Chapter 1: the aftermath
Danzo was in a hurry. 'Where are those idiots?' He growled to himself. He had been searching for over an hour now. Figures that after the village had been hit a heavy blow they would disappear. They were probably off trying to convince some useless follower of Sarutobi's to become Hokage.
'Hopefully they've come to realize just how incompetent that Old Fool was. All his talk about 'peace' and 'trust'. Well, we've seen were THAT has gotten him. Dead, with a bunch of village to repair.' He turned a corner and..there they were.
"Koharu, Homura!" Danzo called, causing the two to turn. "Where are you too off to?"
"We have some business to go over with Jiraiya." Koharu replied.
'Okay, so maybe not quite so useless, but definitely as foolish as his sensei.' Danzo shook his head. Would they never learn? "Your not going to ask him to become Hokage, are you?" Danzo's voice was filled with shock.
The shock was not lost on Koharu, whose eyebrows rose, even as she asked, "And what would be so bad about that? Jiraiya was the Sandaime's student an-"
"That's exactly what's so bad about it! Have you already forgotten how he died?" The shock in Danzo's voice had stepped down to be replaced by a sudden fury. "Hiruzen didn't die just because he was old, he died because he let his foolish ideals blind him, ideals that he passed onto Jiraiya! And anyway," he continued in a much calmer voice, "I highly doubt he would accept. Such a position of responsibility would make him squeamish. Why do you think Hiruzen didn't make him his successor?"
The two village elders where stunned. Why hadn't they thought of that? Homura was the first to recover. "Well then, what are we supposed to do? We need a Hokage!"
At that, Danzo smiled.
Jiraiya still couldn't believe the announcement. What were Koharu and Homura thinking? Did they want to see everything all the Hokages had worked so hard for be destroyed? Because that's what Danzo would do if he became Hokage. And yet, here he was, standing before the village, being appointed to that very office.
It was disgusting. Sensei had given his life for this village, and a few days later they give the title to someone who would take apart everything. It seemed like that was all the village was capable of doing when they lost a Hokage, betraying them.
Nothing he could do about it now.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Danzo. It was obvious just looking at him. He was gloating. He had finally obtained the position he had been after for quite some time. Jiraiya didn't even listen to Danzo's speech. He was sure whatever it was he was saying was a lie. Whatever promises he was making would be twisted to work in his advantage. That is how Danzo works.
When Danzo finally stopped talking and walked off the balcony of the Hokage's tower, Jiraiya immediately walked off, ignoring the people who tried to get his attention. He needed to have a talk with a couple of council members who had perhaps gone insane.
"Konohamaru, don't." The hand landing on the boy's shoulder obviously surprised him, because he jumped and whirled around.
"D...don't what?" he asked, trying to look innocent. All it did, however, was make Naruto sigh.
"You know what. I know your grandfather's death has been hard for you. I'm sure that you feel that them getting another Hokage so fast means that they are pushing him aside. You were no doubt about to go do something stupid like locking yourself in the Hokage's office and not letting Danzo start his new duties. So I'll give you the facts. Yes, everything the old man has worked for is probably about to be pushed aside." At this Konohamaru's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by Naruto's hand. "Wait, let me finish. I've heard some of the Jonin talking about him. Even Ero-Sennin has had quite a bit to say about him, and none of it is good. He believes a shinobi should be completely emotionless. His ideas about where the village should go are apparently opposite everything the old man believed. He's cold, and not above hearting a kid if he gets in his way. Which is why I don't want you doing anything stupid." At this, Naruto sighed and shook his head. "I have a feeling things are about to change. And definitely not for the best."
Konohamaru slumped, looking defeated. "Why would they let someone like that become Hokage?" Naruto just shook his head again.
"Who can say? We'll just have to make the best of things, I guess. Come on, lets go get some Ichiraku's. I could really use some ramen right now." Konohamaru just nodded and silently followed his blond friend down the street.
Danzo looked up as the head of Anbu Root walked in. He quickly pushed aside the paperwork he was currently reading and studied the man in front of him for a few moments before speaking.
"Report."
