't the only one who chuckled that time, and Haru shot Yamanaka an exasperated glare. "We're only going to be covering two today, and we may not get to much of the second one. If we may begin?" Hearing no objections, the kunoichi-sensei nodded firmly.
"The Rokudaime was a pink-haired kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura who ascended to the rank of Hokage at the age of sixteen – the youngest Hokage Konoha ever had." At this point, everyone in Kazuma's group was staring at the genin seated between his brother and him, wide-eyed in disbelief. She didn't look much better – her eyes were wider than theirs. "One of only three uninjured shinobi at the end of the Second Siege, despite having done battle with Orochimaru, she was deemed the most competent of the shinobi still able to keep on their feet and promptly appointed Hokage despite her protestations that she didn't want the job and would be more than willing to pass it on to her teammate, Uzumaki Naruto. She was known for many things, including – but not limited to – being the only Hokage who never even made jounin, the only Hokage who never wanted the job, the Hokage who spent the majority of her reign not only in a different village, but in a separate country altogether, the only Hokage to have died outside of Konoha, the only Hokage not to have her name engraved on the cenotaph, despite having certainly - one might even go so far as to say emphatically - having been killed in action, and the Hokage who destroyed Konohagakure no Sato. And it wasn't even an accident, or the result of sheer incompetence – she did it on purpose."
The stares had turned incredulous. Haruno looked mortified. "Pray tell, why?" Kazuma inquired politely.
"I have no idea!" she answered, throwing her arms up in utter dumbfoundation. "I'm just thirteen! According to Yamanaka-sensei, I won't make Hokage for another three years. And I don't want the job, dammit!"
Haru looked like he was about to ask her why not, but the kunoichi-sensei had begun again. "The Rokudaime was placed on a genin team with the Kyuubi vessel Uzumaki Naruto and the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre, Uchiha Sasuke, under the supervision of the Copy Nin Hatake Kakashi. It was an odd make-up – Naruto-sama and Sasuke-sama were rivals (though this is typical), she was in love with (not had a crush on – quite literally was in love with) Sasuke-sama, and hated Naruto-sama. Naruto-sama had access to the Kyuubi's limitless chakra, Sasuke-sama possessed the Sharingan, having activated it during their first major mission, and Rokudaime herself was blessed with perfect chakra control. Hers was one of the three teams than made up the Rookie Nine nominated for the chuunin exams of Orochimaru's first attack. When her team later fell apart – Sasuke-sama leaving Konoha to join ranks with Orochimaru, Naruto-sama leaving to train with Jiraiya-sama, and Kakashi-san taking primarily S-ranked missions not suited to his genin kunoichi – the Rokudaime was fortunate enough to secure an apprenticeship with the Godaime, where she developed into a promising medic, a genjutsu specialist, and became one of only two shinobi in history capable of using one-handed seals. She also trained briefly under Hyuuga Hiashi on Tsunade-sama's orders, and was able to develop a bastardized version of their Hakkeshou Kaiten, thus far the only non-Hyuuga to have done so.
"By some cosmic freak accident, the Rokudaime inherited a massive number of jutsus as a result of a puppeteering gone wrong. The only way for her to sort them out was to use them, but there were too many and she confused the hand seals. The results were the deyuaru youso (dual element), sandankamae youso (triple element), and kanzen youso (full element) jutsus, which allowed her to combine two or more elements in a single attack. Her favorites of these were the Deyuaru Youso: Hokkyoku Bifuu (Dual Element: Arctic Breeze), the Deyuaru Youso: Hyougaki (Dual Element: Ice Age), and the Kanzen Youso: Tochi no Hone (Full Element: Land of Bone) Sasuke-sama discovered that her youso no jutsus were immune to the Sharingan. She later said that developing those jutsus, as well as the umare no jutsu (birth technique), was all that managed to pull her through her battle with Orochimaru.
"Oddly yet fortunately, it was the Rokudaime who ended up facing the rogue Sannin in the Second Siege of Konoha. Had it been anyone else except another Sannin, Orochimaru would have easily won. But both were needed to battle their own opponents, so it was left to the Godaime's untried apprentice, the student of the Copy Nin Kakashi, to hold off the shinobi who had bested the Sandaime." Yamanaka paused and smirked. "Yes, I'm sounding a bit melodramatic here, but this was reality. She'd had excellent teachers, but never the opportunity to be tested and grow. And she was facing one of the most dangerous of the shinobi attacking her village – the one who had killed her first Hokage.
