Hiruzen Sarutobi walked into the Hokage's mansion tired after a day of hard work. It had been a week since the Kyuubi attacked, a week since his successor, Minato Namikaze, had died tried to save the village from the Kyuub's wrath and a week since he had, once again, taken his position as the Hokage. Yet, even in that small space of time he remembered why he had been so eager to hand over the job to Minato. The job of Hogake was really grueling to the body and to the mind. Mind, because, the fate of all the civilians and ninja alike in Konohagakure depended on the decisions that you made, and body because despite the many ANBU bodyguards that the Hokage had, many assassins still managed to get through them to attack his intended victim, and any Hoakge who wasn't really strong would not last a month in the position, even in just the one week since he had become Hokage there had been 2 assassination attempts on his life, luckily his ANBU were strong enough to stop the would- be assassins. This was one of the reasons why a civilian was never made Hokage, only a ninja would be able to live and survive as the Hokage and no-one else.
But that was not what had tired Sarutobi today. No. It had been the constant barrage of complainants who had barraged into his office after the meeting that had taken place in the afternoon and the decision that he had made regarding the new Jinchuriki. It still gave him headache thinking about all the people who had come into his office later in the evening in order to change his mind.
-Seven Hours earlier-
A tall thin man wearing a lavish robe with jewelry clearly visible on his arms, ears and neck walked into the office of the Hokage as Sarutobi was going through the papers there were put in front of him. The man was Shinji Ikari and he was the second most influential person, among the civilians, in the village.
Shiniji marched upto to the Hokage's desk and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. The Hokage decided to continue his work till the man said something, so that he could have a moment of peace.
"Hokage-same, I request that you please reconsider your decision." Shinji said.
"What decision are you talking about Shinji-san?"
"You know very well I am talking about the jinchuriki Hokage-sama. It should be kept in a secure place till we are certain that he cannot harm anyone in the village."
"Do you not think that the place I have chosen will be the safest in the entire village?" Sarutobi said, challenging him to disagree.
This caused Shinji to pause and reconsider his next words.
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, while the location might be safe it would still be wise to put the child in a more secure location till the effectiveness of the seal is verified." Shinji said.
"Do you doubt a seal made by the Fourth Shinji-san?"
"N-No, of course not, I am just try-"
"You need not worry Shinji-san, I have asked Jiraya to come back to the village to check up on the seal and he said that he will back by tomorrow."
"Yes, that was a good judgment on your part Hokage-sama and i-"
"I hope I have quelled your fears regarding the status of the child I presume"
Shinji had started to sweat by this time and he could see that the Hokage was not going to entertain any other arguments from him and so he relented.
"Yes Hokage-same. I knew that you would make the correct decisions I just had to quell the fears of the public you see."
"Of course Shinji- san and I am thankful for all the work that you do for the civilians of this village." Sarutobi said, emphasizing that Shinji had to only care about the civilians side of the village and that the ninja-business would be taken care of by the ninjas.
"Now that I have answered all you doubts I request that you please leave me so that I can quickly get back to all these papers you see on my desk" Sarutobi said opening his arms to show the ever increasing papers in his desk that had been increasing every day since the attacks.
"Of course Hokage-same, I hope you have a good day" Shinji said as he quickly walked out of the Hokage's office.
-Present time-
That had just been the first of many visits to his office by the influential members from the civilians side of the village. But he had taken care of all of them like he had with Shinji.
The next great problem came when his old team-mate Danzo Shimura came into his office a few hours later.
-Five Hours earlier-
Danzo and Sarutobi were seating on either side of the table looking each other in the eye. They had been seating like that for the last ten minutes. Finally Danzo began.
"You are making a mistake Sarutobi."
"Every decision I make is a mistake to you Danzo" Sarutobi countered with a smirk.
"You should give the jinchuriki to me, The child needs to be trained properly so that it may be of use to the village when the time comes."
"The child does not need to be turned into an emotionless machine. I am sure that the sapling will be helpful to the village with or without your training Danzo."
"The child needs to be given proper training which you will not be able to provide with your busy schedule as the Hokage and any shinobi that you choose to teach it will not guide the child properly."
"I disagree Danzo, I think that I, or any ninja that I choose, will give the child all the education it will ever need to became whatever the child choses to be in life."
"You know nothing, Sarutobi Hirunze."
This irked Sartuobi, as he had done enough in his life as Hokage and as the ninja of the village to know how to guide a child to be a great ninja.