"We are spread pretty thin. Though we were able to post sentries on most of the targets, several only have one on them." Danzo simply nodded his head, thought for a second, and then continued.
"It seems the potential dangers are too many for us to handle as we are. See what you can do about increasing Root's numbers. Until then we shall have to use some regular Anbu that we know we can trust. Or at least use." Danzo paused, and the Root head merely nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"How many do we currently have on Uzumaki and Uchiha?"
"Two on both, sir."
"That will have to do for now. Both of them are too important to lose. I'm currently trying to put together something we can use to tie them closer too us. I'm not going to just sit back and let the opportunities presented by them go to waste. Unfortunately, they are both rather loose cannons at the moment." Danzo paused, brows furrowed, as he thought about the two youngsters. 'What to do, what to do. They both have the capabilities of becoming extremely strong ninja. I just need to make sure that they are on my side, otherwise they could prove dangerous. While they could benefit Konoha quite a bit by learning powerful jutsus, if they went AWOL they could wipe out several of Root's forces...'
Danzo sat in thought for so long that even with the training he had to go through, the head of Root started to fidget. Eventually he spoke up, "Do you have any additional orders, Lord Hokage?" causing Danzo to look up at him again.
"Yes." he said slowly. "Order all Root watching Uzumaki and Uchiha to watch their training schedules. Until further notice, neither are allowed to learn any B rank or higher technique. I want them firmly under my command before giving them the capability to harm me. Dismissed." The Root head nodded and left the room. 'I hope this works. The two of them are powerful assets. However, it would be better if then were dead than against me...' He shook off his thoughts and got back to all the freaking paperwork he had to go through because of Suna's invasion. He would worry about that if it happened.
Neji was worried. He had heard what the Jonin had been saying about this Danzo guy, and most of it was worrying. Not only that, but he kept his eyes on all day after the ceremony, and he had noticed Anbu on most of friends. Mostly one, but some had two. Even he had a couple who had been trailing him. What did it mean? Why would the Anbu be keeping tabs on ninja of their own village? It made no sense...
He was shaken out of his thoughts by a soft knock on door. He walked over and opened the door, revealing Hinata with a worried look on her face.
"Are you ok?" She asked, causing him to blink.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked in confusion.
"I could hear you pacing and muttering to yourself as I passed your door." she explained, causing Neji to blink again. He had been muttering? That was strange. He nodded and sighed.
"I was just thinking. You can come in if you want. Maybe talking about it will help me gain some insight." he replied. Hinata just nodded and stepped into the room. Neji closed the door behind her. "Go ahead and sit. This might take awhile." He then walked over to his bed and sat on it, while Hinata sat in the only chair in the room.
"What were you thinking about?" She asked once they were situated.
"Did you hear what some of the Jonin were saying about the new Hokage?" Hinata frowned.
"Yes. But still, he is only the Hokage. He can't force us to do anything, after all." This caused Neji to blink. Something about that hit a spot for him. Unfortunately he couldn't quite place that spot.
"Perhaps not, but he has apparently decided to have Anbu watching ninjas in his own village. Most of which were strongly behind the Sandaime's ideas." Hinata gasped and leaned forward, her eyes going wide.
"H-how do you know?" She stammered, her body tensing, almost as though she already knew what he was about to say.
"I've kept my eyes on all day." Neji stated quietly.
"WHAT!" Hinata yelped, jumping up. "ARE YOU INSANE! THAT COULD KILL YOU, OR AT LEAST DO PERMANT DAMAGE TO YOUR EYES!" she was screaming now, forcing Neji to leap up and clap a hand over her mouth to get her to be quiet.
"I know the risks, but I spotted some at the ceremony and noticed them split off and follow people. I had only planned on activating it just long enough to see if I was correct. When I saw a couple following me, I realized that not everyone would notice they were being watched. So I went around and took tabs on our friends and how many were on them. I had to know, in case he is up to something." He explained quickly, activating his eyes once again to quickly check to make sure no one had heard her and was coming to see what was going on. Unfortunately, this left him too exhausted to keep standing, and so he had to stagger back to his bed and collapse on it.
Hinata was instantly by his side, concern etched on her face. "Are you ok?" she asked quietly. Neji nodded and sat up.