"She never went into the details of the battle – by the time things were sorted out enough to require reports, she was Hokage and refused to give one. All she would say was that it came down to her youso no jutsus and his greater chakra reserves, and a perfectly timed umare no jutsu. By the end of it, all that was left of Yamagata Sarutobi's prodigy student and murderer was a head, and the genin kunoichi who had faced him had come through without a scratch. As stated earlier, she was one of only three Leaf-nin to have done so by the end of the Second Siege – the other two were Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru."
The stares were back to disbelieving again.
Haruno slumped in her seat, unable to do more than blink wordlessly at the woman on the floor who dared suggest that one Haruno Sakura might one day approach greatness. The Uchiha looked skeptical, perhaps wondering if it were some sort of hoax – Kazuma didn't doubt that Haruno wondered that herself, in the small corner of her mind that could still process such thoughts. Mini-Kayaku was sputtering, unable to get a complete thought from his brain to his tongue. Kakashi was eying all of his students with some degree of concern, which the Shodai suspected was no small thing if he could see if as clearly as he did.
The Hokages, on the other hand, looked speculative. Yamanaka was correct on at least one account – any battle between Haruno and a shinobi who warranted the title of Legendary Sannin even after abandoning his village would come down to chakra reserves, and the kunoichi beside him would undoubtedly come up short. Could she really build up enough stamina in the next three years to let her use deyuaru youso, sandankamae youso, or even kanzen youso jutsus? They had to eat up an enormous amount of chakra. Unless that perfect chakra control of hers allowed her to stretch it beyond what he would consider feasible limits…? Or perhaps she'd used it when making the youso no jutsus, allowing her to shape how much chakra she'd need to put into a jutsu without applying the usual limits or rules…?
Kazuma had no idea how she'd managed it, but he believed that she'd done exactly as Yamanaka had said. Which meant that the thirteen-year-old kunoichi wilting in her seat beside him would surpass not only himself, but Haru as well, by the time she turned seventeen – even before she made Hokage. Was he dismayed by this? Not in the least. Even just that little portion of her history reassured him that his village was in good hands, and that she must have had a good reason for destroying it – Yamanaka had said she'd done it on purpose. And she'd also said that Haruno had served the majority of her reign in a different country…
Speaking of which, Yamanaka was continuing. "To put things bluntly, Haruno-sama inherited a mess when she became Hokage. From a village of thirty-thousand civilians and seven thousand shinobi – the largest shinobi village in the Five Countries – she'd been left with exactly one hundred twenty-one ninjas, one hundred thirteen of which had to be immediately hospitalized, and fifteen hundred civilians. By sunset of the second day of her reign, she'd lost another twenty-three shinobi and one hundred forty-seven civilians to wounds, blood-loss, shock, and infection. She'd been handed a dying village."
The Konoha-nin gaped at her, horrified. Those numbers couldn't possibly be real! Haruno, white as a sheet, started to shake, and grabbed her armrests in a white-knuckled grip.
"Most of the records from that time period are either gone or in total disarray, not only because there was precious little time to organize records during the first few months after the Siege, but also because of the evacuation five years later. The best account we have is what Nanadaime put down in his journal, which was submitted to the records department in New Konoha as a substitute. According to him, it was absolute chaos. He himself, along with Hatake Kakashi, had left Konoha immediately in pursuit of the surviving Sound-nin and did not return until eight months later, well after the first disasters had been dealt with (that was a disaster in and of itself - they left before Haruno-sama was able to do a headcount, and so she ended up putting their names on the cenotaph, believing them to be dead; they got quite the earful from her upon their return). But as far as he could determine, Rokudaime had assembled all of her medic-nin, taught them some form of a ikinone no jutsu (life technique), and stopped the deaths, then spent the next two weeks recovering from the massive drain as the rest of the village started piecing itself back together under the supervision of Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji, who became her chief advisors for the duration of her reign.
"They were forced to turn down missions for an agonizing nine months, but with a masterful turn of diplomacy and wickedness, Rokudaime managed to pass them on to her friend the Kazekage no Suna, who did the missions and sent Konoha the proceeds. Oddly enough, the Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, thanked her for it, because it allowed him to show off his village's talent without risk of losing profit should they fail. Passing the missions to Suna played a significant part in the treaty alliance that has stood for the last three hundred years.
