The Missing Hokage – Diverging Paths

Naruto clutched the scroll of seals like a child clutches a teddy bear. "You can't just do that!" He yelled. Gaara and Temari were watching the confrontation with poorly disguised interest while Kankuro simply tried to ignore everything around him.

"I'm the Hokage! I can do whatever I damn well please, brat!" Tsunade stomped over to Naruto who backed away. "Now give me that back!"

"No! This belongs in the village and we're taking it back right now!" Tsunade jumped at him and grabbed him by the jacket. He burst into smoke.

"Damnit Naruto! We're not going back to the village no matter what reasons or excuses you come up with!"

Naruto appeared from behind a tree still cradling the scroll. A pout appeared on his lips. "I wanna hold the scroll if we're not returning it to the village."

Tsunade sucked in a breath and with Herculean effort she stopped herself from clobbering her fellow blond.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten was in charge of the clipboard, it was her job to tick off the inventory of what was left in the Konoha museum. Lee was dragging his feet along behind her. He was really upset to hear that his friend Naruto was actually the Kyuubi reincarnated. It seemed he was having trouble accepting it even though most of the village elders were yelling it at anyone who would listen.

She thought it might have been callous of her, but she didn't really care either way; Naruto was Naruto, just because he used to be a nine-tailed demon didn't mean he wasn't a loudmouth Genin with a lucky streak that never seemed to end. Besides, she was more devastated that her hero, Tsunade, left the village than that one of her team mate's closest friends was a demon in human form.

She didn't mind this D-ranked mission she had been assigned by Gai. The museum had all the coolest old weapons. Such as Arith's staff, a blue pole with silver weights at the ends, supposedly, it helps one manipulate water chakra, check, it was there.

"Oh!" Tenten exclaimed. She didn't know the curator of the museum had finished restoring Okuni's umbrella! It was white, pink and hid enough weapons to make the standard hidden rain battle umbrella seem like nothing more than a fashion accessory. Tenten loved the perfect combination of pretty and deadly. She sighed and turned away, check, it was there.

The sword of Death, check, it was there.

The sword of Life, check, it was there.

The sword of Love, check, it was there.

Hell's chakrams, check, they were there.

Tenten sighed again as she heard Lee play with the chakrams. "Lee, stop messing around with the priceless artefacts." Tenten moved to the next item on the list. The Second Hokage's lightning blade. Tenten screamed, it was gone! Lady Tsunade stole the lightning blade! She felt a little faint; Lee came over and held her up. "This is a disaster."

"It'll be okay Tenten." Lee tried to reassure her and began to look for a paper bag to stop her from hyperventilating.

"No, I don't think it will. Come on Lee, let's find out what else they took."

They walked past the Third Hokage's Diamond tipped staff. Tenten ticked the box. Her thoughts were racing as they reached the next display. Not only had Lady Tsunade injured Konoha shinobi and damaged property, but it seemed she had also taken legendary relics outside of the village. Tenten was pretty certain that she didn't get permission, either.

The truth struck Tenten in the face, even if Lady Tsunade wanted to return, she wouldn't be able to.

She reached the Forth Hokage's three pronged kunai. Her pen moved to tick them off, che-. The display case was empty. She fainted right then and there. Lee panicked and tried to give her CPR. She woke up choking and Lee was rewarded with a slap to the face.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Somewhere on the road to Suna, Temari was removing dirt from her fingernails with a nifty looking kunai with three blades. Lady Tsunade was such a nice person for giving it to her as a goodbye gift.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Shikamaru strolled into his best friend's hospital room. "Hey Chouji." Shikamaru inwardly shivered at how unnaturally thin Chouji looked. He once again regretted leaving Chouji to fight alone. In his pockets his fists clenched and he considered going to watch Jirobo's interrogation. Although any thoughts of leaving were dashed when he saw Chouji's face light up at his greeting.

"Hey Shikamaru." He sat down next to the bed and took Chouji's hand, like he did whenever they were alone.

"I have an update from Ino on the Tsunade situation."

Chouji squeezed his hand weakly. Chouji refused to believe their childhood friend was the Kyuubi, and if Chouji didn't believe it then that was good enough for Shikamaru, despite anything the elders said. But their friend's banishment really upset him, and when something upset Chouji, Shikamaru's first reaction was to make it better, even if it was troublesome. But as smart as he was he couldn't see things ending well for Lady Hokage or their short blond friend if politics within the village didn't change.

