A/N: I can't help but be disappointed in my childish naivety. But some things are meant to be held on too and some of the naivety remains. On this note I intend to start anew with a new idea, though its gonna be heavily influenced by those fics which I have read in the past few years attempting to regain a semblance of my mind. I am almost there though, and as such I have this incredible need to produce the creation of my mind. Suppose I'll put my one disclaimer here, for those whom 'need' it. I DO NOT own Naruto, I haven't even seen it since I started reading fanfiction. On with the fic.
The darkness seemed to prevail over all of Konohagakure. Only the large amounts of unlucky souls that were stuck in the hospital either recovering or helping with recovery were not in attendance. It had been a long and bloody three day battle with the Kyuubi. The overwhelming majority of the shinobi forces for the village were dead. Even still the majority that survived had most of their numbers in the hospital moments away from death. So who was it that was so important to the village to have almost the entirety of the people here? A picture of a blonde haired man smiling with the 'nice guy pose' shining to its fullest was standing on a podium in front of the large group who were behind the grave as the casket was lowered. There were tears in the eyes of almost all of them, but the most prominent figure crying, was that of a white haired man holding a sleeping infant.
'Minato, if it wasn't sensei or I holding this child right now, he would most certainly be dead.' He looked down at Naruto and surpessed a grimace, grimacing not at the child himself but what would happen if the child was left unprotected. Unbeknowst to everyone but himself and Sarutobi there were more complications to the sealing of the great fox than anyone could have possibly anticipated. Not only was the seal leaking more youkai into the young boy causing a multitude of physiological changes but also the soul of the fox was immediately absorbed by that of the boy. On top of that, his bloodlines from both of his parents were brought to the foreground and were being manipulated into something far more dreadful by the now pure youkai, which only had an attachment to the world from the seal. After the great fox was sealed Jariya was forced to put more seals on the boy to hide his appearance and stiffle the flow of chakra so as not to alert the populace to the failure of the sealing. He took little pride in his work as it was only temporary, lasting at most ten years. Hours passed as dusk turned into dawn, and with the rising of the sun came the torrental downpour of rain. The crowd dispersed slowly leaving himself standing there shielding Naruto from rain and killing intent alike. He felt the presence of his sensei coming upon him.
"Jariya..." Sarutobi walked slowly beside and behind his student and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Minato would have knocked either of us out in an instant if we tried to do his job for him. Neither of us would have been able to seal the Kyuubi before he could, even if it's mostly a failure." Sarutobi looked at the grave with disdain at the villages loss of this hero. "He told me to keep Naruto in the village so that he may be seen as a hero..." He now stood in front of Jariya looking him square in the eye. "But I know that this is not to be, this village will hate him with their full passion, so I ask of you something before I formally retire." Jariya took a step back startled by the sudden change of pace. He had never thought that his sensei would ever back down when a mission was given to him. "You must flee this wretched village with Naruto and see too it that he is given a good life, and knowing what is inside him there is little chance of him not becoming a shinobi and surviving. Will you do this as a last request to an old man unwilling to look life in the eye again?" Sarutobi was looking down now, his face contorted in rage, in pain. The village he loved so, was the cause of his greatest anguish. He never would have thought that his spies within the council would have found the already growing resentment and malice directed towards the young blonde boy, but within his first day of life there was already a planned assasination attempt upon him.
Jariya stood there for a long time staring into the face of the sleeping Naruto. The rain seemed to be coming down harder now to those that were outdoors and paying attention to it. As the sun began to fully rest within the sky he spoke his answer. "I will do this for you, for him, and for Naruto.. Just don't die before we return sensei." In a poof of smoke Jariya was gone leaving Sarutobi with the first good thought he'd had in several days. After saying goodbye once more to his predecessor he made his way slowly towards the interior of the village where the council lay in wait for his wrath, and for the only punchline he had ever wanted since taking up the mantle of Hokage. It didn't take him long to reach the central area of the village. It took less time for him to make his way to and through his tower where the council was waiting. He walked calmly through the doors as everyone rose, and sat down without acknowledging any of them. They all stood there for a moment some feeling anger at being ignored while others feeling worry about their heavily beset leader who looked torn. Several minutes passed in silence before the old man once more stood up. "You will all have your say once I am finished and no you will not be seated as of this time." He glared at a civilian member who was about to speak. "You area all aware of the sealing of the Kyuubi into an orphan boy. What you are not aware of is that you are all throwing tar upon the image of your great Yondaime, and I have seen too it that his protection will be assured. I will not inform any of you how I have made this to be so and NONE of you will ever know until the time is upon us FOR you to know." He paused to take a short breathe wishing he could laugh. "I am also in the mindset to inform you that I have chosen the succesor of the Yondaime and none of you have enough say in the matter for it to matter." He once again glared at the civilian side of the council. "On that note I will step aside to allow the successor to take his mantle." He stood off to the side and allowed the successor to take his place. Shikaku Nara stepped from his seat within the council making all of them gasp.
"Trouble-some, that damn blonde tricked me into signing the damn paper just before he died. I don't know how I thought signing that paper would give me rights to no longer have to tolerate you damn trouble-some civilians." He took his seat and motioned for the council to do the same. "You may now ask your questions one at a time and calmly." There was an immediate torrent of noise coming from the civilian side of the council that was silenced when none of them could move the vocal cords in their throats. The newly appointed Godaime pressed his fingers together leaning his elbows onto the table. The civilians all mimicked this action their eyes showing the fear they felt. "You will obey this or be asked gently to leave. Do I make myself clear?" He released his hold on then and most of them simply looked down at the table while a few decided they had enough power to deny him, and were gently made to leave through the door. Shikaku smiled slightly, supposing that the blonde man hadn't outright lied. "You may now speak, council members." One civilian nodded and barely rose his voice enough to be heard.
"If you are the new Hokage, who is to be your clan head?" There were a few murmers of agreement.
"The clan head will be decided shortly within my clan. Do not trouble yourselfs with my family. Are there any, more relevant questions?" Once again the civilian council members posed a question.
"What will we do about the impending attacks from Iwa, and Kumo? Surely they know of the destruction that was laid upon us. They will not be so hesitant."
"Hmmm, we have already started to rebuild the wall around Konoha and we are structuring it with some seals left behind by the Yondaime. You do not need to know of them however and I will consider it insubordination if you ask." Many faces glowered. The newly appointed Hokage was already making his enimies within the council very heated. "Further more, I know that you have subtly worked your way into asking about the where-abouts and conditions of one Naruto Uzumaki, the container for the Kyuubi. You will not get an answer as this information is not necessary for you to know for the prosperity of our village." There were many enraged shouts and the loud council member's were escorted, gently, out of the room. "Any other questions?"
"Just one Hokage-sama." The last remaining civilian council member stood and looked at him. "Do you have any intentions of sharing your secret alliance with the Yondaime to the rest of us?" Danzo stared into his once fellow shinobi's eyes with his one eye. Shikaku clicked his teeth together realising that Danzo still had connections.
"I do not intend to." He answered as smoothly as he could. "I will adjourn this meeting for another time, I have matters that need attending too." With that he left in a poof of smoke to his clan residence. Leaving at a disgruntled council behind him.