"The Rokudaime may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed – but her chief advisor was, and she was no slouch herself. By the time eight months post-Siege had rolled around she, Nara Shikamaru, and Hyuuga Neji had gotten Konoha's feet back under it, ready to take on missions again despite the lack of shinobi. There wouldn't be any new ones for a while, either – the Academy had been the first thing hit, and been utterly annihilated within ten seconds. No one had made it out. But before she started taking on missions again, there was one self-appointed task she had to complete – for the sake of her village, for the sake of her alliances, and for her own sake, to settle her debt with her dead. While she and two Hyuuga Bunke members stayed behind in Konoha, every remaining shinobi on her active duty list – all ninety-five of them, including Kakashi-san and Naruto-sama, who'd returned just in time with the location of their target – set out for Oto no Kuni. They spent a full three weeks destroying the country. They couldn't get everyone, but at best estimate, they had killed ninety-eight percent of the small country's population, and leveled every building within the border. Oto no Kuni was renamed Hai no Kuni (Ashland), and anyone who can mold chakra avoids it as though their lives depend on it – the aura of death and despair is so thick that if it doesn't kill you outright, it utterly annihilates your mind, leaving you little more than a vegetable.
"Once that had been done, Konoha began taking missions again, and bloomed. By five years after the Second Siege, she had built her village's population back up to 10,000 civilians and 2,000 shinobi."
Kazuma frowned, running calculations through his head. Yamanaka's numbers didn't make sense; no matter how brilliant she and her advisors may have been, it wasn't humanly possible for Haruno to have swelled her ranks so much in a mere five years, not if the Academy had been hit and her civilian numbers been reduced so greatly. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one who thought so, because a student closer to the front raised her hand.
"Yes, Shinta-san?"
"How did Rokudaime get so many shinobi if her ranks had been reduced so severely? Nanadaime said that once graduating from the Academy, potential genin also faced a test that had a 66 failure rate."
"Ah, good question," Yamanaka nodded. "According to Nanadaime, she had a lot of people immigrating from other countries and villages, and a great deal of them were 'retired' or wandering ninja. They were more than happy to return to active service and swear fealty to Konoha when Haruno-sama asked. She also 'reregistered' a handful of nukenin (missing-nin). In addition, classes at the Academy went from maybe twenty to nearly fifty, and the failure rate of the post-graduation test was reduced to somewhere around thirty-three percent. Rokudaime also temporarily did away with Yondaime's law that students could only graduate from the Academy if they were at least twelve, though she had to fight tooth and nail to get it removed even temporarily – particularly with her jounin sensei, Hatake Kakashi, who'd been the primary reason Yondaime had passed that law."
Shinta nodded in satisfaction, and Haruno mustered a half-hearted glare when Kayaku lightly whapped her upside the head and mock-scowled.
"Again, five years after the Siege saw their numbers back up. During that time (we don't know exactly when), both Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi returned to Konoha to be placed on probation. Apparently, Uchiha Itachi had been serving Konoha's interests even when he'd slaughtered his clan, as they had been plotting to overthrow the Sandaime and kill Naruto-sama, the Kyuubi's vessel. Before he could inform the Sandaime of his intentions, however, he had fallen prey to a wandering garudon, or malicious spirit, who'd possessed him and carried out the slaughter in a manner he'd not intended. Sasuke-sama never said how he learned of the garudon, but said that he'd been able to mold his chakra through his Sharingan in such a way as to kill it rather than his brother in their final battle. He was finally able to lay his revenge to rest after it had been vanquished, and the brothers came home to begin the long road of rehabilitation. Haruno-sama was thrilled to see them return, and granted both full pardons.
"Itachi-san, however, had suffered severe mental injuries in the attack that killed his possessor, and needed healing desperately. Rokudaime was unable to devote her full attention to him, and turned to her erstwhile assistant and fellow healer, Hyuuga Hanabi. Many considered this an unusual choice for Itachi-san's mentor and guard, but Rokudaime was adamant, and she indeed proved to be most capable.
"In any case, Konoha and Suna were close friends, and despite the three war campaigns Rokudaime had led after the Siege against various villages or organizations who'd thought to finally wipe Konoha from existence, morale was high and the village enjoyed a relative sense of peace. Even keeping in mind the frantic first few months and years of her reign, they were the calmest the Rokudaime ever enjoyed.