"They took the Hokage's ceremonial robes with them. Without them, the council can't declare another permanent Hokage."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

The masked ANBU's katana ripped through Naruto's chest and for a moment, Hinata's heart stopped beating. Then the clone burst into smoke and Tsunade put her hand through the ANBU's ribcage.

It was all Shizune could do to hold off one of the elete shinobi until Tsunade rescued her. Hinata and Naruto were running and using the substitution Jutsu continuously to evade the ninja after them. They were only still alive because the ANBU after them were busy fending off attacks from Tsunade and her slug summons, and so couldn't focus their full attention on the Genin.

The squad leader after seeing one of her own fall to Tsunade's fists, called for a retreat and used Shunshin to make her escape. Only like so many others that came before her over the years, she made the mistake of underestimating the former Hokage.

The buxom blonde grabbed her out of Shunshin and sent a chakra empowered bitch slap smacking her face first into a tree. The other two ANBU managed to escape Tsunade's wrath.

Standing over the fallen ANBU with a smug smile Tsunade said, "Yuuago, it's so nice to see you."

Yuuago groaned.

Tsunade took the ANBU's mask off. "Hey! I Know her!"

"Who is she N-Naruto?" Inquired Hinata.

"She lived in the same apartment block as me for a while. She really didn't like me."

Tsunade rifled around in the woman's pockets, ignoring her feeble protests, and fished out a big bag of shuriken. They were painted purple. Tsunade tossed the bag over her shoulder to Hinata who pocketed them.

The search revealed one copy of Icha Icha: Yaoi Paradise, which Tsunade hid in her duffle bag before the others could see, and two sealing scrolls. Lastly was the necklace Yuuago wore around her neck. The thin chain looked like gold and the pendent was in an oval shape with a smooth, light blue gem inside the frame. It looked valuable to Tsunade so she took it to be pawned.

Team Hokage was going to have financial troubles soon if they couldn't find a source of income. Tsunade would have liked to have taken a good chunk of the village treasury when they left. Sadly, the bank couldn't let her withdraw such a large amount of hard currency without a full council sanction. But she was able to arrange for all of her debts to be paid back in full immediately, instead of monthly instalments.

Yuuago weakly called out, "No," as she tried to reach out for the pendent. Tsunade swatted her hand away and gave the necklace to Shizune.

"Alright, we need to be out of the area before the next team shows up. The next squad leader in the ANBU rotation is a wood user. I won't be able to guarantee your safety from him should we fight in a forest so close to Konoha."

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion, "But Granny Tsunade, you're the strongest ninja alive!" he said with conviction. Hinata and Tsunade both smiled fondly.

"Well, Naruto," Shizune began but Tsunade cut her off.

"This ANBU's special ability lets him create wood and trees as well as manipulate the forest around him. As a Sannin, he may not offer a large threat to me, but he is capable of attacking multiple targets at once without losing combat proficiency. And that's not counting the other ANBU on his team."

"Huh? I still don't understand. Why can't you kick his ass then go after his team? Like you did the last time."

Tsunade sighed. "While I'm 'kicking his ass', he'll still be able to kick yours. So let's go."

"My pendent…"

The four missing-nin leapt onto the treetops and continued on their way to Rain country.

The nation was in a civil war and if Konoha shinobi were seen to be getting involved then it could spark an international incident. But Hinata believed that causing an international scene was exactly what Tsunade wanted to do. Suddenly she wasn't feeling as confident about leaving the village and the shelter of her clan.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Kankuro was bored and irritable. Most people wouldn't be able to tell Kankuro's emotions behind the almost constant scowl and all of the obscuring face paint. But Temari wasn't most people, and she knew he was annoyed. If the screams of Konoha ANBU had woken her up during the few times they'd been able to rest, she would have been annoyed too. Poor Kankuro, he hadn't been able to get any beauty sleep in days.

The hiss of the senbon leaving the launcher on Karasu sounded behind her and the elete shinobi that was about to attack Garaa with a water Jutsu was forced to dodge.

The three-pronged kunai in Temari's hand hummed. She spun on the spot quickly and bashed an ANBU's head with her fan. He crumpled to the floor.