"Do not forget Danzo that I was the one who lead Konaha to victory during the Third Great Ninja War. And I was also the one who trained three of the strongest ninjas this village has ever know, one of who went onto train his own disciple who became the strongest ninja in the world."
"And yet none of them are present in the village right now. One betrayed the village another ran away from it and the third stays but mere days in the village in the entire year. The only success that you ever had was with your disciple's disciple. Minato was a great ninja, there is no doubt about it, but it was not you who trained him. And while you may take credit for training Jiraya, Minato's training was done by Jiraya and not you."
"While Orochimaru was an unfortunate incident, Tsunade and Jiraya are still loyal to the village and will come to help in times of need."
"And yet where is Tsunade when we need her at this time of great peril? Face if Sarutobi, you have failed when it comes to teaching young ninja and you should hand over the training of the young child to someone who is more suited to it than you."
"Do no forget Danzo that as of this moment I am the Hokage and my decision regarding the child will not change and that is final."
"Very well Sarutobi."
And with that Danzo got up and left the office.
-Present Time-
Sarutobu knew very well that he had lost that round of their continuous debate and that Danzo would not leave it at that. He was sure that Danzo would try to call a meeting to change the decision that Sarutobi had made so that he could get his hands on the child. But he would do all that he could to ensure that it would never happen.
And while he had hoped Danzo would be last head-ache of the day, it had not been so. The people from the civilians side kept coming seeking the change his mind regarding his decision, some even suggesting it would be better to kill "the beast" while there was still time, and while Sarutobi understood the grief that some of the civilians were under, he had after all lost his own wife during the attack, he would under no circumstances allow anyone to kill the child. After all the civilians were done with and he was just about to head home the representative of the Fire lord came into his office requesting an immediate update on the situation and requesting him, the Hokage, to ease the Fire Lord's mind regarding the status of the village and its military force. That had taken him a good few hours and had the direct result of him coming back to his home so late in the night.
Sarutobi climbed up the stairs and turned the corridor to watch an old woman coming out of one of the rooms. He waited till the old woman had closed the door and noticed him before he started walking towards her again.
"Ah, Saru-chan, you took your time coming back here didn't you?" Asuka began.
"Forgive Asuka-baa-chan, the fire lord's representative came to my office just as I was about to leave and made me stay for a while as I appeased all his worries."
"Oh, you poor thing, they made you Hokage again. Well don't you worry about that sweet little child in the room. I will take care of him while you are busy with your work" Asuka said with a smile.
"How is the child?"
"Well he was brought in an hour before lunch. He was crying when they brought the child in. You really need to get better ninjas to deliver a small child like that Saru-chan. It took me a while to quite him down, but I eventually did after feeding him and he has been sleeping for the last few hours now."
"I was more concerned about the child's safety at that time Asuka-baa-chan"
"Ah, you have always been like that Saru-chan, since I day I helped your mother give birth to you. You didn't cry at all the day you were born. You have always been the more practical kind. Even in your old age, no matter how much you show others your kind and caring side, I know you Saru-chan and you have always thought more about the practical side of things than the emotional."
"Not for this child Baa-chan." Sarutobi said as he looked at the closed door.
"Well I will leave you alone with the child now. I will be in my room if you ever need me."
"Thank you Asuka-baa-chan" Sarutobi said and he smiled at the woman who had taken care of him since he was a child.
Sarutobi slowly opened the door to the child's room and walked upto the crib. Today had been one of the most tiring days of his life and he could still feel the headache and body pains from all the arguing and work that he had done today for the sake of the child sleeping soundly in the crib. But as he looked down at the peacefully sleeping face of the child all his worries and pains went away and he was at peace. He realized that he would go through all this all over again if he had to just for the chance to keep and raise this beautiful baby named…
[h]
And that is it folks, hope you liked his better than Kazekage's decision. Since no-one gave any reviews for that one, my one story without atleat one review, I can only guess that it was not that good. If it was not good I request you to tell me what you did not like about that story. Like I have said again and again I want to improve myself as an author and I cannot do that unless someone tells me where I am messing up.
As for why I did not specify any gender or any name for the child that because I want you guys to decide on your own who was made the jinchuriki in this story.
Well that's it from me, do not forget to read and review(that's what R&R mean btw) and tell if you liked it what was good about it and if you did not like it what did you not like about it.
Till next time
Adios Amigos, amis, friends, los amigos, etc.