"This was because three months into her fifth year, her teammates returned from a mission in the south to inform her that an army of ten thousand shinobi had been discovered one hundred miles south of Hi no Kuni's border, composed of nine hundred Sound-nin (and who would be fool enough to wear their hitai-ate after what she did to the last bunch) and 9,100 shinobi hailing from an unknown village (later discovered to be the combined villages of Akebonogakure no Sato Hidden Dawn Village and Tasogaregakure no Sato Hidden Dusk Village from Ten no Kuni Heaven Country across the sea), and moving at a speed that would put them outside Konoha's gates at noon in three days' time. Faced with an attack from an unknown source in overwhelming numbers, and needing to keep her civilians as well as her shinobi alive, Haruno Sakura, Rokudaime Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato, gave the famous "I Cannot Hold This Home" speech and made the historical decision to abandon Konoha.
Kazuma leaned back in his seat and let out a deep breath, eying the kunoichi to his right and trying to determine her mind's inner workings on that day. What factors had she considered? What value had she assigned to each? How much and how long had she consulted with her advisors? What, if any, had been her alternative plans? What had been the deciding factor? He personally couldn't conceive of any reason that would make him abandon his precious Konoha – but then again, that wasn't surprising, as he'd been the one to found her. He didn't doubt that at some point in her reign she would regret the decision – everyone regretted every decision at least once, though the seriousness of the regret varied. So how serious would hers be? In hindsight, would she decide that she should have stayed and fought? Or would abandoning her homeland become a blessing in disguise?
The kunoichi in question was frowning. "I'm a little confused," she murmured, probably to herself. "Yamanaka said I destroyed the village earlier, but now she's saying I abandoned it."
"Perhaps Konoha was destroyed in the evacuation," Haru murmured softly in reply, startling the girl. "Or perhaps this army destroyed it afterwards."
"But then it wouldn't be me but they who destroy it," she countered.
The sensei set down her water glass and continued. "Haruno-sama once confided in Naruto-sama that even more than the disaster after the Second Siege, the days of the evacuation were the most difficult not only of her reign, but also of her life, short as it proved to be. At twenty-one years old she'd been Hokage for five years and seen Konoha through some of it's hardest times, not to mention lived through some of its others as a genin and chunnin. But those three days were the hardest, and no wonder. More difficult decisions faced her even after the decision to abandon.
"There were terminally ill or critical condition patients in the hospitals that couldn't be transported, as well as several comatose patients, many of whom had been so since the Siege. Of these, two were especially dear to her: Yuuhi Kurenai, the jounin sensei of her friends and fellow Rookies Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba, killed along with his entire clan, sans his sister, during the Siege; and Rock Lee, a former (not to mention persistent) suitor and personal friend who'd saved her life more than once before, and ended up hospitalized because he'd kept all others from interfering with her battle with Orochimaru. But even they weren't enough to turn her aside – the one who came closest was a critical care patient who'd been admitted a mere week before her decision had been made – her younger brother, Haruno Touru. His wounds were such that not even she could heal him in time to evacuate, and she could not take him off life support. With both her parents dying in the Siege despite being civilians, he was the only immediate family she had left, and her extended family was scattered throughout the Five Countries. She had no choice but to give her friends' teacher, her suitor, and the boy she'd raised for five years a merciful death, and that above all else scarred her for life, making it impossible for her to ever look back on the evacuation as a good, if painful, decision. Thereafter, she saw blood on her hands every day of her life.
"Oh, God, " Haruno whispered, utterly stricken. "Oh, God…" She didn't fight when Haru reached over and pulled her into his side, instead covering her mouth to stifle the sobs that threatened to wrack her small frame. Her teammates twisted around in their seats to stare at her in shocked, agonized concern, but she didn't see, curled up in a trembling ball in Haru's embrace.
Yamanaka continued, oblivious to her guest's anguish. "She also had to give her people enough time to escape – civilians could only run so far so fast for so long, and if they just upped and ran, their enemies would follow and eradicate them piecemeal. And a genjutsu wouldn't cut it, not against so many. Instead, she gathered her eldest shinobi and civilians and asked for volunteers to stay behind as decoys. Thirty-eight shinobi and one hundred twenty-seven civilians remained, including the original Ino-Shika-Chou team. They chose to remain knowing they would die – if not by the enemy's hands, then by the Rokudaime's own.