"Yeah, just tired." Hinata nodded and pulled back.
"You've used too much chakra. You need to rest." She stepped back and turned to go, only to have Neji grab her arm.
"I'll be fine. This is important. If Danzo is trying to do something, I want to know what it is as soon as possible. I don't want to wake up one morning and find all of my friends dead." Hinata just sighed.
"You're right, but you need to sleep. We can talk about it tomorrow. Maybe even ask father." Neji shook his head.
"You don't understand. Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Guy-sensei, they all have Root following them. Even you had one trailing you when you came home. If he's targeting people, he can take everyone down. I know there is little chance that we will figure everything out tonight, but we need to decide what to do. And don't tell your father. The less people who know the better. Besides, he had no one following him, so obviously Danzo hasn't put him on the same list that he has us." Hinata's eyes widened.
"Are you suggesting that father is helping Danzo with what he is doing?" she asked in an accusing tone. Neji just shook his head.
"I don't know. I doubt it, but it is possible. And even if it isn't, Danzo must feel like he has nothing to fear from him. Until we have at least an idea about what is going on, I don't want to tell anyone else." Hinata just nodded and sat back down in the chair.
"Ok then, first thing to do is figure out who all is being followed and how many are following them." Neji nodded.
"On the desk is some paper if you want to write it down." She nodded and turned in the chair so that she was facing the adjacent desk. She pulled out a fresh piece of paper and grabbed a pen. She began writing as Neji listed off everyone who had been followed and how many were on them.
List:
Naruto-2
Sasuke-2
Sakura-1
Kakashi-2
Shikamaru-1
Choji-1
Ino-1
Asuma-2
Neji-2
Guy-2
Tenten-1
Hinata-1
Kiba-1
Shino-1
Kiba's mom-2
Shikamaru's dad-2
Ino's dad-2
end list
"That is everyone I know. The were a few on some people I don't know, though."
Hinata sat and stared for the list for a second, before looking back to Neji. "What were the Anbu doing?"
"Just following as far as I could tell. Why?" Hinata's brow furrowed.
"Because most of the list is genin. Why would he take the trouble of putting Anbu on genin? And two for some of us? I can understand the jonin, but not the genin. Unless he's just using us to see how our sensei act around us." Neji shook his head.
"That would make sense, except why would some of us need two Anbu? So it must have something to do with the individuals as well. But you're right. Why take the trouble to watch genin when they aren't that strong yet?" Hinata's head suddenly jerked up and she stared at him, a small gasp escaping her lips.
"That's it!"
Neji blinked. "What's what?"
"The only three genin that have two following them are you, Sasuke, and Naruto. You and Sasuke are proclaimed geniuses, and Naruto has already proven that he is strong enough to take one of you down. But your all kinda loose cannons!" Neji razed an eyebrow, so Hinata hurried to explain. "Think about it. Sasuke is determined to kill his brother no matter what. He'd do anything. If he feels that Danzo is only going to hold him back, what's he got to lose by leaving to find somewhere that won't put limits on him? The way you acted before you lost to Naruto made it seem like you would do anything to escape the Hyugas. And since we are a clan that is in Konoha, if another village made a good offer that would let you be free of us, what would stop you from accepting? And Naruto loved the Sandaime. Sure, he got annoyed with the system sometimes, but he respected Lord Hokage and probably doesn't like the idea that everything he worked for is about to be destroyed. He's watching you to make sure he can keep you all in Konoha, and if he can't keep you, to get rid of you before you become too powerful." Neji's had jaw dropped halfway through the explanation, and by the end he was nodding his head.
"I guess it does make sense. But what about the rest of you?"
"The same thing, probably, but since we are just normal genin he doubts we could beat one Anbu." Neji nodded, thinking.
"So all he's doing is making sure we aren't going to leave? That shouldn't be too bad then. But we should probably keep watch, just in case something changes." Hinata nodded and stood up.
"Well, it's late, and we both need our sleep." She said, stretching. "Sleep well."
"You too." Neji replied as she walked out the door. He then turned off his light and got under the covers. 'I hope no one does anything stupid..."