Temari stared at the kunai in wonder; she hadn't even sensed that ninja, she had just acted. It was like the kunai knew when an enemy was near; it was like it had a mind of its own…

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Chouza's eyes were hard and serious as he regarded the other two great clan heads. He had left his son alone to rest in order to meet privately with Shibi and Hiashi regarding recent events.

"You fucking brownnoser!" Lord Akimichi yelled, some spittle flew from his mouth and landed on Hiashi's clean robes.

The Hyuuga's lip curled in disgust. "I did what I did for the good of the Hyuuga… and for Konoha."

Shibi rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses but he knew Hiashi had seen from the indignant glare that was thrown his way.

Lord Hyuuga drew a breath. "Uzumaki Naruto was an abomination that shouldn't have been allowed to live past its first birthday." Shibi frowned and Chouza couldn't seem to find the right words to express his rage. "I'm proud to have helped remove that stain on Konoha's honour."

"So you and the council schemed to kill Uzumaki while the Hokage was away! I should crush your balls like grapes, you devious little wart!" Shibi was slightly worried that Chouza would start foaming at the mouth any second now. If Shibi was reading the Akimichi head right, then Chouza was probably already thinking up excuses to call in some blood feuds.

An Akimichi rebellion would be very, very bad.

"Perhaps the wrong brother was sacrificed to Kumo. Hizashi would never have been so deceitful. If only because he was too stupid to show initiative." said Chouza with a sneer and a sparkle of insanity in his eyes. Shibi felt a small shiver go down his spine and Hiashi activated his Byakugan. No one insulted Hiashi's late twin brother in front of him.

Hiashi's comeback was aimed at Chouza's eating habits. Whenever Hiashi got dragged into an exchanging of slurs, it was a sure sign that things were about to spiral out of control.

Although Chouza was literally spitting with rage, Shibi himself was only slightly irritated at being left out of the meeting that ended in the execution order of Uzumaki Naruto. But if Shibi was being honest with himself, even had he been in the meeting he would have done nothing to prevent the order.

His first priority was to his clan, and he wouldn't have alienated so many people by defending Naruto. Although if the Hokage had been at the meeting he wouldn't have had to defend Naruto.

Shibi had better find a way to silence Hiashi, the argument had strayed into dangerous territory, the real nature of Chouji's relationship with the Nara boy was being questioned. It was definitely something of sore point to Chouza. Hiashi really should stop talking before Chouza gets angry enough to grab his head and slam it into a wall.

It doesn't matter how good you are at the Gentle-fist if you can't get around the fat to hit the tenketsu. Inside Shibi chuckled, one doesn't hurt an Akimichi at all unless one finds a way around the fat.

Chouza eyed him for a moment before going back to the argument with Hiashi. Behind his sunglasses Shibi stared at Chouza, FAT! Chouza didn't blink, maybe he wasn't psychic after all.

Shibi sighed, he almost couldn't believe he was about to think this, but he missed Fugaku at times like these. Fugaku was the leader of the Uchiha clan, who died at the hands of his of his eldest son. Just like every other Uchiha (except Sasuke).

Fugaku would have ended this conversation before it even got a chance to begin. He didn't suffer swear words around his person. He was always proper, and a strong fan of strict manners.

But with him gone, so went the peace.

When it came to the great clans of the Fire country before the founding of Konoha, things had gone like this: The Aburame could defeat the Akimichi, with the Kikai's ability to eat chakra, the Akimichi had no counter.

The Akimichi could crush the Hyuuga, one Multi-size technique and the Gentle-fist style becomes instantly useless when tenketsu become bigger than an average head.

Finally the Hyuuga could beat the Aburame, the Kikai wouldn't even get close to a Hyuuga before those nimble fingers took them out.

But the Sharingan could defeat everyone.

So everybody would listen to what the Uchiha had to say, else they discover themselves under the disappointed gaze powered by Genjutsu throwing eyeballs.

"It's really a shame Chouji won't be giving you any grandchildren, it is too bad that the main Akimichi bloodline ends with that disgraceful excuse for a ninja."

Shibi didn't want to get involved but he decided he had to if he was to save Hiashi's life. And they hadn't even gotten to what they actually came to meet about, what to do about Lady Tsunade and the Forth Kazekage's children. Little did they know that the civilian council had already made a decision and had given an order without them.

Send in the ANBU.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

A/N Thank you to everyone who added this story to their alerts and/or favorites. Chapter 3 will be out next week. See you then.