"And they did. Despite the near lack of warning, despite the unprecedented evacuation, the last caravan passed through the gates at ten o'clock in the morning on the third day. Naruto-sama produced thousands of kage bunshin, which were then passed to the living decoys through another of the Rokudaime's tricks that she called pure chakra puppeteering. Once the enemy arrived, she waited as long as she could, and then detonated the 10-kiloton bomb she'd hidden in the heart of Hokage Tower over three years previous for reasons she'd never specified. The Hyuuga compound, the new Academy, Ichiraku Ramen, Uchiha District, Memorial Glade, the Hokage Monument – everything was destroyed."
Kazuma gaped at her, only barely able to comprehend the sudden, violent, total annihilation. Both the Uchiha and the mini-Kayaku looked shell-shocked, and Hatake was unreadable.
"The Leaf refugees arrived at the desert's edge to find guides waiting for them – the Kazekage had been visited by a soothsayer warning him of Konoha's circumstances, and he'd taken steps to give them what aid he could. Gaara-sama himself had accompanied the guides, and the physically and emotionally drained Rokudaime was relieved to pass her people into his care for the journey to Sunagakure no Sato. It took a little wrangling with his council, but they were soon settled in as permanent guests. The Kages established a joint council and integrated their forces, and while they maintained the distinction between Leaf and Sand, they became, for all intents and purposes, a single village under two Kages, as Konohagakure no Sato had briefly been under Shodai and Nidaime. The proceeds from the missions all went to Suna's coffers, though the Kazekage set some aside for Konoha's treasury without Haruno-sama's knowledge, to be presented as a gift when they finally moved to take back their village.
Yamanaka paused to sip from her water glass, then glanced up at the clock briefly. "Looks like we won't be getting to the Nanadaime today after all," she apologized. "I didn't really think we would – Haruno-sama is by far the most fascinating Hokage we've ever had, and my personal favorite of Hachidaime's predecessors.
"Moving on now. The twenty-eight years of Rokudaime's reign proved to be the most war-torn the Five Countries ever endured, paling to insignificance even the era before Konoha's foundation, and the wars continued into the first two years of Nanadaime's reign. In addition to Sound's Obliteration, Haruno-sama also carried out forty-six successful campaigns against the splintering shinobi villages that mistook the young Hokage and her few shinobi as an easy target. When the Kazekage tired of his allies attacking Leaf-nin within his own borders, he formally declared any enemy of Konoha an enemy of Suna, and the Hokage reciprocated. Attacks within Suna ended when the desert itself rose up against the enemies in reflection of Sabaku no Gaara's ire, but attacks without increased. Solo missions became non-existent – more often than not, they
they were performed in teams of four, made up of two Lead and Sand. But losses took their toll, and by the end of her twentieth year, missions ceased altogether in order to conserve manpower and focus on the wars. Three decades of war and strife, not a moment of peace in her entire reign; is it any wonder that she became known as the Bitter?"
Haruno flinched under Haru's arm, but he and his brother, perhaps Sarutobi as well, understood in a way that she couldn't, not yet. It was difficult enough to rule in wartime when one actually wanted to be Hokage, still more difficult when the majority of one's reign was spent fighting a war. But for the entirety of one's reign to be spent in wartime when one never wanted to be Hokage in the first place? Especially when one had been forced to abandon one's village to protect one's village, and made the heart wrenching decision to sacrifice dear friends, and suitor, and one's own brother rather than subject them to the terrors of the unknown? Kazuma had endured periods of bitterness in his reign, and didn't doubt he'd endure several more before he died. But all of them combined wouldn't even begin to compare to the bitterness Haruno would face.
"There were a few bright moments. The first of these was the wedding of Yamanaka Ino, Rokudaime's dearest friend outside her teammates, to Gaara-sama's older brother Kankurou, which was actually a surprise as everyone had assumed they hated each other and they married within three months of her arrival in Suna. Shortly after, her advisor Nara Shikamaru married the Sand sibling's older sister, Temari, which had in fact been expected for several years. The official alliance between Sunagakure no Sato and Konohagakure no Sato (despite the latter's status as a crater in the ground) was formalized shortly after, with the stipulation that all descendents of the two unions, such as myself, be registered in both villages' annals. Two years later, a civilian cousin of Haruno-sama from Mizu no Kuni arrived in Suna, trailed by four twenty-year-old men who called the Rokudaime Hokage 'Okaa-san.'
The kunoichi in question bolted upright, blinking. Kazuma didn't blame here – he was blinking himself. She couldn't have been more than twenty-three at that point – it wasn't physically possible for her to have sons three years younger than she!
Yamanaka laughed as several other students started to protest. "Wait, wait, wait – let me explain," she placated. "This was the first and only time she ever told us anything of substance about her battle with Orochimaru." That comment prompted a dumfounded "Huh?" from her class. What on earth did that have to do with anything? "Remember when I said the battle came down to her youso no jutsus and a perfectly timed umare no jutsu? Well, it turns out that the 'sons' were umare's result, and they weren't actually her sons – they were the first four Hokages. Confused yet? Here's how it worked.
"Haruno-sama suffered a near-death experience as a puppet, as I said earlier. She was saved via the tensei ninjutsu, and Gaara-sama was brought back to life the same day by the same jutsu. Also, during Sound's First Siege, Orochimaru used Edo Tensei to temporarily revive the first two Hokages in his battle with Sandaime. Being a medic-nin herself, the concept fascinated her, and she was curious to see if she couldn't somehow combine the jutsus or use them for inspiration to create her own that would allow her to effectively do the same without giving her own life in the process. The result was the umare no jutsu.
"It's can't revive the dead without a sacrifice of some sort, be it human or animal, but in essence it kills the body while trapping the soul, binding it to a woman's ova – whether or not it's the caster of the jutsu doesn't matter, so it may be used by both men and women. The soul-bound ova will develop fully over a period of nine days, during which the surrogate mother has complete access to the soul's chakra. Once born, the child will grow at the rate of one year for every two months until they reach puberty, at which point growth continues normally.
"Well, Haruno-sama said that she'd been reduced to her last few drops of chakra when Orochimaru cast Edo Tensei, and she was desperate – not to mention lucky. She cast umare no jutsu mere seconds before the Sannin inserted the kunai tags, and so managed to pull it off – had he managed to get the tags in place, it wouldn't have worked, and she'd have lost the fight. Instead, she ended up pregnant with all four of them, and gained access to more chakra than she knew what to do with. She used some of it to wear Orochimaru down enough to cut off his head, and then turned the rest of it to nurturing and healing, because something was wrong.
"The fetuses weren't developing at a rate of a month per day – they were developing a month per three minutes, a near fatal pace for the mother. She wasn't able to deliver them naturally – had she attempted, all five of them would have died. Instead, she performed a cesarean section on herself, cutting them out one by one. When Hyuuga Hanabi arrived ten minutes later with the news that Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama were dead, Haruno-sama swore the younger chunnin to secrecy and had her help the new mother bring the children to a cousin who'd been visiting. The cousin was more than willing to raise them until Haruno-sama sent for them, and that was the last time she saw them until Suna. They'd retained their memories, but chose to take Haruno as their surname this time around, and were content to live their second lives as the Rokudaime's sons and brothers both.
"It was another year after that Uchiha-sama unbent enough to finally ask Haruno-sama to marry him. She bore him a daughter three years later, Uchiha Mikomi, the first of the pink-haired, green-eyed Uchihas. I don't think there's been more than three black-haired, black-eyed Uchihas in the years since their union, the first of these being their youngest child and only son, Uchiha Anseiji. Like most of her father's family, Mikomi-san proved to be a genius, yet even more skilled than her uncle – she activated her Sharingan at the age of six. Uchiha Itachi himself married, of all people, Hyuuga Hanabi, reuniting the bloodlines and in fact creating a new one, Shingan. With Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha-sama's blessing, the two broke from both families and created the Antai clan, which became the third noble house of New Konoha, after the Hyuugas and the Uchihas."
Haruno managed a snorted laugh at her teammates' bewildered, disbelieving expressions. Apparently the matches Yamanaka-sensei had just listed were ridiculous.
"But that was it. When Haruno-sama was 35, with nine years of her reign left, Kakashi-san was the first of the older jounin to die. Two years later it was Sarutobi Asuma, jounin sensei of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji, and three months after that Shiranui Genma and Chouji-san himself. Four years later, in her forty-fifth campaign, the combined villages suffered a staggering loss with the deaths of Yamanaka Kankurou, Yamanaka Ino and her unborn third child, Baki no Suna, TenTen, Maito Gai, Mitarashi Anko, and Yamato-san, the ANBU jounin who'd taught Haruno-sama briefly as a chunnin and inherited the genetics of Shodai.
"A year later, she launched her forty-sixth and final campaign against Ten no Kuni. This was the longest and greatest of her campaigns, the others only consisting of a few months. In this campaign, she left her civilians in Gaara-sama's care while taking the majority of their combined shinobi southeast across the sea to Ten's shores. It took them three years to push their way into the massive country's heart, but in the end, they reached Taiyougakure no Sato (Hidden Sun Village), greatest of Ten's four hidden villages, and destroyed it.
"But Haruno Sakura never saw it.
"Thirteen miles outside the village, her twenty thousand strong army was beset by a force twice as large, led by the Taiyoukage. In the ensuing clash, five thousand Leaf and Sand shinobi were lost, whereas the Sun shinobi suffered the fatal loss of seventeen thousand and the Taiyoukage, and were forced into retreat. But though the combined forces lost less, their fewer losses were composed of some of their greater warriors, including Nara Shikamaru, Nara Temari, Hyuuga Neji, Antai Itachi, fourteen-year-old Antai Chihei no Shingan, Haruno Sarutobi, and Haruno Sakura, Rokudaime Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato. Itachi-san and his eldest daughter fell against the Taiyoukage's teammates, the Hagetaka Duo, and the Hokages, both former and current, fell in battle with the Taiyoukage himself. In the aftermath, Uzumaki Naruto was hastily appointed Nanadaime Hokage, and he led his fallen comrade's army to victory against her final foe.
"She was carried back to Suna in state, and laid to rest in the graveyard of Sunagakure no Sato. A statue was erected in the main hall of Kazekage Tower alongside the former Kazekages, the only foreign Kage to be bestowed such an honor. In addition to her husband and sixteen-year-old daughter Mikomi, Sakura was also survived by her thirteen-year-old daughter Kaisai and five-year-old son Anseiji."
Yamanaka Moriko concluded her lecture with a brief summary. "She was 44 years old when she died. She had been Hokage since she was sixteen, and reigned for 28 years. She led and won 46 war campaigns in that timeframe, most of them alongside her closest allies, the Godaime Kazekage and Suna. Hers was the most eventful tenure to date, and suffered the most loss. She was called the Bitter, and rightfully so. But even to this day, she is Konoha's most beloved Hokage, and likely will remain so for many years to come."
-----
Kazuma leaned against the railing of the balcony their guest suite sported later that evening, mulling over what they'd learned in Yamanaka-sensei's classroom that day. He could see the Hokage Monument from where he stood, and he studied it carefully as his thoughts tumbled in his head. It was old, far older than he would had expected if it had been destroyed by Hyuuga-sama's once-removed predecessor. But then again, the Hachidaime had said something about it being over two hundred years since Haruno had died.
The first two faces where as familiar to him as his own name. He could remember his exasperation when his civilians had first suggested that Konoha carve its monument into the mountain. He'd thought it far too pretentious, but they – even Haru, who'd though his less-that dignified reaction had been hilarious – had insisted, and he'd relented. He still grumbled about it every once in a while – even now, twenty years after it had been carved – but over the years he'd come to see it through his peoples' eyes, and though he didn't love it and probably never would, he respected it.
The third face was familiar and yet no, for the face carved there was older than he remembered from his own time. There, Sarutobi was only sixteen – according to Yamanaka-sensei, he wouldn't become Hokage for another fourteen years. Upon their return to Hokage Tower after the lecture, Hatake had speculated that the crack in his face had most likely been carved into it intentionally to mirror the one that had marked his death.
Aside from his granddaughter's, all the other faces were strangers to him. The fourth and seventh looked ridiculously alike save for the whisker marks on the seventh's. Tsunade's, Hatake had said, was inaccurate; it was the portrait of a woman in her mid-twenties, but she'd been over fifty when she ascended to that esteemed rank. The eight face was newer than the others: the first addition to the monument in over two centuries, almost two and a half. The sixth face was almost painfully young – the architects had taken extra care when adding it to the monument, tenderly ensuring that she looked as young as she had been.
All had been cared for over the years, receiving touch-ups here and there as needed, but the village seemed to have devoted special attention to their Rokudaime, even above that of their current Hokage. Even when their was no one left alive who remembered her personally save two: Uzumaki Naruto, her former teammate, almost-brother, and successor, and Sabaku no Gaara, a peer and colleague from another village who'd ruled beside her for twenty-three years.
The Shodai Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato let his eyes sweep over the silent monument one last time, contemplating. So many years, so much history, so much pain and love and sorrow and determination and utter satisfaction and contentment was hidden behind those stone faces – he, his brother, and the wars they'd ended to bring about his dear village's birth were only the beginning of the story, and from the feel of it, it had many chapters yet to write.
Smiling peacefully, content, he turned and went back inside.
-owari-
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Terms
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Akatsuki – organization
Akebonogakure no Sato – Hidden Dawn Village
Antai – Peace/security/tranquility
(Antai) Chihei – Peace & tranquility
(Antai) Misa – Beautiful sand
(Antai) Mura – Village
(Antai) Yoshi – Quiet
Bunke – branch family
Byakugan – Evil Eye (Hyuuga white eye thing)
Cenotaph – memorial
Chunnin – journeyman-level ninja
Copy Nin – copy ninja (Kakashi)
Deyuaru youso – dual element
Deyuaru Youso: Hokkyoku Bifuu – Dual Element: Arctic Breeze
Deyuaru Youso: Hyougaki – Dual Element: Ice Age
Edo Tensei – impure resurrection
Ero-sennin – pervert(ed) hermit
Garudon – malicious spirit (not Japanese – my own word)
Genin – apprentice-level ninja
Genjutsu – illusion technique
Godaime – 5th
Godaime Kazekage no Suna – 5th Kazekage of Sand
Hachibi – Eight-Tail
Hachibi no Inu – Eight-Tailed Dog Demon
Hachidaime – 8th
Hagetaka Duo – Vulture Duo
Hai no Kuni – Ashland
Hakkeshou Kaiten – Divine Whirlwind/Punishment/Spin
Hashi Hisano – Bridge (over, to, across) the Open Plain
Henge no jutsu – transformation technique
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country
Hiraishin no jutsu – Body Flicker technique
Hitai-ate – forehead protector
Hokage – Fire Shadow
Ikonone no jutsu – life technique
Jounin – master/elite-level ninja
Jutsu – technique
Kage – shadow
Kage bunshin – shadow clone(s)
Kanzen youso – full element
Kanzen Youso: Tochi no Hone – Full Element: Land of Bone
Kazekage – Wind Shadow
Konoha – Leaf (the village)
Konohagakure no Sato – Hidden Leaf Village
Kunoichi – female ninja
Kyuubi no Youko – Nine-Tailed Demon Fox
Leaf-nin – Leaf ninja
Mizu no Kuni – Water Country
Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan – Wood Element: Birth of the Trees
Nanadaime – 7th
(Nara) Kioko – Meets world with happiness
Nidaime – 2nd
Nukenin – missing/rogue ninja
Okaa-san - mother
Oto – Sound
Oto no Kuni – Sound Country
Otogakure no Sato – Hidden Sound Village
Rasengan – Screw Gun (I'm so not kidding) Naruto's big attack
Rokudaime – 6th
Rokudaime Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato – 6th Hokage of Leaf
Ryuuyoukai – dragon demon
Sabaku no Gaara – Gaara of the Desert
Sand-nin – Sand ninja
Sandankamae youso – triple element
Sandaime – 3rd
Sannin – three ninjas
Sensei – teacher
Sharingan – Pinwheel Eye (Uchiha red eye thing)
Shingan – Mind's Eye (Antai eye thing)
Shinigami – Death God
Shinobi – ninja (male or collective)
Shodai – 1st
Sound-nin – Sound ninja
Suiton no jutsu – water techniques
Suna – Sand
Sunagakure no Sato – Hidden Sand Village
Taiyoukage – Sun Shadow
Taiyougakure no Sato – Hidden Sun Village
Tasogaregakure no Sato – Hidden Dusk Village
Ten no Kuni – Heaven Country
Tensei ninjutsu – Ninja resurrection technique
(Uchiha) Anseiji – Resting
(Uchiha) Kaisai – Joy/exultation
(Uchiha) Mikomi – Hope
Umare no jutsu – birth technique
(Uzumaki) Amaya – Night Rain
(Uzumaki) Kohana – Little Flower
(Yamanaka) Amarante – Flower that never fades
(Yamanaka) Hiroku – Magnanimous
Yondaime – 4th
Youso no jutsus – element